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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Three Children, One Adult Killed in Shooting at Oregon Elementary School; Interview with Rep. Janelle S. Bynum (D-OR); New Polling 19 Days to Midterms; White House Press Secretary Failed the Bar Exam, Still Calls Herself a Lawyer; WH Press Secretary Denies She Misrepresented Herself As A Lawyer; Officials Give Update On Oregon Elementary School Shooting. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired October 15, 2026 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ERIC DETERS, TRUMP DONOR AND FORMER CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE CHANNEL: ... a 16-minute phone call that I received from Greece, and I'm not understating this. In my opinion, the phone call brings down the Trump administration.
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ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Vice-President J.D. Vance doing damage control tonight. He spoke to CBS News.
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J.D. VANCE, (R) VICE-PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: That's disgusting and despicable. And they should suffer consequences.
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BURNETT: Guilfoyle denies any wrong doing. Thanks so much for joining us. AC360 starts now.
[20:00:32]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": Good evening, from the Newsroom. Tonight, it has happened again. Another school, another shooting. To many, it may feel like a sickening routine. For the parents and siblings and families of the dead, it is the end of their lives as they knew it.
This time it happened in Bend, Oregon, at a local elementary school. Four people killed, three of them children and one adult, according to a source. Unclear at this point if the adult was a teacher or school employee.
We're expecting to hear from authorities within the next half hour. The shooting began at Silver Rail Elementary School just before 1:00 P.M. local time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHEILA MILLER, COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER, BEND POLICE DEPARTMENT: ... at about 12:59 P.M., dispatch received the first call reporting a shot fired into a car. At 1:00 P.M. our officers, dispatched to send out an alert, which alerts all of our officers that they need to respond to a critical scene.
Our officers were on scene at approximately 1:02 P.M., seconds later, we received word over the radio that the suspect in this incident was down. We received multiple 911 calls during this incident. Just in those two minutes, reporting an active shooter in Silver Rail Elementary School. At 1:02, as I said, our officers were on the scene and moments later the shooter had been shot and killed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: The Bend Police Department also said the shooter may have been killed by a bystander. Unclear if that means a teacher or even a parent at this point. The shooter was a 16-year-old male, according to multiple law enforcement sources.
The Bend Police Department says they evacuated every classroom and bus student to Journey Church in Bend, which was turned into a reunification center for parents. More than 400 students were enrolled in the school, which is kindergarten through fifth grade.
The FBI is on the scene tonight, along with local law enforcement, of course, according to FBI director Kash Patel, who posted on social media, "We will make every resource they need available."
The superintendent of the school released a statement that read, "We are stunned and heartbroken by this senseless tragedy. We extend our deepest sympathy to the families and to everyone affected by this violence. No words can adequately express the grief our community is experiencing."
For more on the latest, I want to bring in CNN's chief law enforcement intelligence analyst, John Miller, who is here with me, CNN law enforcement analyst Jonathan Wackrow and Josh Girard, who is a former police captain and civilian active shooter trainer.
John, what is, what's the latest you're hearing from sources?
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, we've learned that the shooter is a 16-year-old male. He's only been 16 for a couple of months based on his date of birth. What we don't know is what is his connection to that school. It's K through five. So even if he had gone there before, he would have been out of that school four or five years, depending on how you do the math.
Why was he there? What was the shooting about? These are all questions that we're a little bit in the dark on right now. The other question is that weapon as a 16-year-old, he couldn't legally possess it. Did it come from the home? Did he get it from someplace else?
COOPER: Do you know what kind of weapon it was at this point? MILLER: Don't know if it was a handgun or a rifle. We're awaiting this police news conference where we expect some of that to be filled in. What we do know is that while the FBI is providing one suite of resources, and we can get into that if you want, ATF will be there examining that weapon, getting the serial number, running that record to figure out where was it manufactured and where was it the last point of sale.
Likely at a gun store and then they would have to go to that store, go into the paper records and figure out who was that sale to? As we have seen, in Michigan, in Georgia, juveniles who have committed active shooter massacres at schools with weapons that they obtained at the home, cases like that are now resulting in the prosecution of parents for negligence for failure to secure the weapon, for giving kids access to it.
COOPER: The spokesperson for the police we're saying that the initial call was about a shooting into a vehicle.
MILLER: Right. Part of what we've been trying to piece together, pretty unsuccessfully is the 911 call is about shooting into a car, but other anecdotal reports we've had is that the shooter was shot by an adult teacher, parent, bystander inside the school. This may be key whether he was shooting at the car or the car just called 911 and said, there's someone shooting, you know, outside we're in the car.
The idea that there was an armed person there who basically neutralized the shooter before police got there, you have to flip that over and say, had that not been the case, what would have occurred? Would the body count be worse? Would the tragedy be greater? Things will never know.
[20:05:32]
COOPER: Josh, law enforcement arrived on scene three minutes after the first 911 call came in. Police said the shooter had already been shot and killed, as John was talking about when the officers got there. And we don't know who shot him. At this stage, what are the questions do you have?
JOSH GIRARD, FORMER POLICE CAPTAIN: You know, really it comes down to how the shooter got access to the faculty or whoever, whatever adult was shot. And the kids that were unfortunately injured in this incident. Many schools, especially, ones like this one where it seems like the school board or the school district, there had some sort of active shooter policy, some sort of response. But what was the initial security posture of the school? Did they have, you know, primary and secondary blockades to keep somebody from getting where those bypass somehow? Were they just not used?
These are the things that as a law enforcement, you know, in the industry and law enforcement all over the country are looking at very, very early on to see if he exploited some, you know, some sort of vulnerability that we need to look at in our own communities, in our own schools, and lock down now to make sure somebody else doesn't look at this as a primer, as an example of a way to gain entry into a very, very soft target.
COOPER: Jonathan, I mean, to Josh's point, we don't know whether the shooter was able to or how they were able to get into school. What sort of security they may have had? From your standpoint, what more do you want to know about the level of security there?
JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, listen, I think that, you know, what we do know around security at schools is that across the country for years, schools and local communities have been, you know, putting layers of protection around schools to prevent or deter this type of critical event. So, the question comes in, how did this happen? How did this individual get into the school and bring this terror there?
And what you have to look at, is it really this incident speaks to the very unique dynamics of a school shooting. And, you know, the victim population here really defines the event. And what I mean by that is young children have difficulty identifying threats, especially in this school where you have kindergarten through fifth grade.
They may not understand, you know, how to identify that threat, how to exit the building, where to go. How to self-evacuate. So, in these instances, survival really depends on the adults who have to know when to initiate these lockdown drills, and they have to practice it again and again.
So, the environment really compounds the risk here when you have this type of threat present itself, and especially if it's a 16-year-old who may know this school environment, it worsens the situation because they have a lay of the land. And if this is an active, targeted, you know, grievance shooting, then, you know, they know exactly where they're going, you know, to cause this harm.
So, there's a lot of questions here around, you know, what level of security they did have in place and how was that, you know, any type of vulnerability of that structure exploited by the 16-year-old?
COOPER: Yes, everyone, stay with us. We are awaiting this, this press conference from law enforcement. We will obviously, bring that to you when it happens live. We're expecting it in the next 20 or so minutes.
Joining us now is Democratic Congresswoman Janelle Bynum. Bend, Oregon, is in her Congressional District. I understand you're at the airport en route back to the district. Obviously, this is a horrific circumstance, but what are you hearing from state and local officials about what happened?
REP. JANELLE S. BYNUM (D-OR): Well, I received a call from the local state representative from our legislature. And of course, she was distraught and after that call, you know, my team made the decision to head straight back out there. We were just there last night.
Since then, I've received information that there's going to be a vigil that will be held tonight at 7:00 P.M. at Drake Park, and it will be organized by local clergy. And, you know, the most heartbreaking thing as the details have surfaced now is that we have a child involved and the killing of other children. And I think that's the most heartbreaking part of it because multiple families are being impacted. This continues to happen and our kids are getting shredded and it seems as if the adults don't care.
COOPER: Can you talk a little bit about what the community of Bend is like? What this area is like?
BYNUM: Oh, Bend people, Oregonians, the chilliest people you could ever meet. Just relaxed, warm, friendly, will tell you their opinion over a glass of beer or coffee, you know, an IPA, a cider, just an easygoing, way of life in Bend. It's where the sunshine is in the state. It's where people, you know, rock climb after work or, you know, go down the, the, the river or ride their bike. I mean, it's home to very spry older people and very adventure loving young people. It is just the most magical place in Oregon.
[20:10:45]
COOPER: Well, Congresswoman, I appreciate your time and I wish you a quick flight and we'll be talking to you in the days ahead. Thank you for being with us. Um, back now with, with our, our panel. As law enforcement, I mean, obviously they will be looking, trying to find out whatever information they can about who this shooter was. Obviously, we talked about the security issues and how they may have gotten that weapon.
MILLER: So, they've got a number of steps to go through in the right now, which is they've identified the shooter. They know who he is. They know where he lives. They've got to lock down that house. They've got to execute a search warrant. They're going to be looking for computers and phones and things that will bring them into social media, but also notes or videos or anything left behind, as we've seen in some of these cases. Sometimes there is a message left behind that explains the why or whatever passes for the why.
Nothing can really stand as a reason to do something like this. In the meantime, ATF will be tracing that gun. The FBI will also offer a suite of services to the Bend Police Department and the county sheriff, which is victim witness specialists. They can bring them in from all over the Pacific Northwest, different field offices so that they have people on the ground to counsel people who were traumatized, who were witnesses, who, who suffered loss, ERT, evidence response teams. It's going to be a complicated crime scene, probably inside and outside. They have teams that can gather up all of that evidence and bring in a lot of people.
If they're being overrun by media in the next 24 or 48 hours, they can bring in FBI media reps to help the locals. They probably won't have much to do with the case except for running any leads that are out of town for the local police, but they've become very adept at bringing these services to smaller jurisdictions, saying, if you're overwhelmed, we've got the resources.
COOPER: Jonathan, how quickly can authorities execute search warrants for shooter's home for electronic devices? WACKROW: Yes, actually they can they can do it right away. I mean, I am sure that they are swearing out warrants right now. You know, especially if you have the FBI on scene. You know, one of the things that they're going to do is they're going to provide, as Commissioner Miller, had said, they're going to provide a level of digital forensics to really help reconstruct the attacker's online path to violence.
