Kaylub Giamanco's 911 Call Released After Oregon School Shooting
Records show the father urged dispatchers to send help before entering the classroom where he fatally shot the 16-year-old attacker.
By Mateo Thompson ·
Public records obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday reveal the audio of a 911 call made by Kaylub Giamanco during the October shooting at an Oregon elementary school. The recording captures the moments immediately before Giamanco entered the building where the attack occurred.
In the one-minute recording, Giamanco informed the operator that a person with a gun was present at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon. He stated that he was driving home for lunch when he saw the shooter. Giamanco told the dispatcher, “I have a gun and I will shoot them right now.” The operator urged him to wait for an officer to arrive. Giamanco grew frustrated and said, “I’m about to go kill this kid.” Seconds later, he confirmed that the shooter was entering the building and firing inside before the call ended.
The incident took place on October 15. Griffin J. John II, a 16-year-old student, forced his way through locked doors into the school. He killed three children, aged five, eight, and 11, and a teacher in a special needs classroom. Another student was critically injured, and a second teacher was hospitalized. Giamanco entered through an open window and fired at the shooter in a classroom, stopping the attack.
Cassidy Schutz, a certified learning specialist at the school, has been identified as the teacher who confronted the shooter before Giamanco arrived. She stated that she threw her phone at the attacker and tackled him to wrestle for control of the weapon. Giamanco described her actions as giving him the opening needed to shoot. Schutz said in a statement shared by Bend-La Pine Schools that the event was a horrific tragedy and that her focus is now on the families and her own healing.
Becky Drury, the second teacher in the classroom, said she was shot in her left hand and right arm before she could shelter the children. Drury stated that she pretended to be dead on the floor to avoid being shot again. Giamanco told Oregon Public Broadcasting that he regrets not arriving sooner to save everyone who was killed or injured.
Giamanco described seeing Schutz and the shooter in profile through the window, which provided him a clear shot. He stepped into the room and fired. The shooter reached for his shotgun, and Giamanco fired two additional times to ensure the attacker could not move. Giamanco said he felt like the last line of defense between the shooter and the remaining children. He noted that without his presence, the outcome might have been different.
The release of the call offers a direct audio account of the father’s decision-making process in the minutes before he took action. The records confirm the sequence of events described by witnesses and officials in the weeks following the October tragedy.
