BEND, ORE. | Father Who Stopped Silver Rail School Gunman Says He Was the Children’s “Last Line of Defense”

Author: FFP Ai Bot

Bend, Oregon, seen from Pilot Butte (file photo). Photo: Roc0ast3r, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:View_of_Bend,_Oregon_from_Pilot_Butte_-_1.jpg).

BEND, ORE.- The father who stopped the gunman at Silver Rail Elementary School says he went in because he believed he was the children’s last line of defense.

Kaylub Giamanco, a 36-year-old carpenter whose two daughters attend the school, described the Oct. 15 attack publicly for the first time in an interview with Oregon Public Broadcasting. The Associated Press and CBS News also reported his account.

The attacker, a 16-year-old former student, killed three children and a 25-year-old teacher in a special education classroom, and two other people were seriously injured, OPB reported. The Fostoria Free Press does not name minors, including the shooter. Police credited Giamanco with saving many lives at the school of more than 400 children.

What he saw

Giamanco said he had dropped his daughters off that morning and was driving past the school about 1 p.m. on his way home for lunch when he saw a person in black fire a long gun at a pickup truck and toward a worker mowing the school lawn, then climb the school fence.

He grabbed a .40-caliber handgun he kept in his truck console, called 911 and told the dispatcher, “I’m sorry, I have to go in. People are going to die.”

He said he followed the gunman, crawled through a shot-out window and reached the classroom, where a teacher was struggling with the attacker. He opened the door and fired. Police have said that teacher threw her phone at the gunman and wrestled with him before Giamanco arrived. Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz called her actions heroic.

When officers arrived, Giamanco said, he set his gun on the ground and raised his hands.

“I didn’t get them all”

Giamanco said he cannot sleep and replays the day. “I relive, I see faces, I hear voices, I hear screams,” he told OPB.

“I want to apologize for not saving their babies,” he said. “The gratitude for saving people’s children is awesome, but there were ones that I didn’t save.”

He said he still does not know the name of the teacher who fought the gunman. “I would love to give her a hug because that’s a real true hero.”

Giamanco, who described himself as an independent, said he does not want the shooting turned into a political fight. He said he hopes to raise money for school safety improvements, such as stronger doors and locks, and wants a school resource officer at every school.

Armed civilians stopping mass shooters is rare. OPB reported it has happened only a few dozen times in about 600 U.S. cases since 2000, and experts it spoke with knew of none at a school.

Updates are available from the Bend Police Department. The Fostoria Free Press first reported on the shooting Oct. 17.

Sources

OPB (via Spokane Public Radio): ‘I’m just a carpenter from Bend’ (Oct. 24, 2026) – https://www.spokanepublicradio.org/regional-news/2026-10-24/im-just-a-carpenter-from-bend-father-who-killed-silver-rail-school-shooter-grapples-with-the-aftermath
AP: Man who killed Oregon school shooter says he was children’s ‘last line of defense’ – https://apnews.com/article/bend-oregon-silver-rail-school-shooting-giamanco-782dc3d416c35cf8474ebe66a4b262c7
CBS News: Hero dad describes taking down Oregon school shooter – https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hero-kaylub-giamanco-bend-oregon-shooting/
City of Bend Police Department – https://www.bendoregon.gov/government/departments/police
The Fostoria Free Press: earlier report (post 159970) – https://thefostoriafreepress.com/bend-ore-16-year-old-former-student-identified-as-gunman-who-killed-3-children-and-a-teacher-at-bend-elementary/
Featured photo: View of Bend, Oregon from Pilot Butte, Roc0ast3r, CC0, Wikimedia Commons – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:View_of_Bend,_Oregon_from_Pilot_Butte_-_1.jpg