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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Shooting Incident at Elementary School in Bend, Oregon; Four Killed in Oregon School Shooting. Source: Three Children, One Adult Killed In School Shooting, According To Preliminary Information From Law Enforcement. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired October 15, 2026 - 18:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[18:00:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Pamela Brown, in for Jake Tapper.

Breaking news this hour, multiple people were injured, including children, after an active shooter situation at an elementary school in Bend, Oregon. This is according to police there, who also say a shooter is dead.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: About 12:59 P.M. dispatch received the first call reporting a shot fired into a car. At 1:00 P.M., our officers' dispatch toned 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--

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BROWN: All right. So, this is a developing situation. We're bringing you the very latest details as we learn them. We're also learning that the FBI is on the scene assisting partners.

So, Leigh Waldman, you've been tracking this. You've been working the phones. What are you learning?

LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pamela, I just off the phone with Thomas, he works at Elite Feet Automotive, a half mile from that school, and he said that everyone who works in that shop there, they heard that there was this active shooter situation happening at this elementary school.

It wasn't heartbreak that they were feeling. It was anger that someone would do this at an elementary school. He said that they were preparing themselves for whatever would come their way, and I asked Thomas what he meant by that. He said he and others in their shop are concealed carry owners, and they were prepared if an active shooter were to come to their shop.

Again, a half mile away from this elementary school. I asked him, what is it typically like in your community working down the street from this elementary school? He says, it's quiet. It's a peaceful community, and for something like this to have happened at this elementary school where kids are just going to learn, he is, he's angered by what happened.

Another woman I spoke to just moments ago who works at a nearby business as well, Sierra, she tells me that it's heartbreaking to think that this is what's happening down the street from the area that they call home.

You can see the parents there, you can see the school buses, and you can see law enforcement on your screen. And this is something that's becoming all too familiar nearly every school year, seeing something like this happen. We've heard from the Bend Police Department. They said that within minutes, they had officers on scene after this initial call about a shot fired inside of a vehicle. They had officers on scene.

They said the shooter was taken down. They haven't described by who at this point. They haven't described the weapon that was used. But we do know that there were children who were injured in this shooting, and we know that two people were taken to a nearby hospital. We're still searching and seeking out any new information that we can, but we know that police will be updating us later on today.

BROWN: All right. Leigh Waldman, stand by.

Joining us now, homeland security analyst Donell Harvin and former FBI supervisory agent Jason Pack. Donnell, are you surprised at how little information we have still?

DONELL HARVIN, HOMELAND SECURITY ANALYST: I'm not surprised. These investigations can take some time to unfold. There may be other affiliated in individuals. They may be running down the identity. I'm sure they know the identity of the shooter. They have the capability of doing that in situ on the scene. They may be looking at affiliates' online posts.

And so, unfortunately, for the family members and the community, they want answers but they want to provide -- the officials want to provide the most accurate information possible, and that's often not possible within the first few hours of an incident like this.

BROWN: Jason, the FBI director, Kash Patel, confirms the FBI is on the scene assisting local law enforcement. What resources would the FBI be providing right now?

JASON PACK, RETIRED FBI SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT: Well, staffing and manpower. The Bend Resident Agency is right there in the city, so they're really close by out of the Portland field office. They have agents assigned there full time.

They have investigative abilities. They would have technical abilities if they needed to dump phones. Most police departments these days can do that. And then they also have the evidence response team that could help out, too, and that's crime scene processing. For such a large scene like this, we don't know how far into the school it goes, what the perimeter is like, so they might need different types of assistance, and I'm sure the FBI, other federal agencies definitely are helping.

[18:05:07]

It doesn't matter what kind of badge you have in these kind of cases. People show up to help when our most vulnerable are at risk or have been attacked. It doesn't matter what badge you wear. You're going to show up and do the right thing and help.

BROWN: And Donell, we're learning that the school did have certain security measures in place such as doors are locked when school starts, a glass vestibule that guests have to go through before proceeding into the main part of the building. What are the most effective security measures for active shooters at schools?

HARVIN: Well, the most effective measures are to prepare the staff and the students to encounter these type of things. And, you know, I'm in class right now and I polled my students. Almost 100 percent of them had active shooter training in elementary school and in high school.

The other thing is hardening the target. These are what we call soft targets, unfortunately, and that's why they attract shooters. And so making sure that you have less glass and more protection, I think is important, but also training and there's something called threat analysis, we can talk about a little bit later, but doing some behavioral analysis for, against individuals who may be making threats against that school or that community.

BROWN: Jason, it sounded like you wanted to jump in on that, too.

PACK: Oh, and Donell's right. I was just going to make similar points and also on the, to that threat assessment point. Here in Tennessee, the Office of Homeland Security has agents in every county, and they do just that. They assess these threats to schools, and they have a unique way of dealing with it. Not only do they try to neutralize that threat, but they also walk through the student or people who may be involved, particularly if it's students that are doing the threat, to see what's really going on in the background there.

And I think that's a unique way. It's a lot of retired federal agents who have brought their training as Secret Service agents or as FBI agents or other law enforcement in to protect the schools, and I think that's a unique way of kind of looking at it because you can't arrest your way out of these problems. You kind of have to look at these threats individually. We don't know if that happened here or not, but, certainly, they will be looking to see if there were any threats before.

Also, panel, if we have a second, I want to talk about -- we talk about law enforcement and law enforcement all the time, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention the firefighters, the paramedics, EMTs, and the EMS side of this. They train just as hard. They're an integral part of this response, and they showed up today and at least transported two that we know about. So, they are really putting their lives on the line, too. Often they're not armed or have any kind of resources. So, I just wanted to make sure that we're talking about them a little bit in this response.

BROWN: Yes. No, I'm glad you mentioned that. Two of the victims, we're told, are taken to a level two trauma center. We're told there are multiple injuries, including children, hoping to learn more.

But as we wait, Donell, what's next here in the investigation?

HARVIN: Well, we've had these conversations before, unfortunately. And in the lead-in we talked about how often this happens. Just give you some statistics, there's been 368 mass shootings this year alone, of which 148 were at schools. If you do the math on that, that's really quick back of the napkin math, that's 40 percent of mass shootings in this country are in schools. That's more mass shootings than days of the year. And so we're not doing enough.

In terms of the investigation, like I said, they're going to be looking at the individual. I responded to the Sandy Hook shooting. We knew exactly who was that individual. We had field the information about them, fingerprints. We were able to kind of run down, see if they associate with anybody, and that's the type of stuff we're being looking at right now.

BROWN: All right. Jason, Donell, stand by. I'm going to bring back Scott MacFarlane. Scott, we have both covered the crime and justice beat, covered the FBI for many years. What's your take right now?

SCOTT MACFARLANE, CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, MEIDASTOUCH NETWORK: This is a local police investigation. School shootings always begin that way. The FBI has roles in this, though. They have a Portland field office at the FBI, but they also have Bend resident agents who are there in the community of Bend every day. It's a component of how the FBI has deployed its manpower.

The FBI uses what they call a critical incident response group. They like acronyms. They call it a CIRG. And those groups are positioned to help for these types of emergencies. If you needed a hostage negotiation, if you needed special equipment that the locals don't have, if you needed some form of oversight to have somebody kind of controlling the multilayered response, the FBI trains on this. They're in these communities for these types of circumstances.

With the shooter, the suspected shooter being dead, the FBI may not have to use those hostage negotiation tools. But they do have to perhaps keep an eye on all the many different components -- of law enforcement and emergency response, which are part of school shooting investigations. It's also, though, why they have agents on the ground in communities as small as Bend, because they need to be there in moments, not in hours.

BROWN: And as we know, according to the official there on the ground, the shooter is dead. Hopefully, that means we can get some more information earlier, because there's not going to be a prosecution, although they do need to make sure there aren't any co-conspirators, right?

[18:10:03]

MACFARLANE: It's always a component of the investigation, and that's why you have different layers involved. You're going to have the county and the city. Bend has school police who are both part of the county sheriff's office and the city police department. State police gets a piece of this, and then the FBI has a role. I would not be surprised in the next 30 to 45 minutes if the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms unit says they're on the scene as well to see about the guns, the bullets, and any part of that investigation.

BROWN: All right. Scott, stay with us. Much more of this breaking news in moments, a shooting incident at an elementary school in Bend, Oregon. We know the shooter has been killed. At least two people were taken to the hospital. Children are among the injured. The latest details ahead.

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BROWN: All right. We're following the breaking news this hour. Multiple people injured, including children, in Bend, Oregon, after an active shooter situation at an elementary school.

[18:15:01]

Police say the shooter is dead. We are standing by for a news conference from authorities that should take place in just over an hour according to the city.

Joining us now is the former mayor of Bend, Oregon, Jeff Eager. He served from 2011 to 2013, lives just a couple blocks from the elementary school.

Mayor, first of all, tell us what you have seen, what you have heard there on the scene.

FMR. MAYOR JEFF EAGER, BEND, OREGON: Well, I was sitting here in my home office when this event happened, and I had no idea it had happened until someone texted me about half an hour later, and I walked over to the school. And there it -- the first thing that struck me was the silence. There were tons of parents gathered around, and I do have young kids. They don't go to that school.

But there were parents whose, who did have kids at that school who were, you know, in a daze, understandably, waiting for information. They were gathered as close as they could get to where the kids were kind of being kept just outside the school on the north end of the school building. And there were, of course, countless police officers, fire department personnel and they were shutting down the roads, et cetera.

BROWN: Well, have you spoken to other community members? What are you learning about this tragedy? We heard there from the public information officer there are multiple victims, including children, the shooter is dead, and that a bystander may have been involved in the shooter being neutralized.

EAGER: I don't have any information about any of that. I did make it to the latter part of the public information officer's briefing near the site, and I heard her say that they received reports of the shooting occurring at 12:59 P.M. Oregon time, and that police were on site at 1:02, and the shooter was down. She declined to answer additional information, and that's what I've got for right now.

BROWN: Yes, we have not received much information here. I imagine you've worked with the Bend Police Department before. What do you make of them working with FBI's Portland unit and how this is going to proceed from here?

EAGER: Well, I know that the Bend P.D. is a very effective law enforcement unit. They -- we had a mass shooting here probably five years ago at a Safeway store. And it came after that horrific shooting down in Texas where the police arguably let the shooting go on for too long. And Bend P.D. in the Safeway shooting a number of years ago, they stormed right in and they ended the shooting.

And so they are -- I think they know what they're doing when it comes to this kind of stuff, and I do trust that they'll do a good job investigating this and working with the FBI.

BROWN: Okay. Mayor Eager, we just need you to stand by because we're getting some more information.

I want to go to my colleague, John Miller, CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst. What are your sources telling you, John?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, the information is still developing. This is preliminary, but what we are being told by people who have been briefed on the incident is it appears that there are three children who were killed in this incident, two on the scene. One we don't know if that's on the scene or one of the people who was transported to that trauma center.

And in addition to those three victims, there is the shooter who was, we are told, killed by a bystander. We're trying to determine whether that bystander was a teacher or a parent, don't have that information yet, but was someone who was armed and took action.

As we have been told by others, you know, the tone which alerts all units on the radio went out at about 1:00. By 1:02, police were on the scene, and the shooter at that point was already neutralized, already down. What that tells us is this was a very rapidly unfolding incident.

What we heard from the public information officer in the original press conference where they did not address casualties was that this may have started with shooting into a car. At 1:00 at a school that has 400 students, that could be the beginning or the middle of lunch hour. So, we're not exactly sure what was going on at the school at that time or whether it transitioned from that parking lot to inside the school.

So, the picture's still coming together, but it appears that we have some bad news.

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BROWN: Yes. I was told four victims as well, and now you're learning from your sources, John. It's just heart-wrenching. Literally, your heart drops when you hear three kids killed, one adult.

MILLER: Well, this is a school for over 400 students, but it's K through five.

BROWN: Yes.

MILLER: You know, so that's kindergarten through fifth grade. You know, that takes you up to, you know, 12 or 13 years old. So, it's -- you know, these are not just juveniles, these are children.

BROWN: These are the youngest and most vulnerable among us. John, three of them killed, you were told by your source, one adult killed. That does not include the shooter, and it's not clear if that adult is a teacher, correct? We're still trying to get some more information and as well as the ages of all the victims, I'm assuming.

MILLER: Exactly. And, you know, that public information officer who closed out the press conference said there would be a later press conference. They did not specify a time at that point but I think they're going to be gathering the right officials, and then getting as much granular information on, you know, casualties or what the current status is, people in the hospital and so on to bring that out. So, obviously, we'll be following.

BROWN: Just some very sober, devastating news coming from you, John. And you mentioned that the injured as well we heard from the public information officer there were at least two victims taken to a level two trauma hospital.

Do you have any more information about those who were injured and what those injuries look like?

MILLER: No. I mean, we're going to operate on the presumption that they were gunshot injuries. That is not always the case because some people can be injured either in the incident or trying to get away from it. But it sounds like those -- it sounds like based on the description that was given that those are gunshot injuries. And that is a level two trauma center. It's the only level two trauma center within any reasonable distance.

BROWN: And we know that the shooter is dead, according to our sources and what the officials said. When you see these school shootings, so often it comes out that a shooter has the, a tie of some sort to the school. Do we know anything more at this point about the shooter?

MILLER: No, we don't. And, you know, when you look at -- as Jason Pack said, you know, earlier and you know Jason's got a great depth of knowledge from his time in the FBI and having responded to so many of these incidents, if you've seen one, you've just seen one. Each one is different. But there are some common themes, and that is usually someone who has been isolated or self-isolated, potentially an injustice collector who has been saving up and collecting and categorizing different slights and disagreements who then decides, you know, that they are going to take some kind of action.

These things come in stages typically where first they formulate the idea of maybe doing it, then they formulate a plan of how they would do it, and then the serious stages are when they start to gather things, whether it's weapons and ammunition and, you know, plan a date.

And one of the things that we've talked about probably not enough is there are resources on the FBI's webpage on the www.fbi/prevent is the webpage that tells you how to spot these signs. And it's designed for students. It's designed for teachers. It's designed for guidance counselors and parents to pick up on what the tells are as someone is descending into fantasizing about it, actualizing about it, but before they carry it out.

And I think, you know, we need to continue to pay more attention to that because, for many years, we didn't know the signs. But, unfortunately, we have a large enough study group at this point that that those signs in many cases are detectable. And like they always do, they'll go backwards on this incident and they'll say, well, what were the signs? In a high percentage of these, and when I say a high percentage, I mean in the 85 percent, there's what the FBI behavioral science people call leakage, which is before the incident often days, sometimes weeks before the incident the offender, the shooter starts dropping hints about what's going to happen and how it's all going to change, and things that that are readable.

So, it's -- again, it's different to a degree in each incident, but these common threads do run through them.

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BROWN: And that's why you always hear law enforcement say family and friends are the first line defense because so often there are signs before.

And, again, I just want to circle back to what we're learning from your sources, John. Three juveniles killed, one adult killed, not including the shooter.

In terms of the three juveniles, we don't know if that means they're students at the school. I mean, we can assume, right? This is a shooting, as we know, near the school but we don't have clarity in terms of who these children are, right?

MILLER: Right. And that's -- as you point out, that's the most likely scenario because it's on the school grounds during school hours. And, you know, what we hope is that these numbers don't go up. And as sometimes happens, although it's very rare, maybe they'll go down, but those are the figures that we've been given right now. BROWN: All right. John Miller, thank you very much for being with us, your reporting.

We're going to have much more of our breaking news in moments, a shooting incident at an elementary school in Bend, Oregon. We are learning four people were killed, including three children. The shooter is also dead. The latest details ahead.

