Tragically, three young special-needs children and a teacher were murdered by a deranged teen in Oregon on Thursday. Thanks to the actions of a heroic teacher and armed father, the death toll wasn’t any higher.
We reported on this latest school shooting on Friday morning, but more details emerged later that day that merit unpacking. At Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, a teenage former special-needs student who had stolen his mom’s shotgun opened fire, killing three children, aged five, eight, and 11, as well as 25-year-old teacher Meghan Lambert, and critically wounding at least two more. The family identified the five-year-old as Rhoam Summer.
According to police, the assailant climbed a fence outside the school. A driver yelled at him, after which the perpetrator fired three shots. The driver was uninjured and called 9-1-1.
“The suspect ... forced entry through an external set of double doors,” said Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz. “He fired multiple rounds into the glass panes in the doors to gain access to the school.”
Kaylub Giamanco, a 36-year-old father of two children at the school, was passing by on his lunch break when he witnessed the altercation. According to Giamanco’s mom, “Kaylub knew something was not right, so he pulled up onto the grass, grabbed his gun, and basically stalked the gunman back into the school.”
Giamanco legally carries a handgun, though schools are, of course, “gun-free zones.” Like all school mass murderers, the Oregon killer chose the target precisely for that reason.
The killer specifically targeted a special-needs classroom, where an unnamed female teacher threw her phone at him before rushing forward and tackling him, wrestling with him for dear life. For all she knew, police help was minutes away, during which the armed perpetrator could continue his deadly assault unimpeded.
Her bravery was stunning, and Krantz confirmed that she “almost certainly helped prevent more bloodshed.” Krantz said the assailant fired 15 rounds and had 44 remaining.
Fortunately, Giamanco wasn’t far behind. He saw the teacher grappling with the assailant and opened fire, striking the killer multiple times and killing him. The teacher was not injured.
“I don’t think you can underestimate or underappreciate that courage,” Krantz said. “We all recognize that that is true heroism.”
Indeed, Giamanco and the teacher who tackled the killer deserve great praise for ending the slaughter. Yet Giamanco’s family and friends confirmed that he doesn’t want to speak publicly because he feels guilty for not saving more lives.
“Kaylub has always been a hero from the time we were six years old. He’s always been the type to spring into action when needed,” said longtime friend Dylan Costa. “I believe God put the right man in the right spot at the right time. I don’t know anyone else that would have sprung into action like he did to save so many lives from a massacre.”
The real question is for the people who stand against hardening targets. Why should the students and teachers at Silver Rail — or any other school — have to rely on the random appearance of a Good Samaritan with a gun to save them?
Oregon’s Democrat Governor Tina Kotek said, “To the community member who heroically intervened to stop further loss of life, your actions carry a heavy emotional burden, and I just want you to know that my thoughts are with you as well.”
Gee, that’s nice, but like every other Democrat in America these days, Kotek has never seen a gun-control measure she didn’t support. She backs “universal” background checks, red flag laws, magazine capacity limits, bans on “assault weapons” and “ghost guns,” and so on. Not a single one of those laws, however well-intentioned, would have saved a single life on Thursday.
In fact, Kotek is a key figure responsible for why no one was armed at the school that day. In 2021, she was speaker of the Oregon House, where she pushed legislation that allowed schools to entirely prohibit firearms.
Thanks to Kotek and her fellow Democrats, the Bend-La Pine school district website says:
No person on grounds of the schools controlled by the Board of Directors for Bend-La Pine Schools (including in school buildings) shall bring to, possess, conceal or use a weapon or firearm at any property under the jurisdiction of Bend-La Pine Schools, any activities under the jurisdiction of the district, or any interscholastic activities administered by a voluntary organization (i.e., Oregon School Activities Association). This prohibition includes those who may otherwise be permitted by law to carry such weapons or firearms.
The teen assailant obviously violated this law, but so did Giamanco.
Murder is illegal, full stop. Psychos bent on committing murder are hardly going to stop for a “gun-free” sign on a door. If Americans are serious about protecting innocent schoolchildren, schools must have more robust protection, not less.
The good guys must be armed because the bad guys certainly are. When will more people prioritize children over feel-good measures that only disarm the good guys?
