Father driving past Oregon school runs in and shoots dead gunman who killed three children and a teacher

Kaylub Giamanco was driving past Silver Rail Elementary School when he heard gunshots and ran into the building carrying a legally concealed.40 calibre pistol. The 36-year-old carpenter, whose two daughters attend the school, confronted the gunman and shot him 'multiple times,' killing him.

The attack at the school on SE Stone Creek Lane in Bend, Oregon, began just before 1 p.m. on Thursday. Griffin J. John II, a 16-year-old former special needs student at the school, forced his way through locked doors by shooting at them, then went into a classroom containing special needs students and teachers with a 12-gauge shotgun.

He fired approximately 15 rounds. Three children, aged five, eight and 11, were killed, along with Meghan Lambert, a 25-year-old teacher. One of the children killed was five-year-old Rhoam Summer.

A 54-year-old teacher and a seven-year-old student were taken to a local hospital in critical condition. All of the victims were shot in the same classroom.

Before Giamanco reached the gunman, a female teacher threw her phone at him, tackled him and fought to take the gun from him. Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz called her actions 'heroic' and said she 'almost certainly helped prevent more bloodshed.'

Giamanco stopped the attacker while he still had approximately 44 rounds of shotgun ammunition. Afterward, he called his mother, Kenda Freeman, and told her, 'a man went into my daughter's school,' followed by: 'I looked at him point blank, and I shot and killed him, mum.'

The first emergency call came from someone in a vehicle who said a person carrying a long gun had fired at them several times. Officers arrived at 1:02 p.m., within minutes of the initial calls, and found the suspect dead inside the school.

The school was evacuated, and students and staff were taken to Journey Church for reunification. Hundreds of people later gathered at Drake Park for a candlelight vigil on Thursday evening.

Police are still trying to establish how the 16-year-old obtained the shotgun.