Teen shooter who killed 4 at Oregon elementary school was a former
student, police say
[October 17, 2026]
By HAVEN DALEY, SAFIYAH RIDDLE and GENE JOHNSON
BEND, Ore. (AP) — A teacher threw her phone at the teenage gunman who
killed four people at an Oregon elementary school, then tackled and
fought with him — likely saving lives before he was shot by a father who
followed him into the building, police said Friday.
City of Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz called the teacher's actions
“heroic” during a news conference and said she was not injured. He
identified the attacker as 16-year-old Griffin J. John II and said all
of the victims were shot in the same classroom.
John was once a special needs student at Silver Rail Elementary,
authorities said, and he attacked a classroom with special needs
students. He fired as many as 15 shots from a 12-gauge shotgun and had
about 44 rounds remaining when he was killed, Krantz said.
“Everyone wants to know why, including us,” he said. “We may never get
that full answer, but we want it.”
Investigators are trying to determine how the shooter obtained the
pump-action shotgun, Krantz added.
A law enforcement official briefed on the shooting told The Associated
Press it was bought by his mother. The official spoke to The Associated
Press on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to
publicly discuss the investigation.
The attacker’s mother, Shauntai Nickerson, told reporters outside her
apartment near the school that if she could have done something to
prevent the shooting, she would have.
“I miss my boy,” Nickerson said, sobbing and crying, according to The
New York Times and CNN. “I’m so sorry, I wish I could have done
something. I’m sorry for their loss.”
She declined to say how the 16-year-old obtained the pump-action shotgun
and didn’t comment further when The Associated Press and other outlets
knocked on her apartment door later.
In a 2020 interview with the local news station KTVZ, Nickerson
identified the boy, then 10, as a participant in a special needs program
run by the school district. It was called NEST, for Nurturing Empathy,
Safety and Trust, and aimed at helping students experiencing intensive
behavioral and social skill challenges. Nickerson said he struggled
trying to learn from home during the pandemic.
Shooter killed minutes after first 911 call
The first 911 call came from the driver of a red pickup truck early
Thursday afternoon who saw the boy throw his gun over a fence outside
the school and then climb over it, Krantz said. The driver yelled at the
boy, who fired at him, striking the truck three times. The driver was
not injured.
A second driver, Kaylub Giamanco, a 36-year-old man whose children
attend Silver Rail, saw John shooting at the truck and heading toward
the school, where he shot through locked doors to get inside. Giamanco
pulled into the parking lot, grabbed his .40-caliber pistol and followed
the attacker inside. He saw John wrestling with the teacher and shot him
several times.
Three children — ages 5, 8 and 11 — and teacher Megan Lambert, 25, were
killed, police said. A 7-year-old child who was injured received
lifesaving care at the scene and is now hospitalized, as is 54-year-old
teacher Becky Drury, who her family said was shot in the arm and hand
and was recovering from surgery.
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Kristen Vanetsky sits outside Silver Rail Elementary in Bend, Ore.,
Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, a day after a deadly shooting. (AP Photo/Joe
Kline)
There were no other children in the classroom, authorities said.
The youngest victim, Rhoam Summer, was a fearless climber and a fast
runner who loved reading, his aunt Swan Sheridan said Friday.
“He never met a stuffie that he didn’t think needed to be rescued
and cared for,” she said.
Man who stopped the shooter a father of 2 at the school
In a statement read to reporters Friday, Giamanco's mother, Kenda
Freeman, identified him as the person who shot the gunman. She said
he is the father of two girls at the school.
“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,” Freeman said.
She said her family was asking for privacy “during this difficult
time.”
Silver Rail Elementary has students in kindergarten through fifth
grade, with about 450 enrolled last year.
Classes and all other activities were canceled Friday for schools
across Bend, a mountain-ringed city of about 100,000 that has become
a tourism and outdoor recreation hub in central Oregon.
The shooting was the 28th mass killing in the U.S. this year,
according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA
Today in partnership with Northeastern University.
Trump says the shooting could have been much worse
President Donald Trump on Friday praised the man who stopped the
gunman, calling him a “great hero" who he said “took care of
business.”
“It’s a terrible thing, but thank goodness for a man that had a gun
and knew how to use it,” Trump told reporters at the White House,
adding the tragedy likely would have been much worse.
Memorials with flowers, balloons and stuffed animals popped up
around the school, which sits in a densely packed neighborhood
filled with newly built homes.
Brooke Olsen, whose daughter is a kindergartner at Silver Rail, said
she was amazed that someone pursued the shooter.
“I think it’s miraculous that someone was there before law
enforcement even arrived to stop further tragedy from happening,"
Olsen said Friday, weeping at times. "I’m feeling very grateful.”
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