Kaylub Giamaco’s mother has revealed how her son stalked the Oregon school shooter and army-crawled through a shattered window to end the massacre.
Kenda Freeman said that Giamaco, a father of two daughters at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, was driving home from his lunch break when gunfire erupted last week. The 16-year-old gunman, Griffin John, had already opened fire inside the building.
Freeman said her son instantly recognized the danger. “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,” she told the outlet.
The mother described his tactical entry. “He crawled through a window that the gunman had shot out. He army crawled through the window.”
What followed was a point-blank confrontation that left the teenage gunman dead. Giamaco then made an immediate call to his mother. “‘Mom, I just shot and killed somebody. A man went into my daughters’ school and shot kids and I looked at him point-blank, and I shot and killed him, Mom,” Freeman recounted her son telling her.
The massacre had already claimed four lives before Giamaco intervened. John killed three students — 5-year-old Rhoam Summer, an 8-year-old, and an 11-year-old — and teacher Megan Lambert, 25.
Freeman framed her son’s actions as instinctive protection. She emphasized that he “didn’t hesitate to jump into life-saving action to stop the maniac gunman from killing more helpless victims.”
The shooting has reignited debate over armed civilians responding to active threats, with Giamaco joining a growing list of Americans who have confronted mass shooters. Freeman’s account offers the most detailed description yet of how the father navigated the school to reach the gunman.
Giamaco’s two daughters were inside Silver Rail Elementary when the violence began, though their father did not know their exact whereabouts as he pursued John through the building. The window he entered through had been destroyed by gunfire during the attacker’s initial entry.
The Bend community continues mourning the young victims and their teacher as details of the civilian intervention emerge. Law enforcement has not yet released an official timeline confirming Freeman’s version of events.
The 16-year-old shooter carried out the attack with a semi-automatic rifle and a shotgun, according to investigators. Police have not disclosed a motive.
Giamaco has not spoken publicly about the confrontation, leaving his mother as the primary source for his movements inside the school. She described the phone call with her son as heart-pounding, underscoring the immediate emotional weight of his actions even as he believed them necessary.
The father remains a private figure in the aftermath, with no social media statements or press appearances. Freeman’s interview marks the family’s only public commentary.