Armed parent neutralises 16-year-old gunman who killed teacher, 3 pupils in US school

A parent carrying a concealed handgun shot dead a 16-year-old gunman who had killed a teacher and three pupils at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, on Thursday, after another teacher tried to wrestle away his shotgun.

The gunman, identified by local authorities as Griffin J. John II, was a former student at the school.

Investigators said he arrived on foot, threw a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun over a perimeter fence, forced his way through a locked glass entrance, and opened fire in a special education classroom.

At least 15 rounds were fired inside the building.

Those killed at the scene included teacher Meghan Lambert, 25, and five-year-old pupil Rhoam Summer. Two other children, aged eight and 11, also died. A seven-year-old girl and a 54-year-old teacher sustained serious injuries and remained hospitalised.

Police Chief Mike Krantz credited two interventions with helping stop the attack before officers arrived.

Inside the classroom, an unnamed teacher confronted the shooter by throwing a mobile phone at him before physically wrestling with him for control of the shotgun. Police said her actions undoubtedly saved lives.

Outside, Kaylub Giamanco, 36, a resident and father of two pupils at the school, saw the armed intruder and retrieved a legally secured 40-calibre handgun from his parked vehicle. He followed the gunman into the school and fired several rounds, killing him in the classroom.

Chief Krantz said the gunman still had 44 unspent rounds of ammunition when he was stopped.

Authorities confirmed that no armed school resource officer was on campus at the time of the shooting. School District Superintendent Steven Cook said the building had recently undergone security lock upgrades and that a lockdown drill had been conducted two weeks earlier.

Police executed a search warrant at the suspect’s home. Investigators said the shotgun had been legally purchased by his mother, but they had yet to establish a clear motive for the attack.

“Everyone wants to know why, including us,” Chief Krantz said during a news conference. “We may never get that full answer, but we want it.”

In an interview with CNN after the shooting, the gunman’s mother broke down in tears as she recalled her son, describing him as a “good boy” and saying she had seen no warning signs before the attack.

Sitting on her balcony, she wept and smoked as she expressed remorse for the deaths and apologised to the victims’ families.

“I miss my boy. I’m so sorry. I wish I could have done something. I’m sorry for their loss,” she said.

The mother maintained that she had no prior knowledge of her son’s plans and that his behaviour had given her no indication he would carry out the attack.

However, she declined to answer questions about the shotgun used in the shooting, identified in reports as a Maverick 88 compact shotgun that she had reportedly purchased herself. She did not explain how her son gained access to the weapon.