A Bend, Oregon father and carpenter credited with ending a deadly elementary school shooting says he is struggling to come to terms with the lives he could not save, even as law enforcement hails him as a hero.
Kaylub Giamanco, 36, stepped into the chaos at Silver Rail Elementary School on October 15 after a series of ordinary decisions brought him to the right place at the right time. He had skipped his packed lunch and turned toward home for leftover tacos with his wife, a choice that put him near the school just before 1 p.m.
Driving down Brentwood Avenue, Giamanco spotted a figure dressed in black opening fire on a motorist and a woman mowing the school lawn. He watched the gunman toss a long rifle over the school fence and climb over after it.
Giamanco, who had a .40 caliber handgun in his truck console, called 911 but quickly told the dispatcher he could not stay on the line. “I said I’m sorry, I have to go in. People are going to die” he recalled in an interview with Oregon Public Broadcasting published Friday.
He army-crawled through a shot-out window and into the building, where he could hear children screaming and gunfire erupting. He later said he believed he was likely going to die inside that school.
Inside a special education classroom, Giamanco found a teacher wrestling with the gunman, 16-year-old Griffin J. John II, for control of his weapon. Giamanco fired, striking the teen. The teacher fled. The shooter was still moving and reaching for his gun, so Giamanco fired two more times.
By the time police arrived, the attack was over. John had already killed a teacher and three young children before Giamanco intervened. Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz publicly praised both Giamanco and the teacher who fought the gunman, saying their courage could not be overstated.
After the shooting, Giamanco called his wife to tell her he would not be home for tacos. He then called his mother, who told him he was a hero. He pushed back immediately.
“I didn’t save everybody. I didn’t get them all” he told her.
Giamanco says he has not slept well since the shooting and is haunted by the sounds and images from that day. He says he wants to meet the parents of the three children who were killed so he can apologize personally.
“I want to apologize for not saving their babies” he said, his voice breaking with emotion.