Two of the four victims killed in the shooting at an Oregon elementary school on Thursday have been identified as 25-year-old teacher Meghan Lambert and 5-year-old student Rhoam Summer, police announced Friday.
Kelik Summer posted to a Facebook group Thursday night that it was “the worst day of my life. My son Rhoam was killed in a school shooting. We are broken and lost, but are surrounded by friends and family who are keeping us safe.”
“Meghan was compassionate and had a huge heart,” Lambert’s family said in a statement that was read during a news conference Friday. “She always fought for the underdog and those with special needs. She was an incredible sister, daughter, niece and granddaughter. Her friends became her family. She was funny and opinionated, and she lit up the room.”
Two other children — ages 8 and 11 — were also killed in the shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School. The families of those two children have not made their names public, Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said Friday.
A 7-year-old girl and a 54-year-old teacher were wounded. The 7-year-old girl was being treated at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, where she was in serious but stable condition, Krantz said. The teacher, identified to CBS News by her family as Becky Drury, suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries and was being treated at St. Charles Medical Center.
“We are incredibly grateful for the outpouring of support, prayers, and well-wishes following yesterday’s tragedy at Silver Rail Elementary,” Will Drury, Becky Drury’s husband, said in a statement. “The kindness and concern shown to our family and everyone affected mean more than we can express. We live in a truly special community.”
The suspect was identified by Krantz as 16-year-old Griffin J. John II, who was shot and killed at the scene by a bystander.
Officials said the gunman was a former student at Silver Rail. Bend-La Pine Schools Superintendent Steven Cook said in Friday’s news conference that the classroom where the shooting occurred was a special needs classroom, and he disclosed that the suspect had been a special needs student at that school.
The family of Kaylub Giamanco, who came forward as the man who shot and killed the suspect, said in a statement on Friday that he is “not seeking recognition” and instead expressed “his gratitude to the first responders, school personnel, and community for the outpouring of love and support.” His two daughters attend Silver Rail Elementary School.
Police also praised a teacher who “threw her cellphone at the suspect and then tackled him and fought to take the firearm from him,” Krantz said. “She was not injured in that incident, but she almost certainly helped prevent more bloodshed.”
Memorials with flowers, balloons and stuffed animals popped up around the school, which sits in a neighborhood filled with newly built homes.
Bend, which has about 100,000 residents, is the biggest city in central Oregon. Ringed by mountains, it has grown in population over the past three decades and is a tourism and outdoor recreation hub, about 125 miles southeast of Portland.
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