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The heroic father who halted a massacre at a Bend, Oregon elementary school Thursday called his mother after he gunned down the teenage shooter who opened fire on his former special education classroom, killing four.
“He said, ‘Mom, I just shot and killed somebody.’ And I said, ‘Kaylub, tell me about it,'” proud mother Karen Freeman told KOVR-TV of her son Kaylub Giamanco’s call as she choked up with emotion.
Giamanco, 36, was on his lunch break when he drove past Silver Rail Elementary School and saw armed suspect Griffin John, 16, enter the school. He stalked the killer and army crawled through a classroom window before ending the massacre by shooting John with his legal concealed weapon.
“And he said, ‘A man went into my daughter’s school and shot kids.’ And he said, ‘And I looked at him point blank, and I shot and killed him, mom,'” Freeman recounted to the local station.
Giamanco’s two daughters attend the school, but the carpenter was just coincidentally driving past Silver Rail when he saw John throw his long gun over a fence and open fire on a driver who tried to confront him, officials said.
As John shot his way through a set of locked doors en route to his former special education classroom, Giamanco was in hot pursuit, according to police.
The hero entered the classroom to see a teacher trying to pry a Maverick 88 pump-action 12-gauge shotgun away from the crazed killer — and opened fire several times on the teen before John could unload his 44 remaining rounds of ammunition, police said.
“It’s tough because I’m — well, I’m thankful that my babies are okay,” his proud mother said.
“There are babies that are not. And that’s … that’s hard to swallow ’cause my heart goes out to those families. They didn’t get to bring their babies home.”
Three students — 5-year-old Rhoam Summer, an 8-year-old, and an 11-year-old — and teacher Megan Lambert, 25, were slain before Giamanco could end the bloodshed.
Wheelchair-bound 7-year-old, Saylor Graham, and teacher Becky Drury, 54, were also critically injured by John.
School officials have announced that Silver Bend will be permanently closed in the wake of the massacre.