Six days after the shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, classroom aide Becky Drury spoke in detail for the first time about what she experienced on October 15. She tried to return to the classroom and close the door when she saw the armed teenager, but was wounded before she could protect the children. The attack killed three boys and 25-year-old teacher Megan Lambert; a seven-year-old student and Drury survived. The shooter, 16-year-old former student Griffin J. John II, was shot dead by the father of two schoolgirls, who entered the building just as another teacher was wrestling the shotgun away from the teenager. Bend-La Pine Schools resumed classes on October 21, but Silver Rail itself will remain closed at least through the end of next week.
Drury’s account contains neither heroic posturing nor an attempt to give clear meaning to the chaos. Hearing that something alarming was happening outside, she went out to look; when she spotted the shooter, she immediately ran back. The teenager was already at the door. A shot fired at close range badly wounded her left hand and right arm. Falling to the floor, Drury realized she could not get up, fight back or help the children, so she pretended to be dead, hoping the attacker would not shoot again.
She released her statement on October 21, primarily to refute a version circulating on social media that she had shielded a student with her body. To Drury, getting this detail right matters: she emphasizes that she was wounded before she had a chance to do anything. Her husband said she is recovering, but the family faces a long period of rehabilitation.
The shooting began at about 12:59 p.m. on October 15. According to police, John approached the school grounds from a wooded area, threw a pump-action shotgun over the fence and climbed over after it. The driver of a red pickup truck tried to call out to him and came under fire: the truck was hit at least three times. The teenager then shot out the glass panels in the locked entrance door and entered a nearby classroom for students with special educational needs—a program he had once attended himself.
Inside, he fired as many as 15 rounds from a 12-gauge Maverick 88; another 44 rounds were later found on him and in his backpack. The victims were five-year-old Roam Summer, two boys aged eight and 11 whose families asked that their names not be released, and Megan Lambert. Lambert grew up in Bend, graduated from a local school and Boise State University, and went on to take her first full-time teaching job at Silver Rail. Her family called the job her dream.
Another teacher, whose name police have not released, was also in the classroom. According to investigators, she threw a mobile phone at the attacker, knocked him to the ground and tried to wrest away the weapon. At that moment, 36-year-old Kailub Jamanco, the father of two Silver Rail students, entered the school. He had seen the teenager shooting near the school and heading toward the building, retrieved a handgun lawfully stored in his vehicle and, after seeing the struggle in the classroom, fired several shots at John. The attacker died at the scene; police officers who arrived shortly afterward found the threat had been neutralized.
Seven-year-old Saylor Graham, who was seriously wounded, remains under medical care. Drury is being treated in Bend. Investigators are still working to establish John’s motive and are analyzing his electronic devices and online activity. Police confirmed that the shotgun used in the attack had been purchased legally, but the circumstances in which it came into the teenager’s possession remain part of the investigation.
On Wednesday, October 21, students at the district’s other schools returned to class. Police or sheriff’s department personnel were stationed at each of the district’s 32 school buildings that day, and counseling services were expanded. But Silver Rail has no reopening date yet. Free meals and temporary childcare have been arranged for its families, while district leaders discuss with staff and parents what a return to a school might look like after an ordinary October day was divided, in just a few minutes, into “before” and “after.”
Based on: Oregon teacher who survived attack says she had no chance to protect kids