Mother of hero who brought down Oregon school shooter reveals heartbreaking call moments later: 'Mom, I couldn't save them all'

Read the original at Daily Mail ↗
Cite

Guzman, A. (2026, October 17). Mother of hero who brought down Oregon school shooter reveals heartbreaking call moments later: 'Mom, I couldn't save them all'. Daily Mail. https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16217079/kaylub-giamanco-mom-phone-call-oregon-shooter-griffin-john.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

Daily Mail · collected 2026-10-17 · by Alyssa Guzman

Quick Summary

Kenda Freeman received a call from her son Kaylub Giamanco shortly after he fatally shot Griffin John II, a school shooter at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon. In his emotional message, Giamanco expressed regret for not being able to save all the children. The incident left three students and one teacher dead; five-year-old Rhoam Summer, eight-year-old, 11-year-old student (names unrevealed), and teacher Meghan Lambert were among the victims, while another child was injured but survived. Giamanco, who has been celebrated as a hero for stopping the gunman during his lunch break, is grappling with the traumatic aftermath of the event.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-17, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

On October 15, 2026, an active shooter incident occurred at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, resulting in the deaths of 4 people, including three children and one teacher. The shooter, identified as Griffin John II, age 16, was fatally shot by a local father named Kaylub Giamaco who had rushed to the scene after hearing gunshots. The shooting began when authorities received a report at 12:59 PM local time about a shot fired into a car outside the school. Police immediately responded and established Journey Church as the family reunification location.

While there was significant concern for student safety, Giamaco’s actions prevented further casualties by confronting the shooter before he could harm more students or staff members. The Bend Police Department directed families to stay clear of the area while an investigation took place. As of October 17, the community hailed Giamaco as a hero despite his emotional distress over not being able to save everyone involved in the tragedy.

Written for “Oregon Elementary School Shooting” on 2026-10-17, grounded in this article and the 93 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political question, so it has no leaning score. That is an answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political position.
No political leaning scored for article 87709 · logged 2026-10-17

Story

📰 Oregon Elementary School Shooting
Crime & Law · 94 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 6% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
CBS News · 0.91 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 13% hedged 5 of 38 📰 publisher trust 66
“Both articles describe the same incident where Kaylub Giamanco, a Sacramento man, confronted and fatally shot a school shooter in Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon.”
CBC News · 0.89 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 10% hedged 4 of 42 📰 publisher trust 60
“Both articles describe the same specific incident where Kaylub Giamanco intervened at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, on October 13, 2026.”
New York Post · 0.86 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 9 📰 publisher trust 67
“Both articles describe the same specific incident of Kaylub Giamaco shooting an assailant at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon.”
CBS News · 0.86 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 11 📰 publisher trust 66
“Both articles describe Kaylub Giamanco coming forward or his mother speaking about him after he stopped a school shooter in Bend, Oregon on the same day.”
The Guardian · 0.85 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 10% hedged 2 of 20 📰 publisher trust 67
“Both articles describe Kaylub Giamanco shooting and killing the suspect at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon on the same date.”
Daily Mail
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 12% hedged 3 of 25 📰 publisher trust 64
“Both articles describe the shooting incident at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, involving a 16-year-old shooter and a hero who shot the gunman.”
New York Post
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 20% hedged 2 of 10 📰 publisher trust 67
“Both articles describe the specific incident of a hero bystander shooting a teenage gunman at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon on October 16, 2026.”
Toronto Star
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 13% hedged 4 of 30 📰 publisher trust 63
“Both articles describe the same specific incident involving a hero who intervened during an Oregon elementary school shooting.”
Daily Mail
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 8 📰 publisher trust 64
“Both articles describe the same shooting incident at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon on Thursday, involving John J. Griffin and Kalub Giamanco.”
The Straits Times
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 15% hedged 2 of 13 📰 publisher trust 60
“Both articles describe the same specific incident where an armed bystander (Kaylub Giamanco) shot and killed a school shooter at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon on October 15, 2026.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
35
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
6%
2 of 35 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
64/100
Daily Mail's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
94
Crime & Law
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-17 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Daily Mail · 6011 article(s) · 15 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 15 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Alyssa Guzman
30 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 The mother of an Oregon man who has been hailed a hero for shooting dead an elementary school gunman said her son called her afterward, lamenting over the fact he couldn't save more people.
🔮 Former Congressman Derrick Van Orden said on October 11 that he had spoken with Kennedy and confirm the soldier was alive Kennedy (pictured with Trump) is currently being treated at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center One of the sources who works for Congo's government told Reuters that Rwandan forces backing the M23 rebels may have surprised them by tracking a drone used for surveillance operations to their location.
🔮 Runners took off on the 241.8-mile course on October 9, where they were expected to spend four days winding their way through the desert, canyons, slick rock formations, and two mountain ranges.
🔮 The controversy around the road closure will be put to voters next month with a new measure called Proposition G. If passed, it will restore vehicles to the road on weekdays.
🔮 Picariello's attorney, Joseph Rosenbaum, said they will fight his charges.
🔮 Chilling bodycam footage showed the moments when two South Carolina children were still alive just weeks before they would be found dead in their home from starvation.
🔮 The playful message seemed 'off' to friends and family who said they had not heard from Christina for weeks before the December 14 social media post, they told the Daily Mail in May.
🔮 Over the summer, Dan underwent multiple surgeries, stayed in the ICU, and suffered from infections, the father-in-law said. And now, next Friday, the 31-year-old will get screws removed from his left leg and will undergo a total hip replacement, as he still deals with the aftermath of the severe attack, the father-in-law said.
🔮 The sky might rain money after all.
🔮 A secret network of surveillance cameras in Texas led to a man's constitutional rights being violated, a jury ruled – and more Americans could be harmed. Alek Schott was driving along Interstate 35 just outside of San Antonio when he was pulled over in March 2022 by a Bexar County Sheriff's deputy.
Also by Alyssa Guzman
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 30 articles by Alyssa Guzman →

