Three Children and a Teacher Killed in Shooting at Bend, Oregon Elementary School

Updated 02:16 UTC: Governor Kotek declares emergency for Bend school districts after Silver Rail shooting

Oregon Governor Tina Kotek declared a state of emergency on Monday for the Bend-La Pine School District and the High Desert Education Service District, directing state agencies to support recovery from the October 15 shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School, which killed three children and a teacher. Executive Order 26-28 directs the Oregon Department of Emergency Management to coordinate the deployment of state resources and authorizes the Oregon Department of Education to grant administrative waivers, including relief from minimum instructional time rules, to support immediate and long-term educational recovery.

Kotek announced the order in Salem alongside leaders from the state education, health, employment and emergency management agencies, and Bend-area lawmakers Senator Anthony Broadman and Representative Jason Kropf. The state response assigns full-time education department staff to help the district apply for federal recovery grants, including Project SERV funds, sends Employment Department staff to Central Oregon to help district workers access Paid Leave Oregon, speeds background checks for substitute educators and crisis counselors, and adds 240 active threat training opportunities for Oregon law enforcement over the next three months. Kotek said she will work with legislative leaders to identify state funding through the Emergency Board in December, because Project SERV pays on a reimbursement basis and the district needs support before federal money arrives.

Updated 05:13 UTC: Father who stopped Bend shooter says he regrets the children he could not save

Kaylub Giamanco, 36, the carpenter who shot and killed the gunman at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, gave his first interview about the October 15 attack to Oregon Public Broadcasting, in an interview published on Friday, October 23.

Giamanco said a change of lunch plans put him near the school that day. He had packed a meal for work but decided to drive home to eat with his wife instead. Driving past the school, he saw the 16 year old gunman fire toward a pickup truck, throw his shotgun over the school fence and climb after it. Giamanco said panic flooded in, he took his .40 caliber handgun from his truck console, and he called 911 as he followed the teenager, trying not to be seen. He told the dispatcher: "I am sorry, I have to go in. People are going to die."

Inside the grounds, he said, he heard children pleading for their lives and then gunfire, and he army crawled faster, telling himself this was probably the last thing he would ever do. He crawled through a window that had been shot out, reached the special education classroom, and saw a teacher struggling with the gunman. He stepped in and fired. When the gunman scrambled for his weapon, Giamanco said, he fired two more times because he was afraid the teenager would shoot anyone else.

Police arrived soon after. Giamanco said he called his wife, then his mother. His mother told him he had done the right thing and saved lives. He said he broke down and answered: "I did not save everybody. I did not get them all." He told OPB the experience still keeps him awake: "I relive, I see faces, I hear voices, I hear screams."

Giamanco praised the teacher who fought the gunman without a weapon, called her a real true hero, and said she gave him the chance to fire without losing his life. He said he still does not know her name and wants to thank her. He also said he wants to meet the families of those killed, to cry with them and hold them, and to apologize. "I want to apologize for not saving their babies," he said. "The gratitude for saving people's children is awesome, but there were ones that I did not save, and that's probably the hardest thing for me right now. I do feel like I failed them."

He said he believes he was supposed to be there that day, and that he now wants to use his voice to raise awareness and money for school security across the country, starting in Bend. Three children aged 5, 8 and 11 and teacher Megan Lambert, 25, were killed in the attack. A 7 year old student and teacher Becky Drury, 54, were wounded.

Sources

Oregon Public Broadcasting interview published October 23, 2026, reported by USA Today and CNN.

Updated 18:36 UTC: Wounded Bend teacher says she was shot before she could act

Becky Drury, 54, a teacher wounded in the October 15 shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, said in a statement issued through a family friend that she was shot at close range before she had any chance to protect the children in her classroom.

Drury said she ran toward the noise, saw the shooter, and turned back to shut her classroom door, but he was already there. She said the shot nearly severed her left hand and wounded her other arm, and that she lay on the floor and pretended to be dead so he would not shoot her again. She said she spoke out to correct reports that had suggested she threw herself over a student, and she asked for accurate reporting as the community heals. She remains in hospital.

Schools in the Bend district reopened on Wednesday, October 21, everywhere except Silver Rail, with officers at each school to welcome children back, Bend police said. The police investigation includes search warrants at the attacker's home and on his electronic devices and social media accounts. Three children, ages 5, 8 and 11, and teacher Megan Lambert, 25, were killed in the attack. Another teacher tackled the gunman and wrestled for the weapon before a parent who had followed him into the building shot him, authorities said.

Sources

USA Today and CNN, reporting the statement issued October 21, 2026.

Updated 00:05 UTC. Becky Drury, the teacher wounded in the October 15 shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, said on Wednesday, October 21, in her first public statement that she was shot before she had any chance to protect the children in the classroom, the Associated Press reported. Some news reports had suggested Drury threw herself on top of a student to shield her. Drury, who is 54 and remains hospitalized, said she wanted to correct the record.

"I know there has been contradictory reporting about my actions that day, but the truth is I was shot before I had any chance to act," she said in the statement, issued through a family friend and also reported by KPTV. Drury said she ran to see what was happening when she realized something was going on outside, then saw the shooter and rushed back toward the classroom. "I turned to shut the door behind me, but the shooter was already there," she said. "Before I could do anything more, he shot me at close range and I fell to the ground."

Her left hand was nearly severed by the gunshot and her right arm was also struck. Unable to get up, defend herself or protect anyone else, she said: "I did the only thing I could do, which was to pretend to be dead in the hope he would not shoot me again." Police have said a different teacher, who was not injured, threw her phone at the gunman, tackled him and fought for the weapon before a parent who followed the shooter inside shot him dead. Three children aged 5, 8 and 11 and teacher Megan Lambert, 25, were killed in the attack, and a 7 year old student was also wounded. "Accurate, respectful reporting is a truly important service that will help heal the wounds inflicted by that awful day," Drury said.

Updated 11:22 UTC. CNN reported on Tuesday, October 20, that whether the parents of the 16-year-old who carried out the Bend school shooting could face criminal charges is now a central unanswered question of the investigation. It is illegal in Oregon for anyone under 18 to possess a firearm, with a few exceptions, and how Griffin J. John II got access to the shotgun and the ammunition has yet to be answered. Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz has called that question part of an active criminal investigation, and the Deschutes County District Attorney's Office told CNN the investigation remains open and active. No charges against any family member have been announced.

CNN senior law enforcement analyst Andrew McCabe said the Oregon investigation could lead to a situation like the recent cases in Georgia and Michigan, where parents have been charged criminally. In Michigan, James and Jennifer Crumbley were convicted of manslaughter after their son's shooting at Oxford High School in 2021 and were sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison. In Georgia, Colin Gray, the father of the shooter at Apalachee High School, was convicted of murder and sentenced to 15 years, CNN reported. In a pending case in Wisconsin, Jeffrey Rupnow, the father of a 15-year-old school shooter, faces three felony charges for allegedly allowing his daughter access to firearms. He has pleaded not guilty and his trial is set for March, according to court records. The Salem Statesman Journal reported that authorities in Bend have not said whether any laws were violated, and that investigators are expected to examine how the shotgun was obtained, stored and accessed.

Updated 00:27 UTC. The shotgun used in the October 15 shooting at Silver Rail Elementary was a birthday gift from the shooter's mother, law enforcement sources told CBS News. The Maverick 88 pump action 12 gauge shotgun was purchased legally in August 2026 by Shauntai Nickerson, the mother of Griffin J. John II, and given to him for recreational use, the sources said.

The gift detail matches earlier reporting. Two senior law enforcement officials told NBC News the mother bought the long gun around his birthday in August, and the Associated Press had already reported, citing an official briefed on the case, that she bought the shotgun. Bend police have not confirmed the gift detail on the record. Police have said how the teenager got access to the gun and the ammunition is still part of the investigation.

CBS also noted that Nickerson spoke to KTVZ in 2020, when her son was 10 years old and was struggling with remote learning during the pandemic as a special needs student. She said then: "It'll be great for my son to get back in there and get the help that he needs with the skilled teachers that he needs to get it from."

Updated 00:14 UTC. The parents of Rhoam Summer, 5, have hired three law firms to investigate the October 15 shooting at Silver Rail Elementary and to look at possible legal claims, the firms announced on Monday, October 19. The firms are Dwyer Williams & Cherkoss, Simon Greenstone & Panatier, and Worthington & Caron. They said they will work to preserve and protect Rhoam's memory and to find out what happened.

Bend attorney Tim Williams, co-counsel for parents Kelik and Lillian Summer, asked whether the attack was foreseeable and thus preventable, and said that is what the team will find out. The firms said their investigation will ask whether adequate security protocols were in place and enforced, whether the school had an active shooter protocol and whether it was followed, whether there were prior warnings from this shooter or others, where the weapon was purchased and how it was marketed, and how the underage shooter got access to the weapon and then into the school. No lawsuit has been announced, and the firms did not name any party as legally responsible.

The announcement adds context police have already given. Bend police have said the school resource officer assigned to Silver Rail covers multiple schools and was not at Silver Rail when the shooting happened. Police have said the teen shot through glass doors to enter, used a Maverick 88 12 gauge pump action shotgun that law enforcement said was purchased legally, and that other firearms were found in his home. Police have not said how he got access to the gun and the ammunition.

Updated 23:36 UTC. Bend police gave a new account on Monday, October 19, of who was inside the special needs classroom when the shooting happened on October 15. Investigators have confirmed there were four adults and five children in the room, the department said. Three children and teacher Megan Lambert, 25, were killed, and Saylor Graham, 7, and Becky Drury, 54, were wounded.

Police said evidence collection inside Silver Rail Elementary was expected to finish on Monday and the building would be returned to Bend-La Pine Schools, while the wider investigation stays open. The Deschutes County District Attorney's Office told CNN on Monday the investigation remains open and active and it will share information as it becomes available. Police said officers will be in and around school campuses when most district students return on Wednesday, October 21, and for the time after that. The FBI Victim Services Division is helping families recover belongings left at the school in areas not directly hit by the shooting, in a process held away from the school.

Drury's condition continues to improve, her husband Will Drury said on Monday in a statement given to CNN through a family spokesperson, though she faces a long road ahead. He called her an amazing woman who continues to show courage and resolve. The parents of Rhoam Summer, 5, gave a statement on Monday through their attorneys. They described him as a kind child who loved rainbows and unicorns, wanted to go to the pumpkin patch, learn to ride horses, learn to play an instrument and be a bunny for Halloween, and they asked people to draw sharks, dinosaurs and monsters in his honor. Their attorneys said the parents have kept a legal team for possible claims linked to the shooting.

Updated 11:46 UTC. Parents, teachers and neighbors gathered outside Silver Rail Elementary on Saturday, October 17, leaving flowers, stuffed animals and balloons at a growing memorial, the Associated Press reported. Four small crosses with hearts and handwritten messages stood outside the school, CNN reported, and children left chalk drawings on the pavement. Savannah Patton, whose children are in first and fourth grade at the school, sat across from the memorial and said Megan Lambert, the teacher who was killed, had been a substitute in her daughter's class last year. Patton said her daughter asked her, "Mommy, why would someone want to take a gun and kill us at school?" and that she did not know how to answer.

Family friend Zack Hall, speaking for Becky Drury's family, told AP that Drury, 54, is recovering in a Bend hospital from wounds to her arm and hand and hopes to go home soon. Her husband, Will Drury, said in a family statement that her left arm took a lot of damage, that more surgery lies ahead, and that her right hand injury is less serious. "The good news is she will be ok," he wrote.

AP also gave new detail on Saylor Graham, 7. In a Sparrow Clubs video she says she loves watching Bluey and being around other children, communicates with her eyes and a tablet, and lives with CASK related challenges. "I prove every day that I am a fighter who doesn't give up," she says in the video. A GoFundMe for her family has raised almost $400,000, AP reported. Heidi Wood, who directs the Central Oregon Volleyball Club where Lambert coached, wrote: "We will carry on her love, her passion and we will not let her name be forgotten." CNN reported Lambert's family called her funny and opinionated, said she lit up a room, and said Thursday was picture day at the school.

