An Oregon dad whose daughters attended the school stalked a teen gunman, army-crawled through a shot-out window, and killed him after a rampage that left four dead, his mother said.
Kaylub Giamaco was heading home from a lunch break Thursday around 1 p.m. when he heard gunshots at Silver Rail Elementary School in Oregon and saw 16-year-old Griffin John entering the building.
Giamaco pulled onto the grass, grabbed his legally owned firearm, and followed the gunman back inside. He then army-crawled through a window John had shot out, faced him at close range, and shot him dead, ending the attack that killed three students and a teacher.
His mother, Kenda Freeman, described the sequence to CBS News, and the New York Post reported her account of how her son acted in the moment.
Freeman said her son recognized danger at once and moved toward it rather than away.
"Kaylub knew something was not right, so he pulled up onto the grass, grabbed his gun and basically stalked the gunman back into the school,"
she said.
She added that he did not wait for a clear doorway.
"He crawled through a window that the gunman had shot out. He army crawled through the window."
Giamaco later called her and described what he had done.
"Mom, I just shot and killed somebody. A man went into my daughters school and shot kids. And I looked at him point-blank, and I shot and killed him, Mom."
Two of his daughters attend Silver Rail Elementary. He told her he could not reach every child in time.
The shooting killed 5-year-old Rhoam Summer, an 8-year-old student, an 11-year-old student, and 25-year-old teacher Megan Lambert. Seven-year-old Saylor Graham and 54-year-old teacher Becky Drury were critically injured.
Freeman said she told her son he had done what was required.
"I told him he was a hero, he did what he had to do, and that he did the right thing, and that I was proud of him and that he was a hero and he saved a lot of lives,"
she said. He answered that he still fell short.
"And he said, ‘Mom, I couldn’t save them all’."
Her relief for her own grandchildren sat beside grief for other families.
"It’s tough because, well, I’m thankful that my babies are OK. There are babies that are not, and that’s hard to swallow because my heart goes out to those families that didn’t get to bring their babies home,"
Freeman said.
Brother Kyle Giamanco said Kaylub does not want to talk about the shooting. He feels riddled with guilt for the lives he could not reach.
Cops are still investigating why Griffin J. John II entered the elementary school and opened fire. No motive has been established in the reporting so far.
Giamaco legally owned and carried the weapon he used. He was already near the school when the gunfire started, saw the teen go inside, and chose to close the distance himself.
The timeline is short and stark. Gunshots. A father on the grass with his firearm. A stalk back into the building. An army crawl through glass John had already shattered. A point-blank shot that stopped the attack. Then a phone call to his mother and the weight of the children he could not pull out.
When a killer is already inside a school, the people closest to the danger decide the next minute. This father did not wait for someone else to arrive.
