Bend hero who stopped school shooter called his mother first: 'I shot and killed him'

The man who stopped an active shooter at a Bend elementary school on Thursday, October 15, has been widely praised.

Kaylub Giamanco, a father of two at Silver Rail, was heading home for a lunch break when he heard the gunshots and went after the gunman.

After he shot and killed the suspected shooter, Giamanco called his mother and told what had happened.

Her mother revealed it in an interview with KOVR, a Sacramento TV station and an affiliate of CNN.

Kenda Freeman described how she came to know first about the tragic shooting incident that left four people dead, including 3 children at a Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend.

“He said, ‘Mom, I just shot and killed somebody,' and I said, ‘Kaylub, tell me about it,’” Freeman said.

“And he said, ‘A man went into my daughter’s school and shot kids,’ and he said, ‘And I looked at him point blank, and I shot and killed him, mom.’”

On Thursday afternoon, a gunman, later identified as a 16-year-old Griffin J. John II, opened fire with a shotgun outside the elementary school at Bend.

The shooter first aimed at a driver who tried to confront him, then shot through a set of locked doors and got into the school.

He managed to enter into a special needs classroom just inside the main doors.

Giamanco, 36, after spotting the teen with a short gun entering the school building, parked outside and chased John.

According to investigators, the shooter fired as many as 15 times, resulting in the killing of three children, ages 5, 8, and 11, and a 25-year-old teacher identified as Megan Lambert.

The shooting left another 7-year-old student and a 54-year-old teacher wounded, and they are being treated at a hospital.

Following the fatal shooting incident, Bend-La Pine Schools announced that all of its schools will remain closed until Wednesday, October 21, 2026, while Silver Rail will remain closed indefinitely.