Deschutes County has released the 79-second 911 call Kaylub Giamanco made on Oct. 15 shortly before he entered Silver Rail Elementary in Bend and fatally shot a teenager who had killed four people with a shotgun, a recording that largely corroborates the account Giamanco gave in an interview with OPB last month.
The shooting took place on Oct. 15, when a teenager armed with a shotgun entered the Bend elementary school and killed four people. Giamanco, who said on the call that he was just driving home, went to the school and shot the teenager.
On the call, Giamanco, who described himself in the OPB interview as being in "full panic," tells the dispatcher: "Oh my God, someone's at my daughter's school with a gun. I have a gun, and I will shoot them right now if I have to." The dispatcher responds by telling him not to "do anything," to stay on the line, and that help is en route.
Giamanco shouts "Silver Rail Elementary! Silver Rail Elementary!" and says "I'm about to go kill this kid. He's in the school!" When the dispatcher asks whether he knows who the shooter is, he says no, that he was just driving home. He tells her the shooter is on the south side of the school, then says: "Entering the building. Right now!" and "God damn it, they're [expletive] shooting people! Come on!" Asked whether the shooter is firing, he replies quietly, "Yeah. He's shooting."
Not all of Giamanco's side of the call is audible in the recording released by Deschutes County. In his interview, Giamanco recalled telling the dispatcher "I'm sorry, I have to go in. People are going to die," before ending the call, but those exact words cannot be heard on the tape. The dispatcher asks Giamanco whether the shooter is white, Black or Hispanic just before his end of the line goes silent. The call continues for a few more seconds, and other 911 calls about the shooting can be heard in the background.
Analysis
Why This Matters
- The release puts the public in real time on the 911 call, showing what Giamanco told the dispatcher about his intentions before he entered the school.
- The recording largely corroborates Giamanco's earlier account, adding an independent record of the call to his own description of the day.
- The audio captures the moment Giamanco's line goes silent after he says he is entering the building, a detail central to understanding the timing of his intervention.
Background
On Oct. 15, a teenager entered Silver Rail Elementary in Bend with a shotgun and killed four people. Kaylub Giamanco, on his way home, drove to the school and fatally shot the teenager. Deschutes County later released a 79-second recording of Giamanco's 911 call, portions of which are garbled. The release is the latest public development in a shooting that ended with an armed civilian, rather than police, stopping the attacker.
What to Watch
- Whether other 911 calls from the shooting, which can be heard in the background of Giamanco's call, are released.
- Whether any clearer recording emerges of Giamanco's final words before the call ended, since his remembered sentence is not audible on the tape.
Checked
12 claims in this story checked against 1 source: 12 supported.
Show each claim
- SupportedThe headline says Deschutes County released 911 audio from the father who fatally shot the Bend school shooter.OPB: “Deschutes County releases 911 audio of father who killed Bend school shooter.”
- SupportedThe recording largely corroborates Kaylub Giamanco’s account of the shooting, in which four people were killed.OPB: “Portions of the 79-second audio are garbled, but it largely corroborates the account Giamanco gave in an exclusive interview with OPB last month about the shooting at Silver Rail Elementary.”
- SupportedDeschutes County released the 79-second call Giamanco made on Oct. 15 shortly before entering the school and fatally shooting a teenager.OPB: “Deschutes County has released audio of the 911 call Kaylub Giamanco made on Oct. 15, shortly before entering a Bend elementary school and fatally shooting a teenager”
- SupportedThe teenager entered the school with a shotgun and killed four people.OPB: “a teenager who had entered the school and killed four people with a shotgun.”
- SupportedGiamanco described himself in the OPB interview as being in “full panic.”OPB: “Giamanco, who described himself in the OPB interview as being in “full panic” as he approached the school that day”
- SupportedGiamanco told the dispatcher, “Oh my God, someone’s at my daughter’s school with a gun. I have a gun, and I will shoot them right now if I have to.”OPB: ““Oh my God, someone’s at my daughter’s school with a gun. I have a gun, and I will shoot them right now if I have to.””
- SupportedOn the call, Giamanco said he was just driving home.OPB: “He says no, that he was just driving home.”
- SupportedGiamanco shouted, “I’m about to go kill this kid. He’s in the school!”OPB: ““I’m about to go kill this kid. He’s in the school!””
- SupportedThe dispatcher told Giamanco not to “do anything,” to stay on the line, and that help was en route.OPB: “The dispatcher tells Giamanco to tell her exactly what happened, to not “do anything,” and to let her get an officer to the scene. Giamanco begins to shout “Silver Rail Elementary! Silver Rail Elementary!” as the dispatcher tells him to stay on the line”
- SupportedGiamanco said, “Entering the building. Right now!” and “God damn it, they’re [expletive] shooting people! Come on!”OPB: ““Entering the building. Right now!” he says. “God damn it, they’re [expletive] shooting people! Come on!””
- SupportedIn his interview, Giamanco recalled telling the dispatcher, “I’m sorry, I have to go in. People are going to die,” but those words cannot be heard on the tape.OPB: “In his interview with OPB, Giamanco recalled that he told the dispatcher, “I’m sorry, I have to go in. People are going to die,” at some point before ending the call. Giamanco cannot be heard on the tape saying those exact words.”
- SupportedThe dispatcher asked whether the shooter was white, Black or Hispanic; then Giamanco’s end of the line went silent, while other calls could be heard in the background.OPB: “The dispatcher cuts in to say “OK,” then asks if the shooter is white, Black or Hispanic. At this point, Giamanco’s end of the line goes silent. ... several other calls into the 911 dispatch center about the shooting can be heard in the background.”