A 36-year-old Oregon man who fatally shot a teenage gunman during a deadly attack at an elementary school expressed deep remorse over not being able to save all the victims. Kaylub Giamanco, whose two daughters attend Silver Rail Elementary in Bend, said he views himself as the children’s “last line of defense” and feels he failed families of those killed.

The attack occurred on October 15 when 16-year-old Griffin J. John II, a former student, forcibly entered the school by blasting through locked doors with a shotgun. He then targeted a special needs classroom, killing three children aged 5, 8, and 11, along with a teacher. Another student was critically injured, and a second teacher sustained injuries requiring hospitalization.

Giamanco recounted that he had dropped off his daughters at school that morning before going to work. While returning home for lunch, he saw an individual dressed in black, armed with a long gun, firing at a pickup truck and a groundskeeper before climbing a fence toward the building. He described feeling a surge of panic and quickly retrieved a legally owned .40-caliber handgun from his truck.

After calling 911 to request emergency assistance, Giamanco said he told the dispatcher, “I’m sorry I have to go in. People are going to die,” before ending the call. To avoid detection, he crawled on his stomach toward the school, hearing children pleading and gunfire as he moved quickly. Entering the building through a broken window, he spotted a teacher wrestling with the shooter.

Seeing an opening, Giamanco said he fired his weapon, striking the gunman and the teacher, who then fled the scene. When the gunman reached for his shotgun, Giamanco fired additional rounds to incapacitate him, fearing further harm to others.

Authorities have confirmed that Giamanco was carrying his firearm legally and credited both him and the unarmed teacher who confronted the attacker with saving lives. A second teacher, Becky Drury, later disclosed that she played dead after being wounded by a shotgun blast that nearly severed her left hand.

President Donald Trump called Giamanco a “great hero” the day after the incident, commending his actions. Giamanco praised the unnamed teacher who grappled with the shooter, describing her as “a real true hero” whose actions provided the critical opportunity to stop the attacker.

Despite public gratitude for his intervention, Giamanco remains haunted by the lives lost and apologetic toward the families affected. “I can’t tell you what it feels like to take a life … but I can tell you that I genuinely feel like I was supposed to be there,” he said. “If I wasn’t there, I just don’t know what would have happened.”