BEND, Ore. — A frantic 911 call from the man who fatally shot a 16-year-old shooter who killed four people at an Oregon elementary school last month was released Tuesday to The Associated Press through a public records request.
In a tense call lasting a little more than a minute, Kaylub Giamanco told the 911 operator there’s “someone with a gun” at the school his daughter attends. “I have a gun and I will shoot them right now,” said Giamanco, who was driving home for lunch and saw the shooter at Silver Rail Elementary School.
The operator implores him “don’t do anything, let me get an officer there.” They talk over each other and Giamanco sounds increasingly frustrated by the exchange. “I’m about to go kill this kid,” he said.
A few seconds later he says the shooter is entering the building. The operator asks if the shooter is firing and Giamanco says yes. The operator tries to get more information but the call ends.
A 16-year-old had shot his way through locked doors to get into the school in Bend, Oregon, on Oct. 15, killing three children — ages 5, 8, and 11 — and a teacher in a special needs classroom. Another student was critically injured and a teacher was injured and hospitalized.
A teacher tried to stop the shooter, Griffin J. John II, before Giamanco entered the school through an open window, opened the door of the classroom and fired his gun, dropping the shooter to the floor.
Teacher tried to stop shooter before father arrived
As Giamanco was racing toward the building, a teacher inside the school confronted the shooter in an effort to stop his progress. She threw her phone at the attacker, tackled him and wrestled with him for control of the weapon. Giamanco’s arrival stopped the struggle.
He said the teacher was “a real true hero” because her actions gave him an opening to shoot the attacker.
The teacher, a certified learning specialist, had not been previously identified, but last week, Bend-La Pine Schools identified her as Cassidy Schutz and shared her statement. She said there were no words to describe the sadness she feels following the shooting.
“This is not a story. This is a horrific and heartbreaking tragedy, and it is our real lives,” Schutz wrote. “My thoughts are with those who were lost, their families, those who were hurt, and those who were there that day. My heart is with you.”
Schutz said her focus is on the families, the school “and my own healing.”
A second teacher in the classroom, Becky Drury, previously released a statement saying she never had a chance to shelter the children inside. She had tried to shut the door behind her, but the shooter was already there.
“Before I could do anything more, he shot me at close range and I fell to the ground,” Drury said. She was shot in her left hand and right arm. Unable to get up, she said she pretended to be dead in the hopes he would not shoot her again.
Father said he was the ‘last line of defense’
Giamanco said in a Oregon Public Broadcasting interview that he regrets not arriving soon enough to save everyone who was killed and injured.
After imploring the 911 operator to send help, Giamanco climbed into the school through a window and peeked into a nearby classroom. He saw Schutz and the shooter in profile, giving him an open shot.
“I felt like I was the last line of defense between him and the rest of the children,” Giamanco said.
He stepped into the room and fired his gun. The teacher ran from the room and the shooter reached for his shotgun.
“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,” he said. “If I wasn’t there, I just don’t know what would have happened.”
Bellisle writes for the Associated Press.
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