The 16-year-old gunman who shot and killed three children and one 25-year-old teacher at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, on Thursday has been identified as Griffin J. John II, Bend’s police chief announced in a news conference Friday.
Police said he was shot and killed by a bystander at the school. The suspect was a former student of Silver Rail Elementary, police said.
The attacker used a shotgun purchased by his mother, law enforcement sources told CBS News. In Friday’s news conference, Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said that a Maverick 88 pump action 12-gauge shotgun was located near the suspect, as well as a backpack. He used three types of ammunition in the shooting, Krantz disclosed, birdshot, buckshot and slugs.
The suspect fired as many as 15 rounds during the shooting, Krantz said Friday, and another 44 remaining rounds of ammunition were located at the scene.
A motive for the attack has not been provided.
In Friday’s news conference, Krantz said the suspect approached the fence of the school on foot, threw the shotgun over the fence, and then climbed it himself.
When he was confronted by a man who was passing in a pickup truck, he fired on the truck, striking it at least three times, Krantz said. That driver then drove on and made the initial 911 call.
It was at that time that the bystander who would later kill the suspect, a 36-year-old man whose children attend the school, witnessed that shooting and drove into the school parking lot.
Krantz said that the suspect forced his way into the school by firing several rounds into the glass panes of a set of double doors. He then went directly into the classroom immediately to the left of those doors, where he opened fire.
“All of the victims were shot in that classroom,” Krantz said.
Law enforcement sources told CBS News that investigators are combing through his computer, phone, social media, search history and other online activity. They are probing whether the shooter may have been obsessed with violence, including prior mass shootings. The sources emphasized that the investigators are in the preliminary stages of their investigation.
The children killed in the shooting were ages 5, 8 and 11, Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said during a news conference Thursday night.
The 5-year-old victim was identified by police and her family as Rhoam Summer. Bend police also identified the 25-year-old teacher killed as Megan Lambert.
Two other people — a 7-year-old child and a 54-year-old teacher — were hospitalized with critical injuries.
The family of the bystander issued a statement Friday identifying him as Kaylub Giamanco, a Bend resident with two daughters who attend Silver Rail Elementary School.
“He is not seeking recognition, but instead wishes to express his gratitude to the first responders, school personnel, and community for the outpouring of love and support,” the family said.
Police said they responded within minutes to the 911 calls from the school and found the deceased shooter and other victims inside.