When you think about, you know, 16-year-old shooter, one thing that investigators do know is this, you know, from a behavioral threat assessment standpoint is this concept called leakage in teenagers often, you know, teenage attackers, like, you know, the shooter today, you know, they oftentimes reveal their plans to peers or, you know, through online forums.
So, that's where the investigation is right now. And some of these small devices, if there was a telephone, any type of digital devices on the shooter at their residence, they are trying to get warrants to get into those devices right away because they want to also see, you know, is there a way that they can understand what the motivation was here? And was this individual acting alone?
A 16-year-old going into, you know, a K through five school, you know, again, to me starts pointing towards a grievance motivated targeted attack. Was this a lone attacker or was this, you know, driven by something else? And investigators need to find that and that's going to come through, you know, searches of the residents' vehicles, anything that they can get their hands on.
So, I'm sure that those warrants are being sworn out right away at both the state and potentially the federal level.
COOPER: Well, so, John, what we've seen and to Jonathan's point, we have seen, and again, we don't know anything about the shooter here, but we have seen many cases where young people have studied previous past shootings and kind of to pay homage to some of these other shooters.
MILLER: You know, it all begins with Columbine. Not that that was the first school shooting, but when you look at these offenders, particularly these young offenders, they start with the two shooters from Columbine. They collect their pictures. Sometimes they wear the same clothes or the same T-shirt and they study those that followed.
And there are a couple of very dark dynamics there, which is in some cases they are trying to compete to exceed body count and that they state in writings they leave behind, and that they have these shared grievances.
But as Jonathan points out, you know, leakage is key. We have learned that in 85 percent, sometimes north of that of these cases, statements are made, hints are dropped, direct statements are made, online postings happen. And after the fact, people say, I should have realized, I should have said something. I should have come forward and there are tools, now.
[20:15:50]
You go to the FBI website, fbi.gov/prevent, and it actually tells you, it breaks down in brochures and things you can print out or just read. What are the signs? How do you report it? Who do you report it to?
COOPER: It's also and in the FBI studies that are done, the number, you know, most people are killed in the first minutes. And so, the fact that this shooter was killed so quickly by someone on site, probably saved lives. I mean, just based on the statistics.
MILLER: There's no doubt and, you know, that's a person who had likely a concealed carry permit. You have to apply for that. And then the other part of the law in Oregon is open-carry not concealed is legal. Even if you're just 18, not 21.
COOPER: Yes.
MILLER: But not if you're 16.
COOPER: Our panel is going to stay with us. We wait for new information from authorities in Bend. The press conference is expected to begin anytime in the next 15 minutes or so, as our breaking news coverage continues. We'll be e right.
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[20:21:11]
COOPER: As we wait to hear from authorities in Bend, Oregon, which should take place anytime in the next ten minutes or so, there are significant new developments on a number of fronts in the countdown to Midterm elections, now less than three weeks away.
New economic numbers and fresh polling each spelling trouble for Republicans. Just a short time ago, the President weighed in, already making excuses for the possibility his hand-picked Texas Senate Candidate, Ken Paxton, might lose to James Talarico.
Quoting now, "If Ken Paxton loses, it will be because of weak and ineffective political hacks like John Cornyn and Karl Rove, who have ineffectively opposed me for my entire political career."
Now, John Cornyn, you'll remember, is the incumbent, the one who is widely expected to be a shoo-in until the President drove him out of the race by backing Ken Paxton in the Primary.
President wants it known that Paxton defeat will not be his fault for doing that, even though backing him over Cornyn was obviously his choice. So was going to war with Iran. And today another bill for that came due in the form of new economic numbers showing wholesale prices driven by the cost of energy rising faster than at any time in more than four years.
Then there's his choice to make the Midterms about himself. New Fox polling -- Fox News polling puts his job approval at 36 percent, the lowest he's ever gotten in that particular poll. Among Republicans, his job approval still very high, though, down from 92 percent at the start of his second term. it's now at 76 percent.
And again, he's making the election a referendum on him telling voters to pretend that he is on the ballot. Finally, there's his choice of a new White House Press Secretary, Katie Zacharia, who has become the story herself for suggesting that she's licensed to practice law when in fact, she is not.
Today, Zacharia went on a far-right media to try to clean up the mess that followed this moment at the White House on Tuesday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: What state did she pass the bar exam in? You said she's an attorney. Where did she pass the bar exam? Which state?
TRUMP: Which State?
KATIE ZACHARIA, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: When I moved to China.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That was Tuesday, with her sounding a whole lot like she passed the bar exam in China. She said when I moved to China, except non-Chinese nationals cannot take the Chinese bar exam. By yesterday, reports were out that in 2011 she had failed the California bar exam after earning a law degree from Pepperdine University in Southern California.
In a call with "The New York Times" yesterday, she chalked up the discrepancy to a misunderstanding, quoting her now, "I assume the question was, where were you after law school?" That's all I could hear over the sound of Marine One. She added, "And. wanting to respect protocol, the distance behind the President kept me from moving closer to hear the question" which, by the way, still doesn't make sense because she said, when I went to China, which just doesn't make sense even for that explanation.
So, she has a law degree, which in fairness, is not a requirement for the current job she's holding, but she's not licensed to practice, though she's certainly not been shy about suggesting she is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZACHARIA: I went through law school, practiced law, lived in China. I was a corporate lawyer in Beijing, China for three years. I moved over to Beijing for three years and practiced law as a corporate lawyer. We were the outside counsel for the world bank and the IFC. I mean, I am a lawyer, and I'm a rigorous researcher. I'm a lawyer, I went to Pepperdine Law. I practiced corporate law in Beijing, China. I went to law school, I graduated, I moved to China, I practiced law. As a lawyer, the procedural steps are absolutely critical to ensure that they get this right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: She practiced a lot of law, she said, in China sounds from that like, she's a full-on lawyer, at least as most people would understand the word to mean that she did not pass the bar.
Today, though, Katie Zacharia, who does have a legal degree, gave a very lawyer like explanation or lawyer light explanation of why it's all okay.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZACHARIA: I consulted, for a very long time, many people in the field, is it okay and acceptable if I label myself lawyer, not attorney at law, not Katie Zacharia, esquire, but lawyer and provide legal analysis, not legal advice. And they said absolutely across the board, you can call yourself a lawyer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:25:20]
COOPER: To be clear, some legal authorities recognize that distinction, others don't and consider the words lawyer and attorney interchangeable. Websters dictionary does, I imagine most people do.
But keeping them honest, Zacharia has also seemed to blur any fine distinctions between the two words by reposting at least 15 messages like this one over the past two years, identifying her not as a lawyer but as an attorney.
And yesterday, a watchdog group called campaign for accountability filed papers in California asking the State Bar Association to investigate whether Miss Zacharia, "repeatedly held herself out to the public as entitled to practice law without a license to do so to conduct California Law treats as a crime."
Joining us now is "The Wall Street Journal's" Philip Wegmann, who first broke the news that Miss Zacharia had failed the California bar exam.
So, Philip, what more can you tell us about her failing the bar exam in California?
PHILIP WEGMANN, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL": Well, what I can say is that this is a bit of an unforced error by the administration. It was President Trump himself who first introduced the new White House press secretary as an attorney. Yesterday at "The Wall Street Journal" we broke the news that she did, in fact, take the California bar exam, but that she failed it. And the scandal is not that she failed that exam. It's infamously difficult, there are a lot of lawyers who don't pass it on their first try. And our sources told us that she was planning for that move to China. She was preparing for a wedding.
But as you just laid out, Anderson, the issue here and the controversy is that the President referred to her as an attorney and both liberal and conservative critics have noted all the many times that she referred to herself as a lawyer, that's when the critics pounced.
COOPER: Well, you also spoke with a source at the law firm in China where she was employed. What did that person tell you about her time there and what she actually did?
WEGMANN: So, this person at the Zhong Lun Law Firm in China, which is a massive law firm over there, they said that she was one of four international associates who was speaking English and was working on multi-million dollar cross-border transactions. What they said is that at no time was a U.S. bar exam or a foreign equivalent necessary because they would actually work with Chinese law partners. And that gets to the answer that the White House press secretary gave today, where she says, I relied on that experience and also the fact that I had a J.D. after consulting with outside legal counsel to say, it's okay to refer to myself as a lawyer.
COOPER: And she was obviously out on "Mega Line Media" today defending herself. Is there a sense of whether her job is safe? Did you talk to anybody about who opined on that?
WEGMANN: Well, it's not just today. There are all sorts of people speculating how long she's going to last in this position. She meant to make an introduction at the podium the other day. Instead, now you have people both inside and outside of the administration wondering how long she's going to last.
I had current and former officials critiquing everything from her delivery to her parents and her resume. I think the interesting context here, though, is that everyone was always going to compare her to Karoline Leavitt, someone who, you know, was a Trump campaign spokesperson who was fluent in both MAGA ideology and the language and had months to prepare for her first briefing.
Katie Zacharia, on the other hand, because the President scheduled that briefing for Tuesday at 9:30, she had less than 24 hours to prepare. She didn't even get a briefing book until that morning.
And so, now, it really is up to her to have a get-right game, to have a flawless press briefing and prove, you know, not to all of us in the press, but to the one audience that is most important, the President of the United States, that this is the role that she deserves to hold.
COOPER: Yes, Philip Wegmann, appreciate the reporting. Thanks so much.
Perspective now from former federal prosecutor and JAG Officer Margaret Donovan. She's a practicing attorney and a Yale Law School lecturer, allegedly.
No, she actually is, also with us, former White House press secretary for President Bill Clinton, Joe Lockhart.
So, Margaret, I mean, you have all the credentials. What do you make of how she has been portraying herself?
MARGARET DONOVAN, ATTORNEY AND VISITING LECTURER, YALE LAW SCHOOL: It's just totally bizarre. And it's bizarre to me because I think many people go to law school and they get a law degree and they either don't pass the bar or they don't take the bar, and that's perfectly acceptable.
So, it's just odd to me why she would want to sort of embellish her resume.
COOPER: What would somebody like that call themselves, normally?
