BEND, Oregon: In the middle of an October day, a 16-year-old boy tossed a shotgun over a low chain-link fence. Then he climbed over it himself.
There was a playground and a broad grass field leading to an elementary school he once attended. Inside were hundreds of children, including a handful attending a special needs class – just like he had.
There was also a red truck. It was driven by the first of at least three people who would risk their own lives to try to stop him, according to accounts from police and school officials.
The driver yelled, and the boy started shooting. He hit the truck at least three times, but the driver wasn’t hurt – he drove down the road and called 911.
Nearby was another driver, Kaylub Giamanco, a 36-year-old carpenter. He saw the boy shooting at the red truck and heading toward the school, Silver Rail Elementary. Giamanco’s children go there.
The boy walked along the school to a locked door. He blasted through its glass panes with the shotgun.
Giamanco drove into the parking lot. He had a gun too – a .40-caliber pistol legally stored in his vehicle.
In the classroom next to the broken door there were teachers and four children. Another teacher had taken a first-grader to the bathroom.
The boy entered a classroom next to the door. He pumped the shotgun and pulled the trigger. Over and over.
The teacher and the first-grader who had gone to the restroom heard the gunshots. They hid under a table in a nearby office.
Giamanco could hear the shooting too. He went toward it.
One of the teachers in the classroom threw a phone at the shooter. Then, police say, she tackled him.
Inside the school Giamanco saw a woman wrestling with the boy for control of the shotgun. He shot the boy several times, killing him.
The teacher who wrestled with the boy wasn’t hurt. But three of the children in the classroom were killed. They were 5, 8 and 11 years old. Another was critically wounded.
One teacher in the classroom was killed: 25-year-old Megan Lambert. Her family said teaching was her dream job. Another teacher was shot in the arm and in the hand.
Linda Sanchez is the mother of the first-grade boy who hid under the table with his teacher. She got a robocall about the lockdown and heard ambulances and police cars rushing toward the school.
“My heart was just like pounding because he was in there,” Sanchez said.
The entire series of events spanned just a few minutes. Police arrived quickly, just before Giamanco shot the boy, Griffin John II. In the aftermath investigators found as many as 15 spent shell casings. The boy had about 44 more unused rounds.
At a news conference Friday, Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz and others expressed their appreciation for those who did not stand by.
“I don’t think we can underestimate or underappreciate that courage,” Krantz said. “When someone is willing to risk their own life for others, we recognize that. The quick thinking to observe, to then park and follow someone into the school is incredible and undoubtedly saved people.
“If it came natural as a protective father, that’s terrific,” Krantz said.
“The teacher who’s willing to stand and fight for her children – incredible,” the chief added. “We all recognize that is true heroism. We don’t see that a lot in society.”
