Oregon School Shooting: Father's 911 Call Reveals Urgent Promise
New audio shows Kaylub Giamanco telling a dispatcher he would shoot the gunman at Silver Rail Elementary, an action that stopped the attack but followed the deaths of four people.
By Pedro Barnes ·
The tension in the recording is immediate. Kaylub Giamanco, a 36-year-old carpenter, tells a 911 dispatcher that he has a firearm and intends to use it against the man attacking his daughters' school. The audio, released by the Deschutes 911 Service District, captures the moment the father decided to enter the building before police arrived. He stated, "I have a gun, and I will shoot them right now." This decision led to the end of the shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, where three children and one teacher had already lost their lives.
The incident began on October 15 when a 16-year-old student entered the school with a weapon. Giamanco, who kept a .40-caliber pistol legally in his vehicle, rushed toward the building. A dispatcher instructed him to wait for officers, telling him, "Don’t do anything. Let me get an officer there, OK?" However, Giamanco reported hearing voices from the south side of the building and confirmed that people were being shot. He believed he could not wait any longer.
Giamanco described the moment he entered as his final act in life. He told Oregon Public Broadcasting that he heard children pleading for their lives while gunfire continued. He army-crawled inside with increasing speed, believing he would not survive the encounter. He found a teacher struggling with the attacker. According to Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz, the teacher had thrown her cellphone at the boy and tackled him before Giamanco arrived. Giamanco then shot the attacker multiple times.
The attack resulted in the deaths of Megan Lambert, a 25-year-old teacher, and three students aged 5, 8, and 11. One child and another teacher were wounded. Giamanco has faced a mix of public praise and personal grief since the event. He expressed regret over the lives he could not save, saying, "I want to apologize for not saving their babies." He noted that while he is grateful for the lives he helped protect, the loss of others remains heavy on his mind.
Lambert's family acknowledged the father's role in stopping the gunman. During an October news conference, they read a statement thanking him for his intervention. They described him as a hero who selflessly put himself at risk for others. The family stated they know he is going through a difficult time but emphasized their gratitude for his actions. The release of the 911 call provides a new perspective on the minutes leading up to the father's entry into the school.
The Deschutes 911 Service District released the audio to provide transparency regarding the response to the call. The recording shows the rapid exchange between Giamanco and the dispatcher as the situation unfolded. It documents the father's decision to act based on what he heard and saw from outside the building. The release offers a specific account of the timeline between the initial reports and the physical intervention that halted the shooting.
