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Teacher Describes Horror During Shooting, Some Kids were Praying; Trump Continues Midterms Campaign Blitz With Rally in Georgia; Soon, Alex Murdaugh Due in Court for Hearing Ahead of Murder Retrial. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired October 16, 2026 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Three young children and a teacher killed, a community shattered. And this morning investigators are trying to piece together what could have motivated a teenager to attack an Oregon elementary school.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, new filings reveal the enormous amounts of money Elon Musk is throwing in to influence the midterms, especially in the blockbuster Senate race in Texas, as President Trump heads down to Georgia, the state where he has focused fully on claims of voter fraud.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, Axios calls it gloriously absurd. Tesla says it's a flying car. You be the judge.

I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner. This is CNN News Central.

BOLDUAN: And we do need to start with the breaking news, and tragic, horrible, horrific news, the terrible tragedy out of Bend, Oregon. Police are trying to determine now what could have led a teenager to shoot his way into a school and kill four people, three of them children, ages five, eight, and 11, and also a teacher at Silver Rail Elementary. Another young child, a seven-year-old, and another teacher, they were also critically injured and rushed to the hospital.

A fifth grade teacher at the school who witnessed it described it all this way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATHY SHEIL SMITH, SILVER RAIL ELEMENTARY TEACHER: The looks on their faces was really hard to see. I was trying to calm them down, you know? And some kids were praying, some kids were consoling other kids.

I'm sure that every teacher at the school thought today is the day that I am going to die saving my kids.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Oh, my God, it gives you chills. Police say the gunman, a 16-year-old from Bend, shot at the school's locked doors to force his way inside with a long gun, and they say a bystander, they said a community member saw him go in, followed, and then shot and killed him before officers arrived. Listen to how it was first described in emergency dispatch audio.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are taking an active shooter call at 61530 S.E. Stone Creek Lane. It looks like the shooter has been neutralized, possibly shot by a father at the school. Not sure about patients at this time. The police are arriving.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Do you see me okay? So police have, at this point, only called that person who neutralized the shooter a community member.

They have not yet said whether the gunman had any connection to the school. The FBI, obviously, and so many other agencies, they are now involved in helping with this horrible, tragic investigation. John?

BERMAN: All right. With us now is CNN Senior National Security Analyst Juliette Kayyem. Juliette, as Kate laid out there, there are still so many questions that we don't know the answers to. There has not been a lot of information released as of now, but what do you think investigators would be looking at in terms of how this shooter got where he did and how he got a hold of his gun?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So, right now, I have two questions i- in terms of this investigation. Since they know who he is they know where he lives, that, that part of the investigation is going to be ongoing. Was he in contact with others? Was he online and becoming radicalized? We just simply don't know.

So, the first question is, of course, what was his relationship with the school? He's 16 years old. Did he go to the school? Did he have a family member that worked there? You're going to just -- why did he choose this school at this time?

The second is, of course, the weapons. We are now at a nascent phase in American law in which prosecutors will go after parents for gross negligence in terms of getting, giving or allowing access to a gun. There's been a couple cases so far. So, there's clearly going to be investigation of the parents in terms of access to the gun and what they knew about their son's intent or what they were willing to ignore, because often parents want to live in this delusion that these things aren't happening.

BOLDUAN: So, at first blush, it seems that law enforcement was on the scene within minutes, that there was this bystander. We don't know exactly what that means in terms of who this bystander was, but a bystander who basically neutralized the shooter within minutes.

[07:05:04]

The school had secure vestibules, classroom door locking systems, so a lot of security measures were in place, overlapping measures nonetheless. What does this show in terms of the limits of keeping something like this from happening?

KAYYEM: So, we have to think of these defensive measures as layered and not perfect. All they're trying to do in terms of everything from the run, hide, fight protocols to the locks that we talk about is just slow the potential for mass harm. That appears to have been done here.

I am curious about the shooter only because it does appear that he knew the school in terms of shooting through locked doors, because the school had locked doors. It had -- well, it was built -- this school's relatively new. It was built for security. I don't -- so all of these things factor in. They're imperfect. So, we should not view them as they're always going to work. This is an instance where those defensive measures did not. On the other hand, there was a lockdown, and there was a bystander.

And, look, there's -- this is good news that there was someone there who knew how to use a weapon and eliminate the threat.

BERMAN: It just goes to show how we measure these things in relative terms now. As awful as this was, it could've been much, much worse.

Juliette Kayyem, thank you so much for being with us this morning, still so many unanswered questions. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, John.

Just 18 days until America heads to the ballot box and casts their vote for a critically important midterm election that will decide which party controls Congress. Overnight, we had debates in two races that could not be further apart when it comes to distance, but are equally important to the balance of power on Capitol Hill.

And the debates got personal. In Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola is squaring off against a Republican senator, Dan Sullivan, in one of the country's most competitive Senate races. President Trump campaigned there for Sullivan just this week, even though a Democrat has not won a Senate race in Alaska in almost 20 years.

Sullivan went on the offensive last night, repeatedly referencing a New York Times report that accused Peltola of being abusive towards her staff.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. DAN SULLIVAN (R-AK): Take a look at how she treats Alaskans when the cameras are off. Look at that New York Times story. She treats young Alaskans horribly. 25 staffers quit on Mary Peltola because she abused them physically and emotionally, and then she slanders every other group, African Americans, special needs individuals. It is a character flaw.

MARY PELTOLA (D), ALASKA SENATE CANDIDATE: this campaign is not about me on my worst day, and I think it's a real sad statement that I'm such a threat as a candidate that they're just willing to do and say anything about me to help Dan win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: In Maine, at the fourth and final debate between incumbent Republican senator Susan Collins and Democratic challenger Troy Jackson, the war in Iran loomed large in that debate, as well as A.I. data centers, a big focus for many Maine voters that led to a protester actually interrupting that debate and prompting this tense moment between Collins and Jackson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator Collins, I'm so sorry to interrupt.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm sorry. Somebody's interrupting. We'll have our security deal with that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A.I. data centers are destroying our climate. They are poisoning our water.

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): So, this is obviously one of Troy's supporters.

TROY JACