BEND: A teacher and an armed father helped prevent further deaths in a US school shooting that killed three children and a teacher in Oregon on Thursday, police said.
Police identified two victims at Silver Rail Elementary School as five-year-old Rhoam Summer and teacher Megan Lambert, 25. Families of the other children, aged eight and 11, asked authorities to withhold their names.
Meanwhile, a seven-year-old student remained in serious but stable condition. A 54-year-old teacher suffered serious injuries that police described as non-life-threatening.
Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz detailed the intervention at a news conference on Friday. A teacher threw her mobile phone at the gunman, then tackled him and tried to take his shotgun. She escaped injury and “almost certainly helped prevent more bloodshed”, Krantz said.
While she struggled with the teenager, a father whose children attend the school entered with a pistol and fatally shot him. Police described the weapon as legally secured in his vehicle.
The father had witnessed the suspect shooting at a pickup truck outside before following him into the building. Although officials withheld the father’s name, Kaylub Giamanco’s family identified him to US media as the person who intervened.
Police named the suspected attacker as Griffin J. John II, 16, a former pupil. He forced entry by firing through glass panes in locked doors before entering a special education classroom.
Read: Major US school shootings
Investigators estimate he fired as many as 15 rounds during the attack, but they are still establishing the classroom total. Officers found approximately 44 rounds remaining.
Police searched his home and continue investigating his motive, route to the school and access to the weapon. Police credited a teacher and an armed father with preventing further deaths during Thursday’s school shooting.
