Kaylub Giamanco, the man hailed as a hero for fatally shooting a gunman at a school in Bend, Oregon, last week, is speaking for the first time about the moments leading up to the shooting and how he is dealing with the aftermath. The 36-year-old carpenter, whose two daughters attend Silver Rail Elementary School, told Oregon Public Broadcasting that it was a coincidence that he was passing by the school at the time. He said he had decided to go home for lunch that day instead of eating the food he had packed. While driving by the elementary school, he saw a “man in black” holding a long gun and shooting at a vehicle. At first he thought it was a prank, but then the shooter threw the gun over the school fence before scaling it. “That’s when panic took over my brain and that’s when I opened the center console and said, ‘No. No. No. No,'” Giamanco said in the interview. In the console of his truck was a .40 caliber pistol that he rarely used. He said he grabbed the gun’s magazine from another compartment, drove to the school parking lot and saw the shooter walking across the school grounds. “I was in full panic, like, ‘No, there are kids, there are babies in there,'” he recalled. “I told my Siri to call 911.” He said the operator had questions for him, but he didn’t stay on the call. “I said, ‘I’m sorry, I have to go in. People are going to die,'” Giamanco said. He described trying to stay out of sight as he followed the gunman. “I heard him fire two shots at the doors,” Giamanco said. “That’s when I started hearing kids begging for their lives and then I started hearing gunshots and I started crawling faster and faster and I told myself this is probably the last thing I’m going to do.” Giamanco said he crawled through a broken window and remained on his knees until he reached the special education classroom. He said he saw a teacher struggling with the shooter. He said he opened the door and fired. “He (the shooter) was struggling for his gun,” Giamanco said. “I looked at him and shot him two more times to make sure he couldn’t move because I was afraid he would shoot someone else.” Kaylub Giamanco describes in her own words how she responded to the Silver Rail Elementary School shooting by Central Oregon Daily News on YouTube. Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek was among those who praised Giamanco’s bravery, saying he “heroically intervened to stop further loss of life.” Police Chief Mike Krantz also credited the teacher who took down the shooter and fought to get the gun away from him, which “almost certainly helped prevent further bloodshed.” Police later identified the shooter as 16-year-old Griffin J. John II. Three children, ages 5, 8 and 11, and a 25-year-old teacher died in the attack. A 7-year-old girl and a 54-year-old teacher were injured. “I didn’t save everyone. I didn’t catch them all.” After police and first responders arrived at the school, Giamanco returned to his truck, emptied his gun and called his wife and then his mother. “She said, ‘Okay, honey, calm down. You did the right thing. You’re a hero. You saved lives.’ And I was like, ‘I didn’t save everyone.’ I didn’t understand them all,'” he recalled of the conversation with his mother. His mother, Kenda Freeman, who lives in California, told CBS News Sacramento that her son “has a genuine heart and loves his community, his family and his children.” Kenda Freeman and her son, Kaylub Giamanco, appear in a photo she shared with CBS News Sacramento. Kenda Freeman A week later, Giamanco told Oregon Public Broadcasting that when he goes to bed at night, he remembers that day in his head and wonders if he could have stopped the shooter sooner. “I relive, I see faces, I hear voices, I hear screams,” he said. “They were split-second decisions while shots were being fired, while children were losing their lives.” He became emotional when talking about the families who lost children. “I want to apologize for not saving your babies,” she said. “The gratitude for saving people’s children is incredible, but there were some I didn’t save.” A child writes a message on a cross at a memorial at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, on Oct. 17, 2026. Cody Rheault/The Washington Post via Getty Images In the days after the shooting, Giamanco tried to avoid the spotlight and issued a brief statement expressing gratitude to first responders and the community. However, he told Oregon Public Broadcasting that he has now decided to share his story. “I always wanted to change the world, but I felt small. I’m just a carpenter from Bend, Oregon. I was nobody but to my friends and family,” he said. “I feel like if I’m going to have a voice, I’ll be damned if I’m not going to use it to change this world, to make it a better place.” He said he hopes to help raise funds for local schools to improve their safety. A chalkboard with written messages, including one praising Kaylub Giamanco, on a memorial in front of Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, on October 16, 2026. David Ryder/REUTERS More from CBS News Go deeper with The Free Press in:
