The father who followed a gunman into his children’s school later called his mother, and even her fiercest reassurance could not quiet what was tormenting him.Kaylub Giamanco was heading home for lunch on Thursday, October 15, 2026, when he encountered the attack at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon.Now his mother, Kenda Freeman, is sharing how the attacker unwittingly helped her son reach a classroom where a teacher was fighting for the children, and the painful confession that the hero made after it was all over.

For Kaylub, Silver Rail was already a deeply personal place. His two children attended the school, and on that Thursday, the 36-year-old contractor was nearby when a teenager carrying a shotgun climbed over its chain-link fence.A man outside in a red truck spotted the boy and shouted at him. The teenager responded by shooting at the truck at least three times, Bend Police Department Chief Mike Krantz said during a news conference the following day.The driver called 911. Kaylub, who saw the shots being fired, drove toward the school as the armed teenager ran toward the building, according to KVUE. His children were somewhere insideHe had a legally stored .40-caliber pistol in his vehicle, and his mother said he pulled onto the grass, grabbed it, and pursued the gunman.Kaylub had grown up hunting and had been familiar with firearms for much of his life. Kenda said he legally owned and carried his weapon because he wanted a way to protect his family.