Shauntai Nickerson's gun enabled the Silver Rail massacre
By Daniel Okafor · Reporting from New York ·
A mother bought the shotgun her son used to attack Silver Rail Elementary, leaving the law no choice but to hold parents criminally liable.
Shauntai Nickerson is responsible for the deaths of three children and a teacher. She purchased the Maverick 88 pump-action 12-gauge shotgun that her 16-year-old son used to open fire at Silver Rail Elementary School. A parent who provides a weapon to a child with a history of struggle does not just risk an accident. She provides the means for a massacre.
A breach of glass and trust
Griffin J. John II was a former student at Silver Rail Elementary. He approached the school fence on foot. He threw his shotgun over the fence and climbed over. According to CBS News, he fired at least three times at a pickup truck driven by a passing man. That driver made the first 911 call.
The shooter then fired multiple rounds into the glass panes of an external set of double doors. This forced his entry into the building. He entered the classroom immediately to the left of the doors and opened fire. All of the victims were shot in that classroom, said Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz.
The 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting saw a former student return to target specific classrooms. Griffin J. John II followed this same pattern of targeting a known environment. He killed three children. One of those children was Rhoam Summer, 5.
Meghan Lambert was the teacher killed in the attack. She was 25 years old. Her family said she graduated from Mountain View High School and Boise State. She worked as a substitute before becoming full-time at Silver Rail. Her family stated that this was her dream job.
The 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting showed the horror of a gunman targeting young children. The result at Silver Rail was the same. A 7-year-old girl was wounded and treated at Oregon Health & Science University in serious but stable condition. Becky Drury, an educational assistant, suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
What was the cost of intervention?
Kaylub Giamanco was driving home for lunch when he heard gunshots. He is a Bend resident whose daughters attend Silver Rail. Giamanco entered the school with a legally secured .40-caliber pistol.
Inside, he saw a teacher involved in a physical altercation with the suspect. The teacher threw her cellphone at the shooter, tackled him, and fought to take the firearm. This teacher’s actions almost certainly helped prevent more bloodshed, said Mike Krantz.
Giamanco entered the classroom and shot the suspect multiple times. The shooter died at the scene. CNN reports that Giamanco’s actions saved lives. Donald Trump praised the bystander as a great hero and said thank goodness for a man that had a gun and knew how to use it.
The shooting at the 2023 Nashville school shares the same mechanism: a former student attacked an elementary school and was killed by armed responders. In both cases, the security of the building failed at the glass entry. In both cases, the slaughter only stopped when a gun met a gun.
A pattern of parental failure
The weapon used was a pump-action shotgun. A senior law enforcement official said the shooter's mother purchased it. Mike Krantz said the shooter used birdshot, buckshot, and slugs. Police located 44 remaining rounds of ammunition at the scene.
The shooter's mother, Shauntai Nickerson, told a local television station that her son had special needs. She said he struggled to learn from home during the pandemic. This knowledge of her son's instability makes the purchase of a 12-gauge shotgun an act of gross negligence. The heroism of the father was a response to the failure of the mother.
CNN data analysis shows this was the 36th shooting on K-12 school grounds this year. Free Malaysia Today reported that the Gun Violence Archive recorded more than 360 mass shootings in the US this year. These numbers are not accidents. They are the result of easy access to high-capacity weapons.
The Bend-La Pine school board will now face pressure to alter building security. Investigators confirmed the shooter breached the doors by firing through glass panes. This is a known vulnerability. The district must move beyond crisis counseling and fix the physical holes in its perimeter.
The state of Oregon must now move to hold parents criminally liable for the weapons their children use. The Maverick 88 was not stolen from a locked safe. It was purchased by Shauntai Nickerson. When a parent buys the tool used to kill children, that parent is a link in the chain of the crime. The law should treat her as such.
Sources
- CNN: Live updates: Father and teacher hailed for preventing further tragedy in Bend, Oregon, school shooting
- CBS News: Oregon school shooter identified, used shotgun bought by mother, sources say
- The Guardian: Bystander who killed Oregon shooter identified as father of girls at elementary school
- Free Malaysia Today: ‘Great hero’ praised for saving lives in Oregon school shooting