United States: “A loner”… Who is the 16-year-old who killed three children in a shooting in Oregon?

The teenager had also been a schoolboy in the establishment. Griffin John, 16, is alleged to have killed three children aged 5, 8 and 11 in a special education class at Silver Rail Elementary School on Thursday with a shotgun, in addition to a 25-year-old teacher, Megan Lambert.

He himself was no longer in the local education system, but had been “a student requiring special care at this school,” Steven Cook, head of Bend school authorities, said at a press conference.

“He never said hello”

His neighbors all said the teenager lived reclusively with his mother, and they rarely went out. “He was a real loner,” said one of them, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. “I always saw him dressed in black, looking very serious and with his back hunched. He never said hello.” According to NBC News, it was Griffin's mother who bought the shotgun.

Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz paid tribute to the 36-year-old man who rushed into the school to shoot the killer with his pistol, noting his “presence of mind” which “unquestionably saved people.” He also praised the “true heroism” of a teacher who “threw her cell phone at the suspect and struggled with him to take his weapon”. “She was not injured but certainly helped prevent further bloodshed,” he said.

The relative who shot the assailant was not named by authorities, but was identified by his brother as Kaylub Giamanco. This man, whose two children attend school at the establishment, was returning home for his lunch break when he saw the shooter, his brother, Kyle, told NBC news.