DONOVAN: In my opinion, you would call yourself somebody who has a law degree. I would not call myself a lawyer. I understand that there's differing positions on that. It's clearly somebody advised her a differing position on that. But to me, when you tell somebody that you're a lawyer, the natural response is, I can ask you for legal advice, I can ask you for help. And that's the danger with misrepresenting yourself. That's why there are state bar licenses. You want to be able to meet a bare minimum standard before you actually give somebody legal advice. And the purpose for that is because when you're asking for legal advice, you're usually in a pretty tough spot. You might be charged criminally, you might owe money, you might have family issues. So, you really need to be able to rely on the credibility and the license of the person you're talking to.
COOPER: She claims to have never misrepresented herself and says she can provide legal analysis but not advice, despite failing the bar exam. Would you make that distinction?
DONOVAN: That seems like a very fine line. You know, legal analysis to me is basically, you know, looking at facts and trying to apply the law, which is basically what lawyers do. Certainly, nothing prevents her from talking about things she learned in law school. I think that's perfectly acceptable.
But just this wider narrative of presenting yourself as a lawyer, to me, I think that's a really slippery slope.
[20:30:44]
Joe, in theory, reporters should be able to trust the White House press secretary. I mean, there's always, obviously, it's been a lot of it often from the podium, and the press corps routinely pushes back. But for -- I mean, do you think this is a fatal error for her to have gone out there and had this terrible briefing, putting aside whether a law degree has any relevance to her qualifications?
JOE LOCKHART, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: You know, I think using the normal political norms of, like, the White House press secretary, this would be fatal, because the currency is your credibility, your ability to tell the truth and be trusted to tell the truth.
But we don't live in that world anymore. We live in a world where the currency is Donald Trump's approval. So the real question isn't, do they believe her in the room, it's, does Donald Trump approve of what she's saying in there and how he, you know, how she represents him and makes him look?
COOPER: And, Margaret, she also, on her LinkedIn, lists herself as general counsel for an activist group founded by Rick Grenell, who's an ally of the President, obviously, was involved in the Kennedy Center. That's obviously -- I mean, is general counsel, doesn't that -- I mean, I usually think of general counsel as an attorney who you go to for legal advice.
DONOVAN: That's unequivocally practicing law. General counsel is practicing law. And so you can get in a lot of trouble for practicing law without a license. You could be criminally charged in some instances.
Usually it's not in that context. Usually it's trying to, you know, tell somebody who is in need of legal advice that you can help them out if they pay you 500 bucks. It's not really that sort of deep in terms of embedding yourself as a general counsel to a company.
You can even get in trouble if you're practicing as a general counsel and you don't have the right state license. You are a licensed attorney, but you're not in the right state of license for your business or your client. So, I mean, that seems very odd, unless that company was just, had a different interpretation of what general counsel does.
COOPER: Joe, I mean, so she only had, by her own admission, a few hours to prep for that initial briefing. She said she got up at 3:00 a.m. to read through materials given to her the night before. She was only offered the job less than a week ago.
Obviously the President, who it seems set up that press conference for that time on that day, did not set her up for success. Isn't it -- I mean, does -- should a press secretary have the agency to say, look, this is not a smart move to do? You know, we need more time?
LOCKHART: Yes, I think so. I mean, I can tell you from my experience, I was the deputy press secretary for two years and took two months to go study and go to national security school and sit with all of the experts in the White House and some outside the White House before I stood up in front of that podium, because you are speaking for the American government.
You are an instrument of our foreign policy, and it's a very significant place to speak from. And it's, you know, the crime really here is how the lack of seriousness that the President takes with what gets said from that room, what gets said from the Oval Office. They just don't seem -- they don't seem to care, and they either are criminally naive or somehow, you know, there is -- there are people there who wanted to set her up for failure.
But in her defense, and I can't believe I'm defending her, but she -- there was no way she could have succeeded with a few hours. You need months.
COOPER: And, Joe, is she on the top of the pyramid in the press office at the White House? I mean, does the staff in that press office work for her? Is she supposed to kind of set the agenda?
LOCKHART: Well, you know, all White Houses are different. There are various power places. In some White Houses, the communications director really sets the direction, and the press secretary just goes out and says, you know, what they're asked to, and some other White Houses, the press secretaries. But it is a very significant job, and whether -- whatever your power base is within the White House, going out behind that podium has an impact. Going out behind that podium and saying something incorrectly can destabilize sections of the world.
There is language prescribed over 40 years, or how do you talk about China and Taiwan? Get that wrong, and you're going to put people's lives at risk. There are military or, you know, our soldiers deployed where get something wrong, you put their lives at risk.
[20:35:04]
That sort of seriousness, that sort of disciplines just doesn't exist. It's very much like an authoritarian government --
COOPER: Yes.
LOCKHART: -- North Korea, Russia, where this person's out there --
COOPER: Yes.
LOCKHART: -- to praise the President.
COOPER: Joe, I've got to jump over to the press conference. I appreciate it. Let's listen in to Bend, Oregon.
STEVEN COOK, SUPERINTENDENT, BEND-LA PINE SCHOOLS: -- elementary school. No community should have to do what we're doing right now. I don't have any words for what this community is feeling right now, and I don't think anyone does. We are heartbroken. We are horrified.
This is the kind of thing you hear about in other places and pray that it never happens here, and it has happened here. Today it happened to our children, to our teachers, and to our families.
To the families that have had loss tonight, we are with you and we will stay with you. To our staff who helped our students and protected our kids today, we thank you. You did what no one should ever be asked to do. I am so grateful beyond words for your efforts.
