Man credited with saving lives in Oregon school shooting reveals more details about his actions

Kaylub Giamanco, the man who is credited with likely having saved lives after he killed the gunman in the shooting at Oregon's Silver Rail Elementary School, said he decided to act when he saw the shooter throwing his gun over the fence before climbing it. 

On Oct. 15, Giamanco saw a man dressed in black and holding a long gun, he told OPB. At first, he thought it was a prank or the man was holding a BB gun. 

When he saw the shooter fire twice at a red pickup truck and then once more at a woman mowing the school's lawn, he said he realized it wasn't a prank. 

The shooter, Giamanco said, threw his gun over the school fence and then began climbing it. 

“That’s when panic fled into my brain, and that’s when I opened my center console," he said. 

He retrieved his .40 caliber handgun and a magazine. He then drove into the school parking lot while watching the shooter walk across the school grounds. 

He used voice commands to get his phone to dial 911. The dispatcher, he said, was asking him questions, but he didn't stay on the call to answer them. He told the dispatcher, "I have to go in. People are going to die." 

Staying out of sight, Giamanco followed the shooter into the building. He said he heard gun shots and children pleading for their lives. He crawled through a window that had been shot out and continued crawling until he reached the special education classroom. 

He saw through a window into the special education classroom that a teacher was struggling with the shooter. She opened the door, and shot the gunman. The teacher fled. When Giamanco saw the attacker was "scrambling for his weapon," he shot him two more times." 

The shooter was later identified as 16-year-old Griffin J. John II, who had previously attended Silver Rail Elementary as a special needs student, NBC News reported.