Three bystanders intervened in Oregon elementary school shooting, killing teenage gunman

A carpenter, an unnamed driver, and a teacher each tried to stop a 16-year-old who opened fire at Silver Rail Elementary in Bend, Oregon, killing three children and a teacher.

Carpenter, driver, and teacher confronted Oregon school shooter before police arrived

Three children — aged 5, 8, and 11 — were killed and a fourth critically wounded when a 16-year-old opened fire inside Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, ABC News US reports. Teacher Megan Lambert, 25, was also fatally shot. At least three people outside law enforcement attempted to stop the gunman before police arrived.

The sequence began midday when the boy threw a shotgun over a low chain-link fence at the edge of the school grounds and climbed over after it. The school, which he had once attended, had a playground and a broad grass field leading to its entrance. Hundreds of children were inside, including a small group in a special needs classroom.

An unidentified driver in a red truck spotted the boy and yelled at him. The boy opened fire, striking the truck at least three times. The driver was not hit and drove away to call 911.

Kaylub Giamanco, a 36-year-old carpenter, was also nearby. He saw the boy shooting at the truck and moving toward the school — a building where his own children are enrolled. Giamanco drove into the parking lot. He was legally carrying a .40-caliber pistol in his vehicle.

The boy walked along the exterior of the building to a locked door and blasted through its glass panes with the shotgun before entering a classroom. He pumped the shotgun and fired repeatedly. In the classroom next to the forced entry, teachers and four children were present. A second teacher had taken a first-grader to a nearby restroom at the time of the attack; the two hid under a table in a nearby office when the shooting started.

One of the teachers inside the classroom threw her phone at the shooter, then tackled him, according to police. Giamanco, who had entered the building after hearing the gunfire, found the woman wrestling with the boy for control of the shotgun. He shot the boy multiple times, killing him. Investigators later identified the shooter as Griffin John II. Police arrived moments before Giamanco fired. As many as 15 spent shell casings were recovered at the scene; the boy had approximately 44 unused rounds remaining.

The teacher who tackled the gunman was not physically injured. Lambert, the 25-year-old teacher killed in the classroom, had described teaching as her dream job, her family said. A second teacher was shot in the arm and hand.

Linda Sanchez, mother of the first-grader who sheltered with his teacher, said she received a robocall about the school lockdown and heard emergency vehicles converging on the area. "My heart was just like pounding because he was in there," Sanchez said.

At a news conference on Friday, Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz praised each of the three individuals who intervened. "I don't think we can underestimate or underappreciate that courage," Krantz said. "When someone is willing to risk their own life for others, we recognize that. The quick thinking to observe, to then park and follow someone into the school is incredible and undoubtedly saved people."

Krantz credited Giamanco's instinct as a parent: "If it came natural as a protective father, that's terrific." Of the teacher who physically confronted the shooter, the chief said: "The teacher who's willing to stand and fight for her children — incredible. We all recognize that is true heroism. We don't see that a lot in society."

The entire series of events, from the moment the boy climbed the fence to the moment Giamanco fired, lasted only a few minutes.

Source: ABC News US