Just moments before confronting the gunman at an Oregon elementary school, Kaylub Giamanco made a chilling statement to a 911 operator. Now hailed as a hero, the father ultimately killed the teenager responsible for last month’s attack, which claimed the lives of a teacher and three students.
Kaylub Giamanco, a father of two students at Silver Rail Elementary in Bend, Oregon, intervened during last month’s tragic school shooting.
He confronted the gunman and helped bring the attack to an end, shooting the 16-year-old attacker.
A statement released by Giamanco’s family said, “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.”
“The tragedy at Silver Rail Elementary has devastated the Bend community.”
Kaylub Giamanco stopped the attack
Before entering the building, he called 911. A recording of the call was made public this week, offering a glimpse into what was going through Giamanco’s mind in the seconds before he confronted the gunman.
In the call, he tells the call handler that “someone with a gun” had entered the school, adding: “I have a gun and I will shoot them right now,” according Oregon Public Broadcasting.
The operator tells him to wait, saying: “Don’t do anything, let me get an officer there.”
As the conversation grew increasingly tense, Giamanco and the dispatcher repeatedly talked over one another. Finally, he said: “I’m about to go kill this kid.”
Moments later, he made his way inside the school. When the dispatcher asked whether shots were being fired, Giamanco said “yes,” before the call was cut off.
Oregon school shooting
Following the shooting, Giamanco said he could hear children inside the school desperately “pleading for their lives.”
“I started hearing gunfire and I just started army crawling faster and faster, and I told myself this is probably the last thing that I’m ever going to do.”
Giamanco said his first shot brought the gunman down, but he fired twice more when the teenager reached for his weapon again, killing him.
“He was scrambling for his weapon,” he told Oregon Public Broadcasting.
“I looked at him and I shot him two more times to make sure that he couldn’t move because I was afraid of him shooting anybody else.”
Read more:
