Make New York Post a Preferred Source The weeping mother of the crazed teen gunman who carried out a mass shooting at an Oregon elementary school insisted her son was “a good boy” and that she would have tried to prevent the massacre if she could.
Shauntai May Nickerson, the mother of 16-year-old John J. Griffin II, waved off reporters on the porch of her apartment complex as she smoked a cigarette and cried, the New York Times reported.
Follow for live updates on the mass shooting at Silver Rail Elementary in Bend, Oregon
The mother said that Griffin — who killed three students and one teacher at Silver Rail Elementary School on Thursday — was “a good boy, he really was.”
A person places flowers at a makeshift memorial on the other side of Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Ore., on Friday. AP Photo/Haven Daley Community members grieve during a candlelight vigil at Drake Park in Bend, Ore., on Oct. 15, 2026. Getty Images “I’m sorry,” Nickerson said, the outlet reported. “I miss him.”
Griffin was armed with a pump-action shotgun, allegedly bought by his mom, when he opened fire in Silver Rail Elementary’s special education classroom.
A hero girl dad, Kaylub Giamanco, followed the teen into the school building and fatally shot him, according to police and his relatives.
Nickerson declined to say how her son could have gotten hold of the deadly firearm.
“If I could have prevented this, I would have,” she said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
