Oregon school shooter was allegedly beaten by mother's boyfriend as police search for motive

The 16-year-old who killed three children and a teacher, and injured two others, at an elementary school in Oregon, had been assaulted twice in recent years – including once by his mother's boyfriend.

Authorities are still trying to determine what motivated Griffin John II to open fire at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend on October 15, when he killed five-year-old Rhoam Summer, teacher Megan Lambert and two other special needs students who have not been publicly identified.

But court records detail how John, who had a cognitive disability, was allegedly bullied by his peers and had a tumultuous home life, with both parents being involved in violent encounters and run-ins with law enforcement.

When he was 11 years old, his sister's friend also assaulted him at his home, according to a police report obtained by KGW.

His mother, Shauntai Nickerson, told police in the 2022 incident that the friend 'slapped John across the face, causing him to chip a tooth' and 'punched John in the back of the head.'

The incident began after John returned home, when he said his sister's friend asked him whether he wanted to fight and then slapped him, leaving him with a chipped lower front tooth.

John said the friend then 'punched him in the back of the head four to six times.'

In a subsequent interview with the police, John's sister told the officer how she returned home and saw John upset and crying because, he said, he was being bullied at school.

Griffin John II, 16, had been assaulted twice before he opened fire at an elementary school in Bend, Oregon on October 15

Five-year-old Rhoam Summer and teacher Megan Lambert were killed in the shooting

'John expressed concerns about reporting the bullying at school because his mom would get upset,' the officer wrote in the report.

Nickerson then explained that John 'had special needs' and the responding officer wrote that it appeared he had a cognitive disability, given his 'nonverbal speech communication and speech patterns.'

The officer wrote in the report that he then tried to contact the friend, but all of the phone numbers associated with the individual were disconnected or no longer in service.

Another police officer later went to the home and was also unable to speak with the friend, according to the report.

A little over three years later, in 2025, John was punched multiple times by a man Nickerson had been in a relationship with, according to another police report.

Nickerson said she had been arguing with the man about his involvement with other women when she placed all of his belongings outside of her apartment.

The man later arrived at the apartment, banging on the front door and eventually forcing himself inside – at which point, John said, the man threatened to beat him and his mother up.

The dispute then became physical when, John said, he tried to defend his mother as the man refused to leave.

He said the man 'began to get violent, and I didn't want him to hurt my mom at all.'

John shot the locked doors of Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon and opened fire

Authorities are still trying to determine a motive for the deadly shooting

So, John said, he told the man he needed to leave – prompting the assailant to shove John twice, forcing him to drop his phone.

When John then went to pick it up, the man 'body slammed' him to the ground, wrapping his arm around his head and neck, the police report said.

The man then punched John in the head about 12 to 14 times, he claimed, but fled after he learned that police were called to the scene.

But Nickerson and John ultimately decided they did not want to cooperate in the investigation and pursue charges, saying the matter had been resolved.

Other court documents detail how Nickerson was twice accused of assault in Deschutes County, but was never charged in the first incident and the charges were dropped by the District Attorney the second time.

One January 2023 police report obtained by the Oregon Journalism Project details how Nickerson and her elder daughter, Ariel Swan, then 19, assaulted a woman outside a Taco Bell.

The report, based on conversations with Nickerson, Swan, bystanders and the victim, says Nickerson followed the woman down an alley in a white SUV and tried to run her over, according to the Oregon Journalism Project.

It also describes Nickerson 'yelling obscenities' at the woman from an open car window before she and her daughter jumped out of the SUV and attacked the alleged victim.

Nickerson and Swan told police in the aftermath that the victim slept with Nickerson's ex-boyfriend, but the victim denied the claim and said she did not know the two women.

John's mother, Shauntai Nickerson, was twice accused of assault in Deschutes County, court records show

Meanwhile, a bystander told officers that Nickerson and Swan 'definitely assaulted' the woman and 'definitely hunted her down.'

Swan was ultimately arrested and charged with harassment and attempted fourth-degree assault.

During her arrest, according to the Bend police report, Nickerson 'charged' at the officers, saying: 'If you arrest her, you're gonna arrest me too, because I'm going to be next.'

Nickerson, however, was never arrested or charged in connection with the assault.

But less than two months later, Nickerson was charged with assault and harassment in a separate incident involving a different victim.

Court records do not include a police report or provide specifics about the charges, only that Nickerson caused 'physical injury to the victim,' a woman in her early 40s, according to the Oregon Journalism Project.

Nickerson ultimately pleaded guilty to harassment in October 2023, but two weeks later, Deschutes County District Attorney Steve Gunnels's office dismissed the assault charge.

It said in a statement that the prosecutor on the case did not believe she had enough evidence to convict.

Community members were seen embracing at a makeshift memorial outside the school

A memorial was set up outside the school following the shooting

Despite the allegations, Nickerson was able to purchase a Mossberg Maverick 88 pump-action shotgun for her son, registered in her name.

John then used that firearm when he forced his way into Silver Rail Elementary School on October 15, and fired off 15 rounds before he was fatally shot by heroic father Kaylub Giamanco, 36.

Giamanco recalled having a totally normal morning before the shooting would change everything. He got his kids up, made them 'pretty' for school photos, and drove them to school.

Hours later, Giamanco would be driving home on his lunch break when he spotted Griffin John II shooting at a red vehicle in front of him. Then he saw John throw his shotgun over the fence and follow after it, heading toward the school one of Giamanco's daughters were in.

'That's when panic flooded into my brain,' he told Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB).

'No, no, no, no,' he recalled himself saying as he grabbed his gun from his center console and loaded the magazine. 'Full panic. I was like: "No, there's children, there's babies in there!"'

He called 911 to report the shooter entering the school, but he hung up before he could answer all the dispatcher's questions.

'I'm sorry, but I have to go in. People are going to die,' he told the dispatcher.

As Giamanco crawled along the windows of the school after John fired two shots, he recalled hearing small children 'plead for their lives.'

'And then I started hearing gunfire,' he told OPB. 'I started army-crawling faster and faster. And I told myself: "This is probably the last thing I'm ever going to do."'

He would follow the gunman into the school, where the father-of-two would see the gunman struggling with a teacher.

Kaylub Giamanco, 36, grew emotional recalling how he shot John dead

One of Giamanco's daughters attended Silver Rail Elementary. He said he went into a panic and quickly grabbed his gun from his center console when he saw John throw his rifle over the fence and follow after it

The father would swing the classroom door open and open fire at the teenager, who used to be a student at Silver Rail. The teacher then looked at Giamanco in fear, thinking he was a second shooter.

'That hurt a lot,' the hero dad said.

After the teacher left the room, Giamanco saw the gunman scrambling for his weapon. The dad shot him two more times to 'make sure he couldn't move,' he told OPB.

'I was afraid of him shooting anybody else,' he said.

Shortly after, the first police officer arrived at the school. He begged the officer to let him call his wife, whom he had communicated with earlier about reheating last night's tacos for lunch for him.

'I called my wife to tell her I'm not coming home for tacos, and that I need her to get to the school immediately,' he said.

He told his wife he had killed somebody and that he had to watch children die. After getting off the phone with his wife, he called his mother.

The father-of-two girls grew emotional as he recalled the phone call with his mother, Kenda Freeman, telling her he just took the life of a child because he was a danger to his daughters, who attended the school.

'I broke down at that point,' the father said, as he held back tears retelling it.

'I can't tell you what it feels like to take a life,' he told OPB. 'It's really not how I thought my Thursday was going to go.'

Poundland could disappear from the High Street within days as Andy Burnham asks questions over how its owners handled a sales process.

Thousands of nervous staff are waiting to hear what will happen to the discount retailer after it filed a notice to appoint administrators with the High Court today.

This will give the business, bought by US investment firm Gordon Brothers for less than £1 last year, some breathing room – ten days – to find a rescue deal. AlixPartners is poised to take over a potential insolvency process.

But the Poundland brand and its 600 shops will not be sold as a whole, leading to a carve-up of the 36-year old retailer, meaning jobs are at risk at any shops that are not bought.

And on Thursday night, the Prime Minister said he is ready to demand answers from owners amid a 'deeply worrying time' for staff and their families.

Burnham told The Telegraph: 'We want to see jobs protected. If there was a potential owner to avoid this that hasn’t been accepted, then the Business Secretary and I want to know why that is the case.'

Battle for survival: The fate of Poundland's near 12,000 staff hangs in the balance.

It would mark the biggest high street collapse since Debenhams closed its doors in 2021 with the loss of 12,000 jobs.

Job losses could hit 600 shops and a distribution centre in Makerfield, Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s constituency, which employs around 270 people.

Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds also said he was ‘very much concerned’ and would push for answers as workers and bosses seethe over its failure to find a buyer.

He told The Telegraph: ‘If it is true that it was not necessary to put the business into administration then the present owners will have to account for that.’

Why has Poundland struggled?

Chains like Poundland are battling shoppers with constrained budgets while costs, such as employing people, have increased – following Government moves to hike wages and employer National Insurance contributions. Savvier shoppers are looking for cheaper online alternatives, including Amazon, Temu and TikTok Shop.

Former owners, the Warsaw-listed Pepco Group, made some wrong moves that did not go down well with its customers, including putting Pepco clothing in its shops.

Its most recent woes stem back to last year, when it narrowly avoided collapsing into administration. The chain was sold in June 2025 to US firm Gordon Brothers for a nominal €1 amid 'challenging trading conditions'.

By November 2025, around 100 Poundland shops had been shut or earmarked for closure. Two months later, as part of its radical turnaround plan, Poundland had shut 149 stores with 2,200 job losses.

But this year, Poundland bosses insisted it was turning a corner, pointing to like-for-like sales growth of 3.3 per cent in the three months to September 26.

Poundland's managing director Barry Williams said earlier this month: 'Our recovery plan is working, thanks to our investment in simple low pricing and new ranges, powered by our new in-house teams.'

Why is there a dispute between Poundland’s owners and its bosses?

Both shop workers’ union Usdaw and Poundland’s management have accused Gordon Brothers of mishandling a sales process, which it kicked off at the beginning of September.

The union met with the minister for the future of work, Kate Dearden, on Wednesday, amid warnings of what would be the biggest High Street collapse in years.

Three directors, appointed less than a fortnight ago, this week walked out following a dramatic dispute with owners Gordon Brothers.

Hours later the retailer’s management hit out at the owners, calling the process ‘unexpected, unwanted and avoidable’.

Government adviser David Bickerton is set to ask ‘fairly basic questions of senior people around Poundland’ in order to ‘establish what the situation is,’ on behalf of the business secretary, the Financial Times reported.

What does a notice to appoint administrators mean?

‘Filing a notice of intention isn’t administration itself,’ explains Julie Palmer, managing partner at real estate advisory group BTG.

Instead, it effectively keeps the wolves from the door for up to ten business days of protection and helps the firm preserve cash.

She added: ‘If an appointment follows, the administrators take control of the company from the directors. Their first duty is to try to rescue it as a going concern.

'If that isn’t possible, they aim for a better result for creditors than liquidation would give. In practice that usually means a sale, either of the whole business or in parts. For staff and customers, stores normally keep trading while that happens, but the risk is that the business is broken up, with stronger stores sold and weaker ones closed.’

Who could buy the shops?

Owner Gordon Brothers rejected a takeover offer from Irish real estate firm Martin Property Group – despite management and unions arguing this was the best deal on the table.

This would have been for the whole business, including its brand and full store estate.

But now it seems like other major retailers, especially those with grand expansion plans, could pick up some shops from Poundland.

The owner of The Range, Homebase and Wilko – known as Britain’s ‘Del Boy Billionaire’ – is thought to be interested. Chris Dawson, 74, who runs CDS Superstores, acquired the Wilko brand out of administration in 2023.

Dawson got his nickname, the 'Del Boy billionaire', via the press as a reference to his yellow Lamborghini Urus, which has a personalised number plate 'DE11 BOY', a homage to the character Del Boy Trotter from the classic TV show Only Fools and Horses.

Dawson started his career as a market trader, before founding The Range and scaling it to a major high street chain. He has since acquired Wilko and Homebase out of administration.

Chris Dawson, 74, runs CDS Superstores, which owns The Range, Homebase and Wilko

Poundstretcher owner Fortress is also understood to be looking at buying shops. The rival discount retailer runs more than 300 shops in the UK.

Supermarket Lidl also hopes to be able to snap up some of its stores if the retailer fails to sell the whole company. The discounter is pushing ahead with a major expansion mission.

TG Jones owner is also understood to be interested in buying parts of the Poundland business.

The private equity group owns Britain's WH Smith shops, now known as TG Jones stores and previously bought ailing accessories chain Claire's, Hobbycraft and The Original Factory Shop.

All Claire's standalone shops in the UK and Ireland stopped trading earlier this year after its financial woes saw it fall into administration twice in a year.

Are shops open and will staff be paid?

Poundland shops are currently open and operating business as usual.

But Poundland's managing director Barry Williams wrote a letter to around 12,000, accusing the retailer’s owner of limiting the chain's access to funding.

This has effectively prevented bosses from making routine payments, with suppliers now worried they will not be paid on time this week, according to Sky News.

But sources close to the crisis talks insisted that this should not prevent staff from being paid at the end of the month.

Williams told staff: 'I'm disappointed to have to tell you that Gordon Brothers have given instructions that restricts our access to funds that we would, in normal circumstances expect to access fully under our existing loan agreement.'

Gordon Brothers are accused of breaching the terms of an asset-based lending facility by failing to submit a budget to the shareholders on time despite an agreed grace period – with the business now outperforming those forecasts, Sky News reported.

Julie Palmer, managing partner at real estate advisory group BTG, says that in this situation, ‘existing commitments such as payroll and supplier invoices can still be met from cash already available‘.

But bosses cannot ‘draw further funds to cover anything beyond that,’ she says, which poses a problem as retailers typically draw from these loans in the autumn to buy Christmas stock - before repaying from festive sales in December and January.

She added: ‘If a lender has concerns about longer-term viability, it may simply be unwilling to increase its exposure by funding that stock build, particularly when it can’t be sure who will own the business, or what shape it will be in, by the time the money needs to come back.

‘That leaves management with very little room to manoeuvre. It limits their ability to buy stock or take on new commitments, and puts directors in a difficult position, because they must be confident the company can meet its liabilities before taking on new ones. Once credit insurers pull back and suppliers start asking for payment up front, the squeeze tightens quickly.’