A shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, ended with an armed civilian intervening, a rare occurrence in mass shooting incidents in the United States. The attack on Thursday left three students and a teacher dead. Kaylub Giamanco, a 36-year-old carpenter and father of two girls attending the school, used a legally stored .40-caliber pistol to confront the teenage gunman after hearing gunfire inside the building.
According to Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz, Giamanco entered the school upon realizing the shooting was underway and fired at the assailant after witnessing a teacher struggle with him. Giamanco’s swift response helped prevent further casualties, police said.
President Donald Trump, speaking Friday at the White House, praised Giamanco’s actions, emphasizing the value of armed civilians capable of intervening during violent attacks. “It’s a terrible thing, but thank goodness for a man that had a gun and knew how to use it,” Trump said.
Instances in which armed civilians have stopped active attackers prior to law enforcement arrival remain uncommon. The Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) Center at Texas State University studied 634 active attack incidents—defined as attacks involving firearms, blades, or vehicles—occurring between 2000 and 2025. Of the 374 incidents that ended before police arrived, only 29 terminated when armed civilians shot the attacker, and in 31 other cases, civilians subdued the assailant by other means such as physical restraint.
James Keith, a spokesperson for ALERRT, noted that civilians who intervene often do so recognizing they may be the only immediate defense before law enforcement can respond.
The notion of the “good guy with a gun” stopping attacks has been a central argument among gun rights advocates who support arming civilians as a first line of defense. These individuals may have formal law enforcement or military training or may act spontaneously in chaotic moments.
In some states, including Texas, efforts have been made to embed armed personnel in public spaces such as schools. Texas established a school marshal program in 2013 permitting trained educators and staff to carry concealed firearms on campus, later expanding security measures following high-profile shootings, including the 2018 attack near Houston and the 2022 shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. Texas generally maintains permissive gun laws, per the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, while Oregon has some of the strongest gun control measures in the country.
Other notable instances of armed civilians intervening in mass shootings include a 2019 incident at West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement, Texas, where Jack Wilson, a firearms instructor and reserve sheriff’s deputy, fatally shot a gunman who had killed two congregants. In addition, in 2017, Stephen Willeford, a former NRA instructor in Sutherland Springs, Texas, confronted and wounded a church shooter, who subsequently fled and died by suicide.
In Twin Falls, Idaho, a shooting at an In-N-Out Burger in August 2023 was curtailed when an off-duty officer and an armed civilian exchanged fire with the perpetrator, who then took his own life. Jordan Salinas, the armed civilian, said he did not hesitate to act upon hearing gunfire and seeing people flee.
These cases underscore the complexity and rarity of armed civilian interventions in active shooter situations, with advocates on both sides debating their implications for public safety and gun policy.