Updated 03:03 UTC. The two people wounded in the shooting remained in hospital on Saturday, October 17, and friends said their survival gave the mourning community a measure of hope, the Associated Press reported. The youngest survivor was named as Saylor Graham, 7. Matt Sampson, executive director of Sparrow Clubs, where she was a member, told AP she is a fighter with a sweet nature whose story inspired other children. He said she has a genetic disorder, usually uses a wheelchair and is non-verbal, but does not need words to connect with people. NBC News reported she was shot in the face, had surgery, and was in serious but stable condition, and the New York Post reported the same account from her family and from Kyle Giamanco, the brother of the man who stopped the shooter.

Becky Drury, 54, the wounded educational assistant, was still in hospital in Bend on Saturday. Her family has said she was shot through her left arm and right hand, had surgery, and faces more surgery in a long recovery.

Updated 00:33 UTC. Bend-La Pine Schools gave new details on Saturday about the staff members at the center of the attack at Silver Rail Elementary. The district said Megan Lambert, 25, was a special education teacher who joined the district this fall, and called her a bright light for her students, her family and the community, KTVZ reported. In the family statement released by Bend police on Friday, her family said Lambert grew up in Bend, graduated from Mountain View High School in 2019 and from Boise State in 2023, coached volleyball, and worked as a substitute at Silver Rail for years before it became her first teaching job. They said she turned down a salary in her first year coaching with the Central Oregon Volleyball Club so girls whose families could not afford the costs could play, NBC News reported, and that she loved the children in her class. The district also said the teacher who threw her phone at the gunman and fought him is a learning specialist, and praised her extraordinary courage. It named Becky Drury, the wounded 54 year old, as an inclusion educational assistant at the school.

The district said all its schools will stay closed to students on Monday and Tuesday, October 19 and 20, with events and activities canceled. Students return on Wednesday, October 21, on the early release schedule, and schools follow regular schedules on Thursday and Friday. Silver Rail Elementary stays closed until further notice, and the district said it has shared a separate plan with Silver Rail families and staff. Counseling support will be available in all school buildings, and police presence will be higher across the community.

Updated 14:57 UTC. The Associated Press reported on Saturday that cases like Kaylub Giamanco's remain rare in the United States. The Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center at Texas State University tracked active attack incidents with firearms, blades or vehicles from 2000 to 2025. Of 634 cases studied, 374 ended before police arrived. Among those, 29 ended when an armed civilian shot the attacker, and in 31 more, civilians stopped the attacker another way, such as wrestling them to the ground or taking the weapon. James Keith, a spokesperson for the center, told AP that people who intervene recognize they may be the only way to stop an attack before police arrive. NPR reported that Keith also said the center does not recommend that civilians try to stop an attacker, and teaches people to run first, block an attacker's access if they cannot get away, and fight only as a last step. Gun control advocates told AP a civilian with a gun could confuse responding police or cause more harm in a chaotic scene.

Updated 07:32 UTC. CNN reported on Saturday how the attack unfolded in about three minutes, and investigators gave more detail on the search for a motive. Police said the shooter used three kinds of 12 gauge ammunition, birdshot, buckshot and slugs. Investigators executed a search warrant at his home on Thursday, took computers and other electronic devices, and got more warrants to extract data from them, a senior law enforcement official told CNN. His parents were interviewed on Thursday and were cooperative, the official said. Chief Mike Krantz said police are looking at whether there were mental health concerns or warning signs, and that no clear motive has emerged from the interviews so far. His mother told CNN off camera on Friday that there were no warning signs and apologized to the families of those killed. She did not say how her son got access to the shotgun, and police said that question is still under investigation.

Fifth grade teacher Kathy Sheil Smith told KPTV she saw the gunman from her classroom window, called the main office, and moved her students into a corner, where some prayed and some comforted each other quietly. CNN also reported the shooter forced his way in by firing into the glass panes of an outside set of double doors, then went straight to the special needs classroom just left of the entrance.

Updated 03:54 UTC. New details and reactions emerged on Friday night. Reports said Kaylub Giamanco used a legal .40 caliber pistol when he shot the gunman inside the classroom, where a teacher had thrown her phone at the teenager, tackled him and fought to take his shotgun away. Chief Mike Krantz called that teacher's fight true heroism. Giamanco's mother, Kenda Freeman, read a family statement to reporters on Friday. She said her son, a lifelong Bend resident, was not seeking recognition, thanked first responders, school staff and the community for their support, and asked for privacy for the family, including his two daughters at the school. President Donald Trump also praised Giamanco at the White House, calling him a great hero and saying the attack would have been worse without him, CNN reported.

