A 16-year-old former student attacked Silver Rail Elementary in Bend on 15 October, killing three children aged five, eight and 11 and a teacher, according to police accounts reported by BBC and The Independent.
Kaylub Giamanco, a 36-year-old carpenter, called 911, followed the gunman and fired inside a classroom where a female teacher was struggling with the attacker, shooting the gunman two more times as he reached for his weapon.
In his first interview with Oregon Public Broadcasting, published on Friday, 23 October, Giamanco said he wants to apologize for not saving their babies.
Police said the teacher threw her phone at the gunman and wrestled him to take away his weapon, a step they said likely prevented more bloodshed.
On the morning of 15 October, Kaylub Giamanco, a 36-year-old carpenter from Bend, dropped his two daughters at Silver Rail Elementary School for picture day and then drove to a job site. He had packed a lunch, but needed supplies from town, so he phoned his wife and said he would come home to eat instead. Driving along Brentwood Avenue, which runs beside the school, he saw a figure dressed in black carrying a long gun fire at a red pickup truck and into a field. He then watched the gunman throw the weapon over a fence by the school.
Giamanco said panic filled his mind. He took his.40-caliber handgun from the truck's center console, loaded a magazine and dialed 911 as he headed toward the school parking lot. He told the dispatcher he could not stay on the line, and he later recounted the words he said to the operator.
“I said, 'I'm sorry, I have to go in. People are going to die.'”
He climbed a fence and followed the 16-year-old former student without being seen. Giamanco said he crawled on his hands and knees when he heard children pleading for their lives and more gunfire. The gunman had already shot through the locked glass doors. Giamanco crawled through a broken window into a classroom where a female teacher was struggling with the attacker, and he opened the door and fired. When the gunman reached for his weapon again, Giamanco shot him two more times. Police said the teacher had thrown her phone at the gunman and tackled him to take away his weapon.
Police said six people were shot in a classroom at the school. Three children, aged five, eight and 11, were killed, and all of them were boys. A teacher was also killed, and another child and a teacher were wounded. The school serves about 400 students, and police said Giamanco's actions prevented further loss of life. The gunman was a 16-year-old former student who was killed by Giamanco at the scene.
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Giamanco told OPB that he lies awake at night thinking about what he saw and wonders whether he could have done more. He said he wants to meet the families of the victims and cry with them. He spoke of his regret in plain terms.
“I want to apologize for not saving their babies, that's probably the biggest thing for me right now.”
He also described the teacher who fought the attacker as a hero, and said he wants to thank her in person.
“I would love to give her a hug because that's a real true hero.”
President Donald Trump praised Giamanco as a 'great hero' who went in. Giamanco said he wants to see safer schools, with school resource officers at every site.
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In his first interview since the 15 October attack at Silver Rail Elementary in Bend, Kaylub Giamanco described following the gunman into the school and said he regrets the children he could not save.
AI text based on reports by vrtnws.be, The Guardian, BBC and other publishers. Published .