‘Great hero’ praised for saving lives in Oregon school shooting

WASHINGTON – The “hero” who shot dead a teenage gunman after the attacker had already killed three children and a teacher at an elementary school was named on Oct 16, as the US entered a familiar – and likely fruitless – debate about gun control in the wake of the latest tragedy.

Kaylub Giamanco raced into Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, after the shooter, identified by the local media as 16-year-old John J. Griffin II, blasted his way through locked doors and opened fire on youngsters.

Kyle Giamanco said 36-year-old Kaylub, who has two children at the school, was driving home for his lunch break on Oct 15 when he heard gunshots and saw Griffin going into the special education room of the school.

Kaylub Giamanco has a permit to carry a concealed weapon, his brother told NBC, adding that his sibling was having difficulty processing events at the moment and feels guilty that he did not save more people.

A woman identified as his mother told the local Fox affiliate she was “very proud” and that her son was “an absolute hero” before she read a prepared statement.

“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,” she said.

US President Donald Trump hailed Kaylub Giamanco as a “great hero”.

“As bad as it was, we had a great hero that went in and did the business,” Trump told journalists. “It’s a terrible thing, but thank goodness for a man that had a gun and knew how to use it.”

The small city of Bend, in the US north-west, was struggling to come to terms on Oct 16 with a tragedy that took the lives of children aged five, eight and 11, as well as a teacher, the latest victims of America’s epidemic of gun violence that all too frequently afflicts the nation’s schools.

Streets were quiet in an area known for its natural beauty, with hiking trails and ski pistes nearby that attract tens of thousands of visitors every year.

Kristen Vanetsky, 52, told AFP she was in shock over the shooting at her grandson’s school.

“My grandson should be in his classroom, with all of his friends,” she said.

“Everybody should be in there learning, having fun, looking forward to their weekend, and it’s just vacant,” she said. “There’s nothing. Even the birds are not here.”

Gun violence

Even as the city tried to process the tragic events, the familiar contours of an argument that plays out after every school shooting in the US began to harden.

The politically powerful National Rifle Association (NRA) praised the then unidentified bystander who stepped in to prevent even greater loss of life.

“Yesterday’s terrible act of violence in Oregon serves as another reminder of the importance of a law-abiding armed citizenry,” it said in a post on X.

The man’s actions “exemplify the heroism of everyday citizens who are prepared and ready to respond when innocent lives are on the line”, it added.

The NRA has invested millions of dollars campaigning for gun rights and supporting politicians who block the limits on ownership that the vast majority of Americans support.

The organisation’s opponents again lamented the ready availability of weaponry in a country where gun-related death rates are among the highest in the developed world.

“America’s gun violence crisis is killing our babies. Enough is enough,” gun-control group GIFFORDS said on X.

More than 360 mass shootings have been recorded across the US in 2026, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines them as incidents in which at least four people are shot, excluding the gunman.

Long gun

Griffin’s neighbours told AFP they saw his mother taken away from the house she shared with the suspect on the afternoon of Oct 15 in a police patrol car.

That woman, Shauntai May Nickerson, was seen on Oct 16 smoking a cigarette on the porch outside her apartment and crying. “If I could have prevented this, I would have,” a tearful Nickerson said, according to The New York Times. AFP