Updated 00:25 UTC. Police gave new details on Friday about the wounded and the weapon. Chief Mike Krantz said the 7 year old girl got life saving care at the scene and is in serious but stable condition at OHSU in Portland, and the 54 year old teacher has serious injuries that are not life threatening. Her family identified her as Rebecca Drury, known as Becky, an educational assistant who has had more surgery and is talking with her family. Krantz said officers found a Maverick 88 pump action 12 gauge shotgun and a backpack near the shooter. He fired as many as 15 rounds in the classroom and still had about 44 rounds on him or in the backpack. ATF agents from Eugene and Portland are tracing the gun. Krantz said all three children killed were boys, and first responders tried to save one of them at the school.

Updated 21:57 UTC. Police Chief Mike Krantz gave the first official names at a press conference on Friday afternoon. He identified the shooter as Griffin J. John II, 16. John had attended Silver Rail Elementary as a special education student and no longer attended school in the Bend-La Pine district. Krantz released two victims' names: Rhoam Summer, 5, at his family's request, and Megan Lambert, 25, the teacher killed in the attack. The families of the two boys killed, aged 8 and 11, asked for their names to stay private. Everyone shot was in the same special education classroom.

Krantz also filled in the first minutes. At 12:58 p.m. on Thursday, as the teenager crossed a fence toward the school, a pickup driver confronted him and he fired at the truck, hitting it at least three times before the driver drove on and made the first 911 call. A second driver was the bystander who followed him inside. Krantz said a teacher threw her cellphone at the shooter and tackled him, was not injured, and almost certainly helped prevent more bloodshed. The bystander, who had a gun legally in his car, found the shooter struggling with that teacher and shot him several times. Police expect to work the classroom as a crime scene at least through October 20 and asked for tips to the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI.

Updated 17:01 UTC. Reports on Friday named the shooter, the youngest victim and the man who stopped the attack. The New York Post and The Sun identified the 16 year old gunman as John J. Griffin. The Post said Griffin was armed with his mother's pump action shotgun, the same weapon detail a law enforcement official had given to the Associated Press on background. Police have given no motive, and they have not said whether Griffin knew anyone at the school or had attended it.

The youngest victim was named by his own family. Kelik Summer wrote on Facebook in the early hours of Friday that his son Rhoam Summer, 5, had been killed. Rhoam had started kindergarten at Silver Rail last month. His aunt told the Post at the family home on Friday that his parents were devastated. Supporters have set up fundraisers for the family.

The bystander was identified as Kaylub Giamanco, 36, a carpenter whose two daughters attend Silver Rail. His brother Kyle told NBC News that Giamanco was driving home on his lunch break on Thursday when he heard gunfire, saw the gunman enter the school, followed him into a special education room and shot him. Reports said Giamanco holds a concealed weapon permit. His brother said Giamanco does not see himself as a hero and feels guilt that he could not save more people. Police Chief Mike Krantz had already confirmed on the record on Thursday evening that a community member followed the shooter inside and shot him. The names in these reports came from family members and reporting, not from a police announcement. Police have still not released names in public.

Updated 06:11 UTC. Thousands of people gathered at Drake Park in Bend on Thursday evening, October 15, for a prayer vigil organized by leaders from about a dozen local churches. The vigil ran into the late evening, and people left flowers, stuffed animals, candles and chalk messages at a makeshift memorial. Governor Tina Kotek ordered flags at Oregon public institutions to fly at half staff on Friday, October 16, from sunrise to sunset, in honor of the victims and survivors. Police have still not released any names, and investigators have given no motive.

Updated 06:00 UTC. Police Chief Mike Krantz put the bystander account on the record at his evening press conference. A community member saw the 16 year old enter Silver Rail Elementary at about 1 p.m., followed him inside and shot him, Krantz said. Officers found the shooter dead inside the school minutes after the first calls. Police said the families of the victims had been notified and no names had been released.

