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The armed civilian who shot and killed a 16-year-old elementary school shooter in Bend, Oregon, is a father of two young students who were inside the building at the time of the deadly attack.
Kaylub Giamanco, a dad of two Silver Rail Elementary School students, was in the area when he saw an armed gunman enter the building before opening fire, killing three children and a teacher inside a special needs classroom, multiple media outlets reported on Friday, October 16.
Giamanco heard the gunshots and entered the building shortly after, confronting and ultimately killing the teen shooter.
“Kaylub has always been a hero from the time we were 6 years old,” Dyland Costa, a friend of Giamanco since childhood, told NBC News on Friday. “He’s always been the type to spring into action when needed.”
Giamanco’s mother, Kenda Freeman, recalled the phone call she shared with her son in the wake of the deadly shooting.
“He said, ‘Mom, I just shot and killed somebody.’ And I said, ‘Kaylub, tell me about it.’ And he said, ‘A man went into my daughters’ school and, um, shot kids.’ And he said, ‘And I looked at him point blank and I shot and killed him, mom,’” She recalled to CBS LA. “I told him he saved a lot of lives and he said, ‘Mom, I couldn’t save them all.’”
A woman grieves at a candlelight memorial out front of Silver Rail Elementary School on October 15, 2026 in Bend, Oregon. Getty Images
Freeman continued at the time, “Kaylub has a genuine heart — he loves his community. 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. He crawled through a window that the gunman had shot out — he Army-crawled through the window.”
Freeman said that the entire situation is “tough,” because while she is “thankful that my babies are OK,” she is painfully aware that many parents, family members, friends and siblings cannot say the same.
“That’s hard to swallow, because my heart goes out to those families who didn’t get to bring their babies home,” she continued, before further detailing how her son is fairing in the wake of the deadly shooting. “He’s having a hard time with it — again, you know, the idea of not being able to save them all, right? So when he closes his eyes the things he thinks about [are] what could I have done differently? How could I have done it better?”
Freeman told media outlets that her son is “not seeking recognition” for his actions but rather “wishes to express his gratitude to the first responders, school personnel and community for the outpouring of love and support.”
Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz identified the attacker as 16-year-old, who Us is not naming again out of respect for the victims and their families, going on to confirm that all of the victims were shot in the same classroom. Per authorities, the shooter was a previous special needs student at the school, firing as many as 15 shots with a 12-gauge shotgun and who had a total of 44 rounds remaining at the time he was shot and killed.
UPDATE — 1/22/26 at 11:58 a.m. ET: After seven hours of deliberations, a Texas jury acquitted former Uvalde police officer Adrian Gonzales on 29 counts of child endangerment for his response to the Robb Elementary shooting in May 2022. Gonzales was among the first officers to respond to the mass shooting that claimed the lives […]
“I miss my boy,” the shooter’s mother, Shauntai Nickerson, said in the wake of the shooting, per multiple media outlets including The New York Times and CNN. “I’m so sorry, I wish I could have done something. I’m sorry for their loss.
Rhoam Summer, 5, was identified as the youngest of the victims by his family member, per NBC News.
“We are broken and lost, but are surrounded by friends and family who are keeping us safe,” Rhoam’s mother, Kelik Summer, wrote, via Facebook after the shooting, per the outlet. Officials have declined to publicly identify the remaining child victims — an 8-year-old and an 11-year-old — at the request of their families.
Megan Lambert, a 25-year-old teacher, was also killed in the attack. A 7-year-old girl and another teacher, Becky Drury, remain in serious condition at a local hospital.
