{"id":692068,"date":"2026-10-24T12:15:58","date_gmt":"2026-10-24T12:15:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=692068"},"modified":"2026-10-24T12:15:58","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T12:15:58","slug":"haunted-and-heroic-girl-dad-who-neutralized-oregon-school-shooter-tells-his-story-for-first-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=692068","title":{"rendered":"Haunted and heroic: Girl-dad who neutralized Oregon school shooter tells his story for first time"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/div>\n

An emotional interview featured the firsthand account of the heroic father who stopped the tragedy at an Oregon elementary school from becoming far worse.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry, I have to go in. People are going to die.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the morning of October 15, Kaylub Giamanco and his wife readied their two daughters for school at Silver Rail Elementary in Bend, Oregon, where picture day was scheduled to take place. Hours later, as he explained in an exclusive interview with Oregon Public Broadcasting, a change of plans regarding lunch placed him in the right place to \u201cdo something more than just fix houses.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always wanted to change the world, but I\u2019ve felt small. I\u2019m just a carpenter from Bend, Oregon. I was a nobody other than to my friends and family,\u201d he told OPB News regional managing editor Emily Cureton Cook.<\/p>\n

As had been reported<\/a>, Giamanco was identified as the man who neutralized the 16-year-old killer who entered the school targeting the special education classroom where he\u2019d been a student, fatally shooting three children and a teacher in addition to injuring two others.<\/p>\n

Detailing the moments after witnessing the first shots fired at a pickup truck outside the school before the killer headed toward the building, the father of two \u2014 who was only there because he decided to go home to have lunch with his wife instead of eating his packed meal \u2014 recalled, \u201cI just was in full panic, like, \u2018No, there\u2019s children, there\u2019s babies in there.\u2019 I told my Siri to call 911.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having loaded his handgun and pulled into the school parking lot, he explained that, though the dispatcher wanted him to stay on the line to answer questions, he reportedly said, \u201cI\u2019m sorry, I have to go in. People are going to die.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Bend, Oregon man who shot and killed a shooter at his daughters\u2019 school speaks out, praises female teacher for fighting the shooter, allowing him to have a clear shot.<\/p>\n

Kaylub Giamanco says he is haunted by the sound of children pleading for their lives.<\/p>\n

He also praised the teacher for grabbing the gunman\u2019s weapon, allowing him to take a shot at the shooter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to recognize [the teacher]. She gave me the opportunity to make my shot without losing my life\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI swung the door open, and I stepped in, and I fired, and they dropped to the ground\u2026 I looked down at the gunman, and he was scrambling for his weapon. And I looked at him, and I shot him 2 more times\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) October 23, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Moving on his hands and knees on the outside, the father explained that after the killer entered the building, \u201cThat\u2019s when I started hearing children pleading for their lives and then 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\u2019m ever gonna do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking through a window when he reached the special education classroom, he saw the heroic teacher who physically confronted the killer, struggling to prevent further tragedy, and explained, \u201cI knew that [the killer] did not know that I was there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having already checked to make sure his gun was \u201cready to go,\u201d Giamanco said he opened the door to the room, entered, \u201cAnd I fired,\u201d an act some say is deserving of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\ud83d\udea8\" NEW: Kaylub Giamanco, the HERO father who TOOK OUT the Bend, Oregon elementary school shooter last week, tells the story for the first time<\/p>\n

\u201cI started hearing children PLEADING for their lives. And then 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\u2019m ever going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to go in. People are going to die.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI crawled through the bottom window that was shot out and continued onto the rug inside where there\u2019s a little breezeway with stairs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then the special needs classroom was to my left. At that point, I was on the ground on my hands and knees. I re-racked my weapon to make sure that a live round came so that I knew that I was ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then I peeked through the window. And at this point I found my opportunity. And I\u2019d seen a teacher on the left struggling with the gunman on the right with the rifle.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I knew that they were on both sides of me, and I knew that he did not know that I was there. And so at that point I swung the door out and open and I stepped in and I fired.\u201d<\/p>\n

This man deserves the Presidential Medal of FREEDOM! \"\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\"<\/p>\n

\u2014 Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) October 23, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Both the killer and teacher dropped to the ground, with the latter fleeing while the former \u201cwas scrambling for his weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI looked at him, and I shot him two more times to make sure that he couldn\u2019t move because I was afraid of him shooting anybody else,\u201d recalled Giamanco, who, when police arrived, had placed his gun on the ground and held up his hands before he was able to return to his truck and call his wife \u201cto tell her that I\u2019m not coming home for tacos.\u201d<\/p>\n

After explaining what happened and telling her to come to the school, he then called his mom. \u201cShe was just like, \u2018Okay, baby, calm down. You did the right thing. You\u2019re a hero. You saved lives.\u2019 And I was just like, \u2018I didn\u2019t save everybody. I didn\u2019t get them all.’\u201d<\/p>\n

The self-identified independent said he doesn\u2019t \u201cwant to make this a political situation\u201d and detailed the challenges he\u2019s faced on top of a deluge of prying media figures and political advocacy groups: \u201cI relive, I see faces, I hear voices, I hear screams.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along with wanting to hug the teacher who gave him the chance to act without losing his own life, \u201cbecause that\u2019s a real true hero,\u201d Giamanco expressed his hope to see something positive come from the tragedy. \u201cI feel like if I\u2019m going to have a voice, then I\u2019ll be damned if I\u2019m not going to use it to change this world, to make it a better place.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes there\u2019s a child out there that didn\u2019t have the love that they deserved. But I do want to believe that if he had more love in his life and better parenting, that this could have been prevented,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, he continues to feel regret for the families of the victims.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to apologize for not saving their babies,\u201d he told OPB.\u00a0\u201cThe gratitude for saving people\u2019s children is awesome, but there were ones that I didn\u2019t save.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to be a hero in this world. It feels like I was meant to be here and do this,\u201d said Giamanco.<\/p>\n

At the time of this post, a crowdfunding effort<\/a> started by a longtime family friend to support the Giamancos has raised over $430,000 of a $450,000 goal. The funds are intended to help as the father takes time away from work and the children take time away from school \u201cto begin healing together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along with any lost income and additional needs, the fundraiser aims to support \u201cTrauma-informed therapy and mental health care\u201d for the family.<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An emotional interview featured the firsthand account of the heroic father who stopped the tragedy at an Oregon elementary school from becoming far worse. \u201cI\u2019m sorry, I have to go in. People are going to die.\u201d On the morning of October 15, Kaylub Giamanco and his wife readied their two daughters for school at Silver… Continue reading Haunted and heroic: Girl-dad who neutralized Oregon school shooter tells his story for first time<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,22,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-692068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-border-security","category-immigration","category-immigration-reform","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=692068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692068\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=692068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=692068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=692068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}