The Oregon teenager who killed three children and a teacher at his former elementary school was born into a family already scarred by domestic violence, alcohol abuse and repeated encounters with the law, according to court documents obtained by The Post.

Those records show that Griffin John, the gunman’s father, beat Shauntai Nickerson and threatened her with a knife before their son was born. The attack forced Nickerson to move across Oregon, according to the documents.

The elder John was sentenced to 48 months in prison for the attack on Nickerson, who was his wife. He was later released early and asked a judge to lift a restraining order so he could “see his son grow up” in Newport, Oregon.

Eight months after that request, Griffin J. John II was born. His parents did not remain together for long, and within months Nickerson moved her son about three hours west to Bend, Oregon.

Police say Griffin John II, 16, later used his mother’s shotgun to force his way through the door at Silver Rail Elementary in Bend. The attack occurred last Thursday at the school he previously attended.

Griffin J. John II, 16, shot the glass out of a locked side door at Silver Rail Elementary in Bend, Oregon on Thursday and forced his way in. About a minute earlier he'd fired into a car in the parking lot.

He walked into the first classroom he reached. A special-needs room. Three kids, ages 5, 8 and 11, and their 25-year-old teacher were killed, all of them in that one class. He knew the room. Back in 2020 he was a special-ed student at Silver Rail himself, in a program for kids with intensive behavioral and social challenges. Relatives say he'd been taught in the same classroom he opened fire in. The gun was a Maverick 88 pump 12-gauge. His mother bought it in August, around his birthday. He brought nearly 60 shells and fired about 15 before Kaylub Giamanco, a dad on his lunch break with two girls at the school, chased him in and shot him dead. Oregon makes you 18 to buy a shotgun. A parent can legally hand one to a minor. His mother's cooperating with police and hasn't been charged. https://t.co/N00wm1Thdd — IredcapI (@IredcapI) October 16, 2026

John targeted his special education classroom, according to police. He killed Rhoam Summer, 5, along with children aged 8 and 11, and teacher Megan Lambert, 25.

The violence also left two other victims wounded. A child, 7, who uses a wheelchair was shot in the face and hospitalized, while a teacher, 54, was also wounded during the attack.

An armed parent confronted John inside the school and killed him, ending the attack. The parent was described in the source account as heroic for taking action against the teenage gunman.

Court records concerning the elder John reveal a troubled history that predates his son’s birth. In letters sent to a judge following his domestic violence arrest, he disclosed a history of alcohol abuse and said he had been jailed “several times in the past.”

His early release did not mark the end of his legal troubles. The documents indicate that he remained free for only a few years before another arrest.

In 2012, the elder John was arrested in Newport after allegedly striking a police officer with his head. Court records also accused him of drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana in violation of his parole.

The source account said it was unclear whether he was convicted in that case. No additional resolution of those allegations was provided in the court documents cited by The Post.

The families of both John and Nickerson also carried rough reputations in their eastern Oregon hometown, according to the report. A bartender in Toledo, identified as Nickerson’s hometown and neighboring Newport, claimed the elder John once made gross remarks to a teenage girl.

Neither the elder John nor Nickerson could be reached for comment by The Post. Numerous other relatives refused to speak, and one family member threatened a reporter with dogs when approached for comment.

Nickerson did speak briefly to reporters one day after the school shooting. “I’m sorry … I miss him,” she told them while discussing her son.

She insisted Griffin was “a good boy, he really was,” but declined to explain how he obtained her shotgun. “If I could have prevented this, I would have,” she said.

New images are in showing police raiding the apartment of 16-year-old Griffin J. John and his mother. Police say John brought a 12-gauge shotgun into his former elementary school and opened fire on children and teachers. Alex Stone has more. https://t.co/tTzzZVL7om https://t.co/cG6ytyHpRq

— World News Tonight (@ABCWorldNews) October 18, 2026

The court documents trace violence in Griffin John II’s family to before his birth, while the police account details the horror he later unleashed at his former school. Four people were killed, two were wounded, and the attack ended only after an armed parent confronted the 16-year-old shooter.

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