Bend Police Release School Shooting Timeline: Teacher Threw Phone and Tackled Gunman; Parent Followed Him Inside and Shot Him

BEND, Ore. — Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz released new details of the Silver Rail Elementary shooting at a Friday, October 16 news conference. Police formally identified the gunman as Griffin J. John II, 16, who had attended Silver Rail as a special-needs student and was not currently enrolled in the Bend-La Pine district. All of the victims were shot in the same special-education classroom. Police named two of the dead: Rhoam Summer, 5, a student, and Megan Lambert, 25, a teacher. The families of the other two boys killed, ages 8 and 11, asked that their names not be released.

According to the police timeline, at about 12:58 p.m. on October 15 two vehicles were driving near the school as the gunman approached and crossed a fence. The driver of a pickup confronted him, was shot at, and called 911. The second driver, the father of two students at the school, followed the gunman into the building carrying a firearm legally kept in his car, found the gunman fighting with a teacher, and shot him multiple times, killing him. Family members identified the father to multiple outlets as Kaylub Giamanco, 36, a carpenter; a statement read by his mother, Kenda Freeman, said he is not seeking recognition and the family asks for privacy. President Trump, speaking outside the White House on October 16, called the father a great hero, as reported separately on GSM's White House line.

Krantz said one of the three teachers in the classroom threw her cellphone at the gunman, tackled him and fought to take away his 12-gauge pump shotgun; she was not injured, and police said her actions almost certainly prevented more bloodshed. The gunman fired about 15 rounds in the classroom and carried 44 additional rounds in a backpack — birdshot, buckshot and slugs, all 12-gauge, police said. Police spokesperson Sheila Miller said the school resource officer assigned to Silver Rail was not on campus at the time; the officer covers six or seven schools and was at another one. Police expect crime-scene work in the classroom to continue at least through October 20, and how the gunman obtained the gun remains under investigation. The gunman's mother, Shauntai Nickerson, expressed grief and apologized to reporters outside her home, according to The New York Times and CNN. (GSM, based on Associated Press, Reuters and Statesman Journal reporting on the Bend police October 16 news conference)

Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)

Photo: 图：从派洛特孤峰（Pilot Butte）山顶西望俄勒冈州本德市全景，远处为喀斯喀特山脉雪峰（资料图）。摄影：MARELBU，CC BY 3.0，来源：Wikimedia Commons。Photo: Bend, Oregon, seen from Pilot Butte, with the snow-capped Cascade Range beyond (file photo). By MARELBU, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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