To our community, I echo what Chief Krantz says. This is a time to love and care for one another and to show compassion for the victims and the families and their loved ones. All of our schools and communities -- all of our schools and activities are canceled for tomorrow.
We will have crisis counselors available at the Central Library for our students, for our families, for our employees, and anyone in this community that needs support right now. This is for everyone.
Please hold your children, hold your loved ones tight tonight. Let them talk, let them cry, let them know we are going to rally and care for one another in this community.
We will get through this, but not yet. We must grieve for the loss of our community members. Thank you. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Next up, we'll hear from Bend Mayor Melanie Kebler.
MAYOR MELANIE KEBLER, BEND, OREGON: Today is an awful day for our community. Our hearts are broken as we mourn this tragedy and the profound impact it has had on so many people, especially the children, families, educators, and school staff whose lives have been forever changed.
A school should be a safe place where children can learn and feel secure. What happened today should never happen. Like so many in our community, I'm struggling to make sense of a loss that feels unimaginable.
I encourage our community to find comfort in one another and to support the families, students, teachers, and school staff who are carrying an enormous burden today. In the coming days, there will be opportunities to gather, including a community vigil tonight, to mourn together, honor those affected and those lost, and begin the difficult process of healing.
On behalf of the City of Bend, I extend my deepest condolences to every person impacted by this tragedy. We grieve with you. And we will support one another through the difficult days ahead. No matter how you're feeling right now, angry, sad, devastated, numb, those are valid feelings.
And in the coming days, we're all going to need to lean on each other for support. So, Bend, your leaders are with you. We are here for you. We grieve alongside you. And we will get through this together. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And finally, we'll hear from Oregon Governor Tina Kotek.
GOV. TINA KOTEK (D), OREGON: I want to start by thanking and praising the quick thinking and courage of the Silver Rail Elementary School staff and parents and the first responders who rushed to the scene this afternoon. And to the community member who heroically intervened to stop further loss of life, your actions carry a heavy emotional burden and I just want you to know that my thoughts are with you as well.
Almost a year ago, I was at Silver Rail Elementary School. I spent time with the educators and community members calling parents to congratulate them on the attendance that their students were showing in the school. And I heard the joy and the excitement from those parents in those conversations.
So my heart is absolutely broken today. And our hearts will stay broken in the days and weeks ahead. And my daily prayers will be with this community, with the children, with the parents, and with the educators.
[20:40:01] All Oregonians mourn this loss today. This is a horrible day. No parent should have to have this kind of day. And no community should have to live through this kind of day.
And as we learn more about the children and the adults who have been killed or injured, and their families and their loved ones, we are going to do a lot of crying. And we are going to cry together. And we're probably going to cry privately.
We must come together and support each other, neighbor to neighbor, Oregonian to Oregonian. The Oregon Department of Emergency Management is coordinating right now across multiple state agencies. And I just want everyone here in this community to know that the state stands ready to support you in whatever you need.
There is going to be time for answering all those questions that we all have right now and searching for more ways to prevent this from happening in the future. But for now, let's hold each other close in grief and put as much love into the world as possible. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, we have time for a few questions. I would ask that you raise your hands, and I will take a few. We'll start with Spencer (ph) from KTBC.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of course, KTBC. What kind of long gun was used, and how many shots were fired over the course of the events?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The question was what kind of long gun was used and how many shots were fired.
CHIEF MIKE KRANTZ, BEND, OREGON: Thank you. At this point, with the investigation being so orderly, we're not going to release any information about the specific type of weapon or how many rounds were fired. But as reported, it was a long gun when we received that information.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Anyone else? Go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I noticed a large police presence at some apartments near the school. Is that related to the shooting?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The question was, there was a large police presence at an apartment complex nearby the school, and was that related?
KRANTZ: Unfortunately, I don't have the exact details of which complex you're speaking of. However, I can say that we had dozens and dozens of police vehicles, emergency vehicles, fire vehicles arriving and assisting. So it could have been a staging area that you're speaking of, but there was vehicles saturating the streets and the parking lots all around Silver Rail.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Peyton (ph)?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did the shooter know anyone at the school?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The question is, did the shooter know anyone at the school? Can you take that?
KRANTZ: Unfortunately, I will not answer that at this point. We just don't have that information yet from this investigation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Go ahead, Tyson (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What resources are available for students and teachers at this time?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The question was, what resources are available for students and other community members at this point.
COOK: At this point, we're rallying up crisis counselors across the region that are going to help support our families and families of students and our staff that have experienced this event. And that's -- as I mentioned, that will be starting tomorrow night -- or excuse me, tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m., available for anybody that needs it at the Central Library.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you tell us any more about how the shooter got into the school and how far into the school making it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sure. The question was, how did the shooter gain access to the school and how far did they make it? Chief, would you like to take that?
KRANTZ: Yes, from what the initial investigation is showing is that the shooter had forced their way into the school by shooting at locked doors.
I'm sorry, you asked how far they made it in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
KRANTZ: I don't have that information at this point.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Spencer, go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Good Samaritan, what gun was he using? How many shots fired? Did he have a CCW? What can you tell us about the person?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The question is the person who stopped the suspect, what type of gun did he have, and did he have a concealed weapons permit. Chief?
KRANTZ: Yes. Again, at this point, so early investigation, I don't have those details yet. We do suspect we'll have more of that information as we do some follow-up media information releases.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And Peyton (ph), go ahead, last question.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did the shooter attend the school at some point?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The question is whether the shooter attended the school at one point, and I think the Chief answered that we are still investigating the shooter, and we'll try and have more information about that tomorrow.
That's about all the time that we have now. As I mentioned, we know that there's a ton more questions, and we plan to host another media conference. Tomorrow afternoon, we will send out a media advisory.
[20:45:03]
If you have additional questions, media inquiries at this point, you can contact me. And we appreciate you being here, and we will hopefully be able to answer some more things tomorrow. Thank you.
COOPER: So we've received and gotten a number of answers just from that Q&A, and in a moment I want to replay you what the Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz had to say a moment ago about the facts as we know them. We're going to re-rack that and play it.
According to what the police have said in that Q&A -- actually let's play what Mike Krantz, the Police Chief, had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRANTZ: Thank you. My name is Mike Krantz, the Chief of Police of the City of Bend. First of all, I, we want to extend our deepest condolences to our entire community. This is a terrible tragedy, and we are working hard to investigate this incident and get as much information as possible out to the public.
These things take time, and we appreciate your patience as we work through this very difficult process. At 12:59 p.m. today, Deschutes County Dispatch received a 911 call from a person in a vehicle who reported being shot at multiple times by a person with a long gun.
In the ensuing several minutes, dispatch received dozens of 911 calls reporting that a shooter had entered the building at Silver Rail Elementary School on Southeast Stone Creek Lane in Bend, Oregon. Dispatch used a tone to alert all law enforcement at 1:00 p.m., one minute later.
Officers responding to the scene directed the school to go into lockdown at 1:01 p.m. At 1:02 p.m., our first officers arrived on scene. Moments later, an officer reported that a suspect had been shot by a community member who had seen the suspect enter the school and pursued him into the school and engaged him.
Our officers entered the building and confirmed the suspect was dead. They cleared the school to ensure there were no additional threats and then rendered emergency aid to the victims. Officers at the scene located five people who had succumbed to their injuries, including the suspect.
The deceased at the scene include three children, ages 5, 8, and 11, and one teacher. One 7-year-old child and one 54-year-old teacher were transported by Bend Fire to St. Charles Bend with critical injuries. The families of the victims have all been notified. We have identified the suspect as a 16-year-old Bend resident. Law enforcement personnel, including Bend Police, Deschutes County Sheriff's Office, Redmond Police, Oregon State Police, and our federal law enforcement partners and others work together to methodically evacuate each room of the building and continue this investigation.
All students and staff at the scene were transported by Bend-La Pine School buses to Journey Church for reunification with families and guardians, and that process is still ongoing.
In August, every Bend police officer went through a full day of active threat training at a local high school. Unfortunately, this is something we train for on a regular basis, and we must. This is going to be a long investigation. We will have a large police presence at Silver Rail Elementary School for the next several days as our officers continue to conduct a very thorough investigation so we get all the answers.
We appreciate your patience as we continue to investigate this terrible tragedy. This is something we never want to happen anywhere, but especially and particularly in our beautiful community here in Bend. There are not really any words I can say to any of you that will make this better, but please know that we are working hard to ensure that we conduct a thorough investigation.
This is a time that we know this deeply impacts the community. I ask everyone to lean on each other and be there for each other. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: And we're back now with law enforcement panel, John Miller, Jonathan Wackrow, and Josh Sherrard. Jonathan -- John Miller, let's start with you. A lot of details now that we have learned. Three children killed, a 5-year-old, an 8-year-old, an 11-year-old. One teacher was killed as well.
Also a 7-year-old child was taken to the hospital as well as a 54- year-old teacher. Extraordinary, though, that the first police report, the 911 call, was from a person in a vehicle who said they were being shot at by somebody with a long gun. That person then shot, according to law enforcement, the locks on the school doors to get into, and a community member saw this person, pursued them with a firearm, and killed them.
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: So this tells us this was a very fast-moving event. The casualties are horrific to consider. The shooter was very mission-oriented.
[20:50:04]
It appears from the description the chief gave that from the time that wherever they came from, whether it was from a car or some -- or walking up, they opened fire in the parking lot first at anything that was moving, this automobile that called 911.
And then all the questions about school security, lockdown, so on and so forth, access to the building, once they opened fire on those doors, and typically you've got the locks, but you've got the glass doors. Remember the Covenant School shooting in Nashville --
COOPER: Yes.
MILLER: -- and those videos that were released where we saw the shooter shoot out the glass, kick out the rest, and then enter the school and then do it again to the second set of doors. Again, very mission-focused. All of that noise and shooting certainly attracted that person who's described as a community member who had their own weapon and had the courage to follow that person, you know, through those broken doors into the school and, as the police put it, to engage them, you know.
And assuming that they had a concealed carry permit for a handgun, engaging someone with a rifle who's already expended a good deal of ammunition at that point took a tremendous amount of courage and, as you pointed out earlier, undoubtedly saved countless lives.
COOPER: Yes. And also, I mean, Jonathan Wackrow, at great danger, this community member to themselves, had they been, you know, seen in the school with a gun by law enforcement, you know, they could have accidentally been shot even by law enforcement in, you know, thinking it was a shooter. It's a remarkable thing that this community member has done.
What stood out to you, Jonathan?
JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, you know, beyond this, you know, hero citizen going in after the threat and neutralizing it, Anderson, you're right, when we look at and just heard the response time by the police from the first call was three minutes. You know, and in that three minutes, this individual clearly could have been seen as the attacker and, you know, confronted by police.
What really stood out to me, though, is this information that the shooter was firing at the locked doors. And to me, that really tells -- you know, signals three things. This individual was determined. They had decided to use force to get their way in, likely knowing that the doors were locked.
So they had a plan in place and that the school, you know, security system that with the locked doors actually worked as intended. Now, it didn't keep them out, but it surely did delay him from getting in. And it allowed that, you know, the time compression here from the first shot to the police coming in to -- as well as this, you know, citizen hero who, you know, eventually neutralized him, you know, it delayed that attack, potentially causing, you know, more loss of life.
So those are the three big things that stick out to me, you know, just in that one element.
COOPER: Yes. I want to go quickly to Jeff Eager, the former mayor of Bend, Oregon, who lives two blocks away from the school. Mr. Mayor, I appreciate you being with us. I'm sorry it's under these circumstances. You live close by. Did you hear or see anything today? And what what are your thoughts right now?
JEFF EAGER, FORMER MAYOR OF BEND, OREGON: Yes, I do live two blocks away. I was here in my home office. I did not hear gunshots. I did not hear sirens. I got a call about half an hour after the event happened and walked over there.
And I'll tell you, the thing that struck me about the scene half an hour after it happened was how quiet it was. There were hundreds of parents, at least dozens of law enforcement officers and paramedics, and it was quiet.
Anyone speaking was speaking in whispers. Parents were understandably distraught. I have two young kids. They don't go to that school. I can only imagine what those parents were going through. It's a terrible thing for this neighborhood, for this city and for that school, which is a neighborhood school.
My neighbors walk their kids to school in the morning and pick them up afterwards to walk them home. It's one of those places.
COOPER: Did you have any sense of what security measures in general or normal times were in place at the school? Were there guards outside? Obviously, there were some locked doors.
EAGER: Yes, I've never seen locked -- or pardon me -- I've never seen guards outside of that school. I do know it is a newer school and I knew -- I know that the school district here has invested a lot of money into kind of security to prevent this kind of thing from happening.
I assume a newer school had some of the more updated security measures. But beyond that, I don't know.
COOPER: When you were in office, was an attack like this something you and law enforcement officials obviously were concerned about, routinely prepared for?
[20:55:01]
EAGER: It was something that I think everyone probably thought back then. And this was, you know, 12, 14 years ago. Wouldn't happen here, right? We did have a mass shooting at a Safeway here about five years ago that I think heightened everyone's awareness. And, of course, all the tragic school shootings that have happened around the country.
But I think most people who live in Bend would think, you know, this is a place people move to because it's safe. They move here so that they can walk their kids to school in the morning. This isn't the kind of thing that we expect to happen here but it did.
COOPER: Yes. Mayor Jeff Eager, former Bend, Oregon mayor. Appreciate it. Thank you very much. Our best to you in the community. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COOPER: New episode of my podcast, "All There Is," was just released. My guest this week is Wynonna Judd, the legendary country music artist, five time Grammy winner, was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame back in 2022. That ceremony was just one day after the death of her mom, Naomi Judd, who died by suicide at the age of 76.
I talked with Wynonna about grieving her mom and also the dad that she never knew about until she was 30. By the time she learned the truth of who her biological father was, he had already died. Here's just part of our conversation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WYNONNA JUDD, LEGENDARY COUNTRY MUSIC ARTIST: I am broken and blessed and everybody's confused about that because I don't know if people really know that you can be both in one second. You can. You can live with the pain. You really can if you're willing to let it ebb and flow. And broken and blessed, I feel like both in any given moment in every day.
COOPER: It's really only in the last year I've been saying to myself, like, I am so broken. And it's kind of nice to acknowledge.
JUDD: It's not a weakness. It used to feel like that. But unlike you, I don't feel the shame of it. Because it's part of who I am.
COOPER: Andrew Garfield was on this podcast and he talked about the wound is the only route to the gift. And I think that's a great way to think about it.
JUDD: Grief is something that we should look at so differently. Grief is part of who I am. And people, you know, their comments are, I thought Wynonna was so strong. She has everything. What is she crying about?
Well, I'm crying about all this crap that's happened to me, and it's made me feel grief. But I'm not going to give up. If I can help one person get the help they need and reach out and not do it alone, then I've done my part.
I just want them to feel like they can do the same thing that I did in terms of moving forward, but not to do it numb to really feel and embrace every aspect of life. And I'm marching through the storm. Literally, like, good luck, you know, getting me down today, devil.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: It's a really moving conversation. I hope you listen to it. You can listen to the full conversation wherever you get your podcasts or watch the entire episode at CNN.com/AllThereIs. It's available right now there. That's where you can also see my new streaming companion show, All There Is Live, every Thursday -- or every other Thursday at 9:15 p.m. Eastern time.
That's it for us. The news continues. The Source starts now.
