Teacher tackled attacker before bystander arrived and killed him

The attack at Silver Rail Elementary School last week left three children and a teacher dead. A seven-year-old student remains hospitalized receiving “lifesaving care,” and 54-year-old teacher Becky Drury suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

The attacker, 16-year-old Griffin J. John II, first opened fire outside the school with a shotgun, aiming at a driver who tried to confront him. He then shot through locked doors, forcing entry onto the campus.

Giamanco, who has two daughters at the school, was driving back from his lunch break when he heard gunfire from the campus, according to Bend police. He parked his car near the building, took a legally registered 40-caliber pistol from his vehicle and raced inside. Before Giamanco arrived, a teacher threw a cellphone at the assailant and tackled him, and tried to wrestle the gun from his hands. Shortly after, Giamanco fired several close-range shots at John, killing him.

According to the September 2018 Facebook post reviewed by The Guardian, Giamanco wrote that he had gone “shooting with a group of guys who served in combat together in Iraq.” The newspaper characterized the activity as “military shooting drills.” It is not clear from the post whether the activity was a formal training exercise. Neither Bend police nor Giamanco and his family have made a connection between the shooting drills and the incident.

After the shooting in Bend, Giamanco called his mother, Kenda Freeman, to recount the incident, she told CNN affiliate KOVR in Sacramento, where Freeman lives.

“He said, ‘Mom, I just shot and killed somebody.’ And I said, ‘Kaylub, tell me about it,’” Freeman said. Giamanco told his mother that he had shot the assailant at point-blank range and killed him.

“It’s tough because I’m, well, I’m thankful that my babies are OK,” Freeman said. “There are babies that are not. And that’s … that’s hard to swallow, because my heart goes out to those families. They didn’t get to bring their babies home.”

Giamanco’s brother, Kyle Giamanco, told the New York Post he was not comfortable with being described as a hero.