Dad Called 911, Then Went In to Stop School Shooter

A father called 911 when he saw a gunman at his daughters’ elementary school. Then he went inside, where a teacher was already struggling with the attacker.

Kaylub Giamanco, 36, has now described how he helped stop the October 15 shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon. In an Oregon Public Broadcasting interview released October 23, he also spoke about the children he could not save.

The lifelong Bend resident is a carpenter whose two daughters attend Silver Rail. He had taken them to school that morning, after the family spent extra time getting them ready for picture day.

He Changed His Lunch Plans

Giamanco had packed food for work but decided to return home for lunch with his wife. He considered errands along the way and passed them up, OPB reported in an account republished by Spokane Public Radio.

That decision put him beside the school as the attack began. He recalled noticing a person dressed in black carrying a long gun and realizing that the danger was real when shots were fired outside.

He retrieved his own handgun and called for help. As the dispatcher asked questions, he decided he needed to enter the building immediately rather than remain outside on the telephone.

His account, also carried in a PBS News Hour interview segment, described fear for the children inside. He asked the dispatcher to send help before ending the call and following the attacker into the school.

A Teacher Had Already Intervened

Police said a former student attacked a special education classroom. Three children and teacher Megan Lambert, 25, were killed; another student and a teacher were injured.

Another teacher confronted the shooter before Giamanco reached the room. According to the Associated Press, she threw her phone at the attacker and wrestled with him.

Giamanco said he saw the struggle as he approached. He entered the classroom and fatally shot the gunman, ending the attack before police arrived.

In recounting the encounter, he repeatedly credited the teacher. He said her intervention gave him an opportunity to stop the shooter and helped keep him from being killed himself.

He did not know her name when he spoke with OPB. He wanted to meet and thank her, saying she deserved recognition for putting herself between the attacker and the children.

Police have credited Giamanco with saving lives. Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz also recognized the courage of the teacher who grappled with the gunman.

Calls Home Followed the Attack

Giamanco recalled hearing sirens and encountering an arriving officer. He put his weapon down and raised his hands, according to the OPB account.

He subsequently returned to his truck and called his wife, telling her to come to the school. He called his mother next and struggled with her reassurance that he had saved people.

In his interview, he described continuing to replay the scene after his family went to bed. He said the praise for helping children survive existed alongside his thoughts about those who died.

Lambert’s family publicly thanked him for risking his life for other people. Giamanco, meanwhile, said he wanted the bereaved families to know he wished he had reached their children sooner.

His Family Has Stepped Away From Home

Since the shooting, Giamanco said his family had stayed first at a hotel and then at a vacation rental. Their house overlooks the school, and they had been trying to find distractions together through food and board games.

He said he did not want his experience turned into a political argument. Reporters and advocacy groups had approached him, but he wanted to use the attention to help his community.

One idea he discussed was a motocross fundraiser supporting school safety improvements. He also said he was uncertain whether he would return to carpentry, the work he had been doing before an ordinary lunch trip brought him back to Silver Rail.

References: Hero dad who took down school shooter speaks out: ‘I was supposed to be there’ | ‘I’m just a carpenter from Bend’: Father who killed Silver Rail school shooter grapples with the aftermath | Man who killed school shooter says he regrets there were children he didn’t save | Oregon father describes stopping school shooter

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