Meghan Lambert, a beloved 25-year-old teacher who coached children’s volleyball in her spare time, has been identified as the educator killed in the Oregon school shooting.
Lambert, who lived in Bend, died inside her classroom on Thursday afternoon after 16-year-old Griffin John II opened fire at Silver Rail Elementary School.
Three children, ages five, eight and 11, were also killed in the attack at the school John had attended when he was younger.
Lambert’s family remembered her Friday as someone who was deeply passionate about sports and determined to pursue a career in education.
She “lit up the room,” her family said, describing her as compassionate and someone with a “huge heart.”
Her generosity was evident during her first season as a volleyball coach, when she gave up her pay so families who could not afford to participate would still have the opportunity to play the sport she loved, according to the family statement.
Lambert’s relatives also described her as funny and outspoken, saying she “fought for the underdog” and advocated for people with special needs.
“Meghan loved those children,” her family said.
Meghan Lambert of Bend was the teacher killed in Thursday’s school shooting in Oregon. Bend police said Friday that the other child victims will not be named at this time out of respect for their families
Lambert had hoped to become an educator in the school district where she had “loved growing up,” her family said.
Her first full-time teaching position was at Silver Rail Elementary, although she had worked there as a substitute teacher “for many years,” according to her relatives.
“She loved Silver Rail,” the family statement said. “This was her dream job.”
Lambert graduated from Boise State University in 2023 after graduating from Mountain View High School with the class of 2019.
“She was an incredible sister, daughter, niece and granddaughter,” her family said. “Her friends became her family.”
The gunman also critically wounded a 54-year-old teacher and shot a seven-year-old child who uses a wheelchair in the face. Both victims remained hospitalized.
Police said John fired as many as 15 rounds during the attack and still had 44 rounds remaining when he was shot and killed.
John opened fire on people inside a special education classroom, where he had been a student during his early childhood.
Police said he appeared determined to reach the former classroom. After being fired upon while trying to enter through the front door, he ran around to the rear entrance.
Griffin John II, 16, is accused of killing three children, ages five, eight and 11, at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, on Thursday. He is pictured with his mother, Shauntai Nickerson
Rhoam Summer, pictured left, has been identified as one of the shooting victims. He is shown with his mother
John, who was not enrolled in a Bend public school at the time, traveled to Silver Rail Elementary on foot. The route is being investigated.
He first threw the Maverick 88 12-gauge pump-action shotgun over the fence before jumping over, but found himself blocked from entering.
John was fired upon by hero dad Kalub Giamanco, who would later shoot the teen dead, and blocked by another bystander’s van that he riddled with bullets.
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Instead of giving up, he ran to the back entrance and blasted his way through a ‘safety vestibule’ system designed to keep children at the school safe from school shooters.
Lambert’s family thanked Giamanco, saying that he ‘selflessly put [himself] at risk for others.’
‘We know he is going through a rough time but we are grateful and we think he is a hero,’ the family said.
The school resource officer was not at the school at the time of the shooting, authorities said. They said the officer oversees around six other buildings and was at a nearby school.
Police were unsure how John was able to get his ammunition, stating the investigation was still ‘very active.’
Five weeks before he went on his shooting rampage, the teenage mass killer stared at a camera with a murderous gaze.
John was gangly with a patchy mustache and goatee and looked sullen in a haunting photo posted by his mother Shauntai Nickerson last month.
Griffin was shot dead minutes after he began his rampage by Kalub Giamanco, 36, (pictured) a dad of two children at the school who heard the gunshots as he drove home for his lunch break
Giamanco’s wife Kelsey (center) confirmed he was the hero who intervened by running inside the school. The couple have two children at Silver Rail Elementary School
Nickerson told a TV station in 2020 that she was pleased students were going back to the classroom as her son was struggling with distance learning during Covid lockdowns.
‘I think it will be great for Griffin, because I am not certified teaching a special needs student,’ she told KTVZ 21.
‘And I think it will be great for my son to get the help that he needs from the skilled teachers that he needs to get it from.’
The future murderer was in the Nurturing Empathy Safety and Trust program, which helped special education students ‘experiencing intensive behavioral and social skills challenges’.
The first victim of the shooting was named as five-year-old Rhoam Summer.
Summer’s teacher was identified as Lambert, while the other child victims were not named out of respect for the victims’ families, Bend police said at a press conference on Friday.
John used his mother’s shotgun to carry out the massacre, which police said was bought about the time of his 16th birthday.
Nickerson, 43, a medical aide at Touchmark Living Centers, has a long list of traffic violations and was charged with DUI at 1.37am on July 29, 2018, by local police in Bend.
She was also convicted of harassment in 2023 with a second charge of fourth-degree assault from the same incident dismissed.
Silver Lake Elementary School in Bend is pictured on Friday afternoon in the wake of Thursday’s mass shooting that killed three young students and a teacher
Nickerson insisted to reporters who confronted her outside her home in Bend that her son was ‘a good boy’ and she would have stopped him if she could. John’s motive is unknown.
Police raided his family’s home on Thursday night, seizing computers and other electronic devices. Family was said to be cooperative.
Giamanco’s wife Kelsey and brother Kyle, along with several of his friends, confirmed he was the hero who intervened by running inside the school.
He holds a concealed carry permit and is friends with the family of the seven-year-old in the wheelchair who was wounded.