The Associated Press reported the gun was a pump action shotgun bought by the shooter's mother, citing a law enforcement official briefed on the case who was not authorized to speak publicly. Police have not confirmed the weapon type in public. Krantz said officers did not yet know whether the shooter knew anyone at the school or had attended it, and no motive has been given. The FBI is helping with the investigation. Bend-La Pine Schools canceled classes and activities for Friday, October 16.

Updated 01:04 UTC. Police Chief Mike Krantz confirmed the toll on the record at an evening press conference. Officers found five people dead at the school, including the shooter. The children killed were 5, 8 and 11 years old, and the adult killed was a teacher. A 7-year-old child and a 54-year-old teacher were taken to St. Charles Medical Center with critical injuries.

Krantz said the suspect was a 16-year-old Bend resident who used a long gun and is believed to have forced his way in by shooting at locked doors. Sky News and KPTV reported that Krantz said a member of the public who followed the suspect into the school shot and killed him. Mayor Melanie Kebler announced a community vigil, Sky News reported.

Updated 23:21 UTC. This is a developing story.

Update: Law enforcement sources told CNN and CBS News that the shooter was a 16-year-old male. Police have not publicly named him and have not confirmed his age on the record. Officers also have not confirmed who shot him. Police said earlier that it may have been a bystander, and that account remains unconfirmed.

Updated 23:28 UTC. A law enforcement source told USA Today that a bystander killed the shooter, and the New York Post, citing law enforcement sources, also reported that a bystander shot the 16-year-old dead. Police have not confirmed that account in public. Spokesperson Sheila Miller said officers did not yet know who shot the suspect and that it may have been a bystander. CNN reported that the shooter had already been shot and killed inside the school when officers arrived at about 1 p.m.

Three children and one adult were killed in a shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, on Thursday, according to law enforcement sources cited by CBS News and CNN. The suspected shooter is also dead. Bend police had not publicly confirmed the death toll at their afternoon briefing, and they said the total number of victims was still being confirmed.

Police spokesperson Sheila Miller said children were among the victims and that at least two people were taken to St. Charles Medical Center. Their conditions were not known. Police said there was one shooter, and that the shooter went down inside the school soon after officers arrived.

Three minutes from first call to officers on scene

Dispatchers took a call at 12:59 p.m. local time about a shot fired into a car near the school, Miller said. At 1 p.m. the department sent an alert for all officers to respond to a critical incident, and officers were on scene by 1:02 p.m. More 911 calls came in during those two minutes reporting an active shooter inside the school.

Seconds after officers arrived, word came that the suspect was down. Miller said police do not yet know who shot the suspect, and that it may have been a bystander. That account has not been confirmed. Officers then moved room by room through the building, evacuating students and staff.

Hundreds of officers and other responders from across central Oregon went to the school. Police told people to stay away from the area while they secured the campus.

Families sent to a church to reunite

The Bend-La Pine school district set up a reunification point for families at Journey Church, at 61303 South Highway 97. Students were taken there to meet their parents. The district said its schools will be closed for the rest of the week, with activities and athletic events canceled.

Silver Rail Elementary serves kindergarten through fifth grade. Miller said the school has about 400 to 450 students and more than 40 staff members. State records put enrollment at 459 students last year. Police said they did not yet know how many people were inside when the shooting started.

Superintendent Steven Cook said the district was stunned and heartbroken, and that its first job was caring for students and staff while helping police and emergency responders. Oregon Governor Tina Kotek said she was monitoring the situation and thanked first responders. FBI Director Kash Patel said FBI agents from Portland were at the scene and helping with the investigation.

What is not known yet

Police have not publicly named the shooter or given a motive. The chief later confirmed on the record that the suspect was 16 and used a long gun, and he confirmed the ages of the children killed. No names have been released. The report that three children and one adult were killed comes from law enforcement sources speaking to national outlets, and Reuters reported the same count. Officers said they would share more once families were notified and the count was confirmed.

Bend is a city of about 107,000 people in central Oregon, southeast of Portland, along the Deschutes River. For families in Bend, the questions now are the hardest ones: who was lost, who is still in the hospital, and how a gunman got into an elementary school in the middle of a school day. Police say the investigation is only starting.