The individual identified as the ‘hero’ for fatally shooting a teenage gunman, who had already taken three children and a teacher’s lives at an elementary school, was named Friday, as the US sparked a familiar, and likely futile, discussion on gun control following the latest tragedy.
Kaylub Giamanco rushed into Silver Rail Elementary in Bend, Oregon after 16-year-old John J. Griffin II forced the locked doors open and began shooting students. According to Kyle Giamanco, the 36-year-old, who has two children attending the school, was returning home for his lunch break on Thursday when he heard gunfire and saw Griffin enter the special-education room.
Kaylub Giamanco has a permit to carry a concealed weapon, his brother told NBC, adding that he was having difficulty processing events at the moment and feels guilty that he did not save more people. A woman identified as his mother told the local Fox affiliate she was “very proud” and that her son was “an absolute hero” before she read a prepared statement.
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She added, “He is not seeking recognition, but instead wishes to express his gratitude to the first responders, school personnel, and community for the outpouring of love and support.” President Donald Trump praised Giamanco as a “great hero.” “As bad as it was, we had a great hero that went in and did the business,” Trump said to reporters. “It’s a terrible thing, but thank goodness for a man that had a gun and knew how to use it.”
On Friday, the small city in the US northwest was struggling to come to terms with a tragedy that took the lives of children aged five, eight and 11, as well as a teacher, the latest victims of America’s epidemic of gun violence that all-too-frequently afflicts the nation’s schools. Streets were quiet in an area known for its natural beauty, with hiking trails and ski pistes nearby that attract tens of thousands of visitors every year.
Kristen Vanetsky, 52, told AFP she was in shock over the shooting at her grandson’s school. “My grandson should be in his classroom, with all of his friends,” she said. “Everybody should be in there learning, having fun, looking forward to their weekend, and it’s just vacant,” she added. “There’s nothing. Even the birds are not here.”
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Gun control advocates again lamented the ready availability of weaponry in a country where the number of gun-related deaths far outpaces most of the developed world. “America’s gun violence crisis is killing our babies. Enough is enough,” gun-control group GIFFORDS said on X. More than 360 mass shootings have been recorded across the United States this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines them as incidents in which at least four people are shot, excluding the gunman.
Griffin’s neighbors told AFP they had seen his mother taken away from the house she shared with the suspect on Thursday afternoon in a police patrol car. That woman, Shauntai May Nickerson, was seen on Friday smoking a cigarette on the porch outside of her apartment and crying. “If I could have prevented this, I would have,” a tearful Nickerson said, according to The New York Times.
