What We Know Now: Uncovering Details About the Shooter's Family - The Source

The mass shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School happened less than a week from the date of this writing.

Amid the maelstrom through which rumors swirled, verifiable facts, often confirmed by local law enforcement authorities and eyewitnesses, have been laid bare alongside anonymously sourced information.

National news outlets, including The New York Times, have identified the Silver Rail Elementary School shooter’s mother as Shauntai May Nickerson. Citing law enforcement officials not authorized to speak on the matter, outlets also say the shotgun the 16-year-old used to kill three children and a teacher, and critically injure another student and a teacher, was registered to Nickerson.

According to court records, Nickerson had lived several blocks away from Silver Rail on Brosterhaus Road since at least 2018 when she pleaded guilty to DUII and careless driving. Those charges were dismissed after Nickerson completed a diversion program.

That same year in Deschutes County Circuit Court, Nickerson dissolved a marriage with a man named Griffin Jay John. They had both previously lived in Toledo, east of Newport.

The Deschutes District Attorney’s Office and the Bend Police Department have declined to confirm details about the shooter and to whom the shotgun was registered. Spokesperson Sheila Miller said Bend PD would have more investigation details when they’re available.

The criminal investigation

Both the DA’s Office and Bend PD have been adamant that a very complex investigation is underway. Other news outlets have reported that the FBI and ATF serviced a search warrant at Nickerson’s home, seizing an electronic device belonging to her son.

Whether criminal charges are brought against the shooter’s mother or anyone else will depend on whether prosecutors find evidence of crimes such as criminal negligence, for example.

The shooter’s parents have both had recent run-ins with the law.

In March 2023, Bend Police officers arrested Nickerson on charges of fourth-degree assault, a violent Class A misdemeanor, and harassment. In court, the assault charge was dropped, while Nickerson pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of harassment, a Class B misdemeanor, according to court records. The subject of that harassment is a woman with no discernible criminal record.

People have wondered what laws exist that may have precluded Nickerson’s ownership of the shotgun, if, as The New York Times asserts, she did in fact have it registered in her name.

A disqualifier for a gun purchase is a violent misdemeanor conviction within four years, according to Oregon law. But that doesn’t mean someone has to surrender the guns they already have.

Oregon does have a Red Flag law which can confiscate guns. A family member, household member or law enforcement officer may ask the court for an Extreme Risk Protection Order against someone who is suicidal or poses a danger to others, according to the state. A court hearing happens within 24 hours. If the judge agrees with the assessed risk, the person in question must surrender all weapons and a concealed handgun permit within 24 hours of the judge issuing that order.

Had Nickerson been convicted of the March 2023 assault, that may have precluded her from purchasing a gun through March 2027 — seven months past the Oct. 15.

The Mossberg Maverick 88, which is the pump-action shot gun police say Nickerson’s son used in the Silver Rail shooting, holds six to eight rounds and retails for about $320.

The shooter’s father, after whom he’s named, is Griffin Jay John, according to a 2014 marriage dissolution and child support hearing in WHAT County Circuit Court. Since April of that year, John was mandated to provide nearly $800 each month in child support to Nickerson, $167 of which was dog-eared for medical support until their son turned 18.

John Sr. has a long history of criminal charges, stemming back to his conviction for a string of car break ins in 1997 in Lincoln County when he was 18.

In January 2004, John Sr. was convicted in Lincoln County, for the felony assault of a public safety officer and harassment.

By 2017, three years after the dissolution with the shooter’s mother, John Sr. was convicted or pleaded guilty to the first of several misdemeanors for weapons that, as a felon, he was barred from owning.

Court documents in the intermittent years point to John Sr. working at a sawmill in Toledo, Oregon and for a landscaping company in Astoria.

Most recently, in August 2023, John Sr. pleaded no contest to his most-recent misdemeanor charge of felon in possession a restricted weapon, in this case, a dagger. John Sr. served 10 day in jail. According to court documents, he did not have a permanent address.

Nickerson spoke with reporters outside her home on Oct. 16. She declined to say how her son got the gun.

“If I could have prevented this, I would have,” Nickerson said.

The future of Oregon gun laws

According to Everytown for Gun Safety, a nationally prominent gun violence prevention organization, Oregon’s laws are the 12^th strictest in the country. A person must be 18 to own a long gun, according to the state.

Yet lawmakers and citizen groups alike have been working to bolster Oregon’s gun safety laws. In recent years, new laws have mandated secure storage and a prohibition of guns at the state Capitol. Universities have the power to prohibit guns on campus, and lawmakers have enacted a prohibition on 3D-printed and untraceable ghost guns, according to Everytown.

Yet one crucial measure has been ensnarled in the courts.

Passed by voters in November 2022, Measure 114, authored by an interfaith group, proposed a permit-to-purchase requirement, mandating that anyone who wants to buy a gun would need to submit to — and fully complete — a federal background check. They’d also have to take a gun safety class that would require would-be buyers to prove they know how to safely load, fire and store a firearm. Measure 114 also capped magazine capacity at 10 rounds.

The measure would also criminalize the transfer of a gun to someone who doesn’t have a valid permit or a completed background check.

State voters approved Measure 114 by a 1.3% margin, according to the Oregon Capital Chronicle. Opposition was more concentrated in rural, conservative corners of the state, with support found in cities that are blue in their politics.

But a circuit court judge in Harney County ruled that the measure violated Oregonians’ Second Amendment Rights. Measure 114 is presently awaiting a ruling by the Oregon Supreme Court.

States like Florida and California have laws that hold parents responsible for their children’s gun crimes.

In 2024, two Michigan parents were convicted for manslaughter when they gifted their son the handgun he used days later in a mass shooting at a local high school. They were each given a 10- to 15-year prison sentence.