On Friday, a day after four people were killed, police said a teacher struggled with the teenage gunman and a parent shot him.
Published October 17, 2026
The 16-year-old boy who killed three children and a teacher at an elementary school in Oregon, US, was a former special needs student at the school, police and school officials said.
Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz identified the gunman as Griffin J. John II on Friday, a day after the shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School.
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He said the boy attacked a classroom of special needs students and all the victims were shot to death.
Bend-La Pine Schools Superintendent Stephen Cook said John was not enrolled in local public schools at the time.
“That classroom was a special needs classroom and the suspect was a special needs student at that school,” Cook said at a news conference.
Krantz said John broke through the locked door with a 12-gauge shotgun and fired 15 shots, with about 44 remaining at the time he was killed. Police are currently investigating how he obtained the gun.
Oregon law allows minors to possess a shotgun if provided by a parent or with parental consent.
“It’s really unfortunate. I wish we could have done something,” the shooter’s mother, Shawntay Nickerson, separately told reporters outside the apartment.
Krantz said the teacher threw her cell phone at the gunman, then tackled and wrestled him, likely saving his life, calling her actions “heroic.” She was not injured.
Kaylab Giamanco, a 36-year-old father of two children who attended the school, chased the gunman inside minutes after the initial 911 call and shot and killed him.
US President Donald Trump praised Giamanco as a “great hero.” “It’s terrible, but I appreciate the man who had a gun and knew how to use it,” Trump said.
Police said the children who were killed were ages 5, 8 and 11, and their teacher was Megan Lambert, 25.
A 7-year-old child and a 54-year-old teacher were taken to the hospital in critical condition.
The shooting was the 28th mass murder in the United States this year, according to databases from The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University.
The National Gun Violence Archive records 369 mass shootings, defined as incidents in which four or more people are shot and killed, in 2026.
The group Everytown for Gun Safety estimates there have been at least 100 shootings on school grounds this year, resulting in 34 deaths.