Topics

Bend CBS Sacramento NBC News Oregon Silver Rail Elementary School

Subjects

Giamanco PERSON · 13× John PERSON · 6× Oregon GPE · 5× Bend GPE · 3× Griffin John II PERSON · 3× Kaylub Giamanco PERSON · 2× Kenda Freeman PERSON · 2× Meghan Lambert PERSON · 2× Rhoam Summer PERSON · 2× Saylor Graham PERSON · 2×

Narrative

Giamanco is struggling to accept that he couldn't save all the children and were traumatized by the experience, his mother said Griffin John II, 16, killed three students and one teacher on Thursday Three students – ages five, eight and 11 – and one teacher were killed by the former student.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-17
🔮 The mother of an Oregon man who has been hailed a hero for shooting dead an elementary school gunman said her son called her afterward, lamenting over the fact he couldn't save more people.

Claims (35 extracted, 2 hedged)

The mother of an Oregon man who has been hailed a hero for shooting dead an elementary school gunman said her son called her afterward, lamenting over the fact he couldn't save more people. asserted
he → hail → people
Kenda Freeman received a call from her son, Kaylub Giamanco, 36, on Thursday immediately after the father-of-two had shot Griffin John II, 16, dead inside the Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon. asserted
father → receive → Bend
'He said: "Mom, I just shot and killed somebody,"' she recalled to CBS Sacramento. asserted
she → say → Sacramento
'I said: "Kaylub, tell me about it." asserted
I → say → it
He said: "A man went into my daughter's school and shot kids," and he said, "And I looked at him point-blank, and I shot and killed him, Mom."' asserted
I → say → him
The Bend community has hailed Giamanco a hero, crediting him with saving dozens of children's lives on Thursday. asserted
community → hail → Thursday
'I told him he was a hero, he did what he had to do, and that he did the right thing, and that I was proud of him and that he was a hero and he saved a lot of lives,' Freeman told the outlet. asserted
Freeman → tell → outlet
'And he said: "Mom, I couldn't save them all." asserted
I → say → them
John killed three students, including five-year-old Rhoam Summer, and teacher Meghan Lambert, 25, before Giamanco killed him. asserted
Giamanco → kill → him
John also injured Saylor Graham, seven, and educational assistant Becky Drury. asserted
John → injure → Graham
Kaylub Giamanco, 36, killed school shooter, Griffin John II, on Thursday while he shot at children at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon Giamanco's mom, Kenda Freeman, received a phone call immediately afterward, where he admitted he killed the shooter. asserted
he → kill → shooter
She has dubbed her son a hero The experience traumatized Giamanco, who lies awake at night thinking how he could have done it differently, his mother said. uncertain
mother → dub → it
Giamanco noticed John while the dad was driving home on his lunch break and knew something was wrong. asserted
something → notice → break
He army-crawled through the window the shooter had shot out to gain access to the school his children attended. asserted
children → crawl → school
Police said John fired off 15 rounds before he was killed by Giamanco. asserted
he → say → Giamanco
He targeted the special needs classroom, where he was once a student. asserted
he → target → classroom
John used a gun his mother had purchased around his 16th birthday in August. asserted
mother → use → August
Law enforcement remained unsure as to how John obtained his ammunition, saying the investigation was 'very active.' His motive is currently unknown. asserted
motive → remain → ammunition
As for Giamanco, he holds a concealed carry license. asserted
he → hold → license
Giamanco is a carpenter and a father of two girls, ages five and 10, who attend Silver Rail Elementary, his brother told NBC News. asserted
brother → attend → News
'I looked at him point-blank, and I shot and killed him, Mom,"' his mother recalled him saying. asserted
him → look → him
Giamanco's children attend the school asserted
children → attend → school
Giamanco is struggling to accept that he couldn't save all the children and were traumatized by the experience, his mother said Griffin John II, 16, killed three students and one teacher on Thursday Three students – ages five, eight and 11 – and one teacher were killed by the former student. asserted
students → struggle → student
The five-year-old was identified by his father as Rhoam Summer. asserted
old → identify → Summer
Saylor Graham, seven, was shot in the face, but lived President Donald Trump praised Giamanco for stopping the Oregon school shooting. ' asserted
Trump → shoot → shooting
Well, I'll tell you what, there was a great hero. asserted
I → tell → you
We had a great hero that went in and did the business,' Trump told reporters outside of the White House on Friday. asserted
Trump → have → Friday
'He took care of business, and thank God we had him. asserted
we → take → him
It's a terrible thing, but thank goodness for a man that had a gun and knew how to use it. asserted
that → thank → it
During a press conference on Thursday, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek called Giamanco a hero. asserted
Kotek → call → Giamanco
'To the community member who heroically intervened to stop further loss of life: Your actions carry a heavy emotional burden, and I just want you to know that my thoughts are with you as well,' Kotek said. asserted
Kotek → intervene → you
A GoFundMe has been set up for Giamanco to help pay for therapy, any legal expenses he may face, and to support him while he takes time off work following the tragedy. uncertain
he → set → tragedy
The fundraiser has garnered nearly $280,000 by Saturday afternoon. asserted
fundraiser → garner → afternoon
'Kaylub, his wife Kelsey, and their two young daughters have an incredibly difficult road ahead of them,' the fundraiser stated. asserted
fundraiser → have → them
'The emotional and psychological impact of this tragedy cannot be overstated, and they deserve the time, space and resources to begin healing together.' asserted
they → overstate → time
💬Give feedback
🕘History 🎫Support