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BROWN: All right. We are back with the breaking news in our National Lead. Law enforcement sources say three children and one adult are killed in a shooting at an elementary school in Bend, Oregon. At an earlier news conference last hour, officials said the shooter was also killed. The total number of victims was not specified. Authorities say they will hold another news conference this evening.

Let's go back to CNN's Leigh Waldman. What more are you learning, Leigh, about what happened here?

WALDMAN: Well, Pamela, we're hearing from people who live and work in that community, and they describe this, this community as a place for young families to go because there's a park right across the street from that elementary school. It's a place that feels safe for this community.

And speaking to people who work less than a mile away from this elementary school, they said that sense of peace has been shattered. They're distraught. They're heartbroken about what happened. I spoke to one woman named Sierra Jordan, and she works within walking distance of this school, and she tells me that she's never seen so many officers in her life rushing to that elementary school.

She tells me one of her coworkers heard gunfire around 1:00 P.M. local time there in Bend, Oregon. She's not sure just how many gunshots she heard, but she knows what she heard. Typically, they hear kids playing for recess. This is an elementary school, young kids playing outside, going to school, going there to learn, parents dropping them off, assuming that they'll come home safe at the end of the day. She said she's distraught and she's heartbroken.

Another man, Thomas, tells me that he's angry about what's happened in his community, that when they initially heard the call about an active shooter there, that he and his coworkers at an automotive shop nearby, they're concealed carry owners, they said that they were prepared for whatever might happen in that community.

But you mentioned three kids are dead, an adult is dead. We know people were taken to a nearby hospital to be treated for any kind of injuries that happened here, and we're waiting for more information from law enforcement officials. They touted how quickly they responded to this situation, the first call coming in just before 1:00 P.M. local time. Officers were there on scene within three minutes. We know that the gunman was taken down. We don't know exactly by who at this point, whether that was law enforcement or whether that was a bystander, and we don't know exactly what kind of weapon was used at this point. These are our outstanding questions that we're asking local officials for, that we're hoping to have answered when that news conference happens later on today. Pamela?

BROWN: All right. Leigh Waldman, stand by. I want to bring back the former mayor of Bend, Oregon, Jeff Eager. I just want to get your reaction to what we learned there from our John Miller, that there are four people deceased, including three children. This is preliminary information, but that is what he is being told from his sources.

EAGER: It's unimaginable. This school that's two blocks from where I live, it's -- a lot of my neighbors walk their kids to school there in the morning, and walk over there to get them after school.

BROWN: Are you okay, Mayor?

EAGER: I'm fine. I'm -- I'll get it together.

BROWN: I know you have young kids as well. This is heart-aching for every parent.

EAGER: And it's -- I'm kind of ashamed to be thankful they don't go to that school, but their school was on lockdown for a while today too because of this.

But walking over there, I ran into a dad who was walking back, and I didn't know him, and I -- because I'd heard about this had happened, so I was walking over there to see what was going on, and he was visibly shaking, and he said there was an active shooter, and just kept walking with his head down.

And it's -- this is a -- Bend is a place that people move to from bigger cities. They often move here because it's relatively safe here. They move here because we have schools you can walk your kids to, and it's just unimaginable.

[18:35:01]

BROWN: Just -- it really is. And we've learned that the shooter had been shot and killed inside the school when police arrived at the scene around 1:00 P.M., and that seems to be, John Miller and I are talking to our sources, there, there was a bystander, whether it was a teacher or parent, we're trying to figure out neutralized the shooter in this case.

But what more can you tell us about the school? We know that there have been investments by the school for security, to make sure all the doors were locked when the school started, to make sure that there was a glass vestibule so that when guests arrived that they had to proceed through that before they were able to go further into the school. Tell us more about the school, Mayor.

EAGER: Yes. I don't know what the interior security was like at this school, although it is a newer school, built in the last three to five years, I'd estimate, and I know that the school district has invested a lot in school security.

There's -- I mean, someone -- I heard someone say earlier there's a park right across the street. I take my boys over there to play at that park all the time. And it's just not -- I mean, everyone says this, but it's not -- you can't imagine that it happens here.

Anything else you want to add as you process this devastating news that three children were killed, as well as an adult, not including the shooter?

EAGER: God bless Bend, Oregon.

BROWN: We're all thinking about Bend, Oregon right now in this moment.

Former mayor of Bend, Jeff Eager, thank you very much.

Former FBI Supervisory Agent Jason Pack is back with us, and we're joined by CNN Law Enforcement Contributor Steve Moore, who also used to work for the FBI.

Steve, I just want to start with this news, the victims include three children and one adult. That's preliminary information coming in, sources telling our John Miller. The shooter, according to the public information officer, was taken down inside the schools when law enforcement arrived. Now, we know FBI is on the scene providing resources. What's going through your mind right now? What questions do you have?

STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: What I want to know is how he got in the school. If they had a hardened school, if they had a vestibule that was designed to keep people out, and I assume that doors were locked on the perimeter how did he get in? It doesn't -- you know, it doesn't matter what security you have if you don't use it properly and if you don't enforce the security.

BROWN: And tell us more about the FBI and its role in all of this and what can be done in terms of the resources it can provide right now, Steve.

MOORE: Yes. This -- the FBI was probably on the way the first moment the call came out. I responded to a school shooting in Los Angeles because it came over the radio. This is one of those things where every single law enforcement officer, every officer with a gun is going to head towards that school.

Once this happens, the FBI is going to have to -- they're going to have to help determine what the motive was. Was this terrorism of some kind? Was this a hate crime? Or was this guy just absolutely nuts? But it's going to be -- absent that, it's going to be a state crime, and the FBI will be there to assist.

BROWN: We're learning, according to the city council, that there will be another update around 8:30. We hope we learn more information, but what we do know, according to the officials there on the ground, is that the shooter had already been shot and killed inside the school when police arrived at the scene at around 1:00 P.M. What does that tell you, Jason?

PACK: One, it tells me that somehow he did get in there, like Steve was saying, and that's a separate question. But more importantly, who stopped him and when and how long? So, it seems like it was only three minutes before he got into before he was eliminated from the time the call went into 911.

These drills, Pamela, probably have saved lives today here in Bend. These lockdown drills, these things that we do harden these target, as bad as, you know, we hate to hear about this, and as much innocence as it robs from our children sometimes, I think today we've seen the result of that saving lives. It could've been much worse.

Again, we're operating on preliminary information. There's always this rush, this thirst to get every piece of information, and it's just hard because investigators have to take that time. Those detectives from Bend Police, the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office, all those people that are in there have to take that time to get the facts correct.

[18:40:05]

And I think that's why we're seeing it take just a little bit longer to get to this next full, more full version of a press conference. Hopefully, we'll hear from fire, EMS, police, first responders, the school system.

And, Pamela, let me just take you into a family -- you call it reunification center. We're calling it family assistance center now. But just think of the relief for most of those parents in there. I was in the one in the Pulse Nightclub. All these family members would come in, and it's just such a relief to hug your kid and hug your relative. And -- but for three of these parents, it's just the worst nightmare, and that's just devastating news for them and certainly we're praying for them.

BROWN: I just want to take a moment, you know, just to think about those parents right now. They have lost their child. That is any parent's worst nightmare. They dropped their child off at school this morning. Probably gave him a hug or a kiss, you know, said, have a great day, and now their child is gone because of this school shooting, according to the information we have.

And I just want us all to think about their grief, and we just pray that they find peace somehow in this horrific tragedy.

The school district just released an update saying, Due to the tragedy of Silver Rail Elementary School, all schools are canceled tomorrow, Friday, all activities and athletic events as well.

Not surprising, Steve that everything would be closed tomorrow, and that raises the question: how do teams on the ground really know the scene is truly secure? MOORE: Well, what you would -- that's a good question, by the way. What you would have to do is bring in tactical teams to ensure that every room, every closet is absolutely cleared. And SWAT teams do that and probably a sheriff's or a police SWAT team would have already done that. You have to know from witnesses whether there were two, whether there were one.

They will review camera footage, if there is any, to determine whether this person acted alone. And if you have the body and the gun you can be pretty, pretty much assured that the attack is over.

BROWN: Yes. And, Jason, you know, we know also per this information coming in, that one adult was killed. We don't know if that adult was a teacher or a school administrator. But, of course, their family is grieving right now as well. And it is a reminder, so often in these cases, Jason, that the teachers or the school administrators are having to jump into action when there is a school shooting. They are on the frontlines, and they are often the heroes in these school shootings.

PACK: Absolutely. That's a great point, Pamela. We often forget that these teachers are trusted with the security and the safety of your kids while they're at school, and there's not many teachers that I met that wouldn't do anything to save or protect these children, even if it costs them their own life.

And it looks like that's maybe what we're seeing here with the preliminary information that we have. So, again, like, you're right, the teachers are on the first line. As much as you train, as much as you prepare, nothing really prepares you for what actually might happen when this real thing does occur.

Unfortunately, here in Bend today, we've seen some, some of that put into action. And so, as the details unfold, we probably are going to hear some heroic stories of things that teachers did, staff, faculty, a bystander that may have eliminated the person, and just all these stories that will come out.

Now, you know, when we're talking about this on the news it seems, you know, kind of obscure. But when it's your family, it's really hurtful. And when it's your community, we need to realize that sometimes, like, we talk about it from a higher level, but, really, it's hard to just know and imagine and just understand what these folks are going through here. So, that's why law enforcement wants to do their absolute best to make sure they get all the answers for all these families, and that's why these investigations can take a little bit of time to complete.

BROWN: All right. Jason, Steve, stick around. The breaking news, a deadly shooting at an elementary school in Bend, Oregon. A source telling CNN's John Miller four people were killed, including three children. We're going to have much more of the breaking news coming up.

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[18:48:25]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: We are following the breaking news. Three children and one adult were killed in a shooting at an elementary school in Bend, Oregon, according to a law enforcement source. Officials say the shooter was also killed.

We are standing by for another news conference later this evening as we learn more information.

And I want to bring back our CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst, John Miller.

John, I know you've been working the phone, talking to your sources. What more are you learning?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, one of the things we were talking about is the FBI is responding to the scene. And then, you know, one of the other questions is, well, what will the FBI role be here? In these cases, the FBI has developed a system where there probably will have very little or in many cases, nothing to do with the investigation.

What they bring is resources, whether it's a temporary headquarters vehicle with computer access to national records, whether it's the people from their behavioral science unit or the so-called profilers who will start to delve into the suspect's background and what could have led to this.

Most importantly and urgently, they bring victim witness specialists. These are people who can counsel family members, police officers who may have been traumatized in their initial response, students and kind of back up law enforcement where they have additional resources that they can pull from many field offices if they need to bring in victim witness specialists from all over the west, you know, they can assemble a group of them if that's what the local authorities are looking for.

[18:50:02]

The other thing is, in a case like this, there may be leads that are developed out of town. Maybe the gun was purchased in another state. Maybe there's a witness that needs to be interviewed or a relative. You know, the FBI has over 56 field offices where they can deploy those people from, including the one in Portland, which would be central to this effort.

So, what they -- what they do is they bring a suite of tools and they basically say to the local authorities, which of these would be helpful to you and how much do you need? And do you need more?

BROWN: What more do we know about the gun that was used in the shooting?

MILLER: So not much right now. But that brings us to another federal agency, which is ATF, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. ATF will send agents to the scene. They will examine that weapon. They will take the serial number. There is no national gun registry. So, it's not like running a license plate, but what the serial number will tell them is, where was the gun manufactured and where was the gun last sold by a licensed gun dealer?

And that can get them to paper records at the dealership. That will tell them who the purchaser is. You know, that takes on a larger meaning than it used to. Because if you think back to the Oxford High School shooting in Michigan, the Crumbleys, both parents were prosecuted because they gave their child access to a gun that was used in a, in a school shooting in the Appalachia, Georgia school shooting. We saw the same thing. His father was prosecuted for giving him access to the gun that he used in the school shooting.

In this case, if the shooter is a juvenile under Oregon law, um, anyone under 18 isn't allowed to possess a pistol or a rifle. So that would again trace back to, well, where did he get it? Who did he get it from and how was it safeguarded? And we know statistically in most cases where you have a young person involved in a school shooting, um and you can name the cases, whether it's Uvalde, it's the case, whether it's, um, you know, Appalachia or, Oxford or -- you name the shooting in most cases, the guns come from the home. That probably will emerge as a factor here.

BROWN: And do we know, John, if the suspect or the shooter in this case is now deceased, is a male??

MILLER: Yes. We are told it is a male.

BROWN: All right. John Miller, thank you so much.

I want to bring back Scott MacFarlane. He is the chief Washington correspondent at MeidasTouch Network.

Just to take a step back, Scott, zoom out. Just this year there have been at least 52 school shootings in the U.S., even one is too many. I mean, you know, if you look statistically, school is still safe for children, but 52 school shootings is a lot and many of them are at these elementary schools. What more are you learning about this?

SCOTT MACFARLANE, CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, MEIDASTOUCH NETWORK: Sixteen of those 52 are on college campuses, 36 of those 52 were in K- 12 school systems. And yes, it includes elementary schools. They train at elementary schools with lockdown drills.

As a parent, it's always hard to hear your kid had to sit through a lockdown drill because lord knows what kind of impact that could have psychologically. Schools do it gently, but they do it thoroughly. This school system, like 96 percent of others across the country, did lockdown drills. They also upgraded their physical structures about four or five years ago. This is one of the newer schools in the system. It's in the southeast corner of the city, about 80, 90 kids in each class at this elementary school in Bend.

A few updated pieces of reporting, source at the Department of Justice says to me that the top levels of the Department of Justice have been briefed on this, are getting briefings on what's going on in Bend. We know at least two of the victims have been brought to Saint Charles Bend Hospital. That's one of those level two hospitals. In that nomenclature, it means there's a 24 hour surgeon availability for mass casualty responses or mass shooting responses.

The congressional delegations in Oregon are getting briefed now by local officials so they can be aware of what's going on. I suspect in the next few hours, this is going to continue to be updated because some of the local information is not coming right now. We're not hearing more from the police department. I'm hearing from a number of congressional and federal folks who want to hear from the locals soon.

BROWN: Yeah, it's always concerning when you're not hearing more. And, yeah, as far as we know right now, according to the preliminary information, three children, one adult killed.

Scott MacFarlane, thank you so much. The tragic news tonight. Those four people killed at that shooting in the elementary school in Bend, Oregon, including the three children.

We're back in a moment.

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[18:58:52]

BROWN: We are following this devastating breaking news in our national lead. At least three children and one adult have been killed at an elementary school in Bend, Oregon, today. The shooter is also dead, according to police, and a source tells CNN that the shooter is a 16-year-old male. A 16-year-old male.

We are expecting an update from authorities there in a half an hour.

Former FBI supervisory agent Jason Pack is back with us.

Jason, wow. I mean, just getting this new information, not just about the victims, but now the shooter learning that this was a 16-year-old male. We don't know if he had any ties to the school, but what stands out to you?

JASON PACK, RETIRED FBI SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT: Well, they're making progress in their investigation, Pam, and it is concerning and just deeply troubling when you hear that a 16 year old committed, allegedly committed these acts, it just brings up more questions. How did that person get the gun? Those types of things. And I'm sure as the case progresses, we'll hear more about that.

But just kind of remind you of the Covenant shooting there in Nashville where a young person went back.

BROWN: Yeah.

PACK: We've been talking all afternoon about those types of things, so hopefully we'll get more answers in the presser.

BROWN: Jason Pack, thank you very much. And our coverage continues now on "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT".