Kaylub Giamanco, 36, described the harrowing experience of confronting the 16-year-old gunman at Silver Rail Elementary School, recalling the sounds of children pleading for their lives as the massacre unfolded. Giamanco intervened last Thursday when he saw Griffin John, the shooter, enter the school with a shotgun.
While driving home for lunch, Giamanco witnessed John firing a gun twice at a vehicle and then at a woman mowing the school's lawn. John then vaulted a fence and entered the school, prompting Giamanco to retrieve his .40 caliber handgun from his vehicle's center console.
"That’s when panic fled into my brain, and that’s when I opened my center console," Giamanco told Oregon Public Broadcasting. He then rushed toward the school building, moving on his hands and knees. Inside, he heard "children pleading for their lives" and then the sound of gunfire.
"I told myself this is probably the last thing that I’m ever going to do," Giamanco stated.
John's attack resulted in the deaths of three children and a teacher. Additionally, a 7-year-old girl in a wheelchair and a teacher sustained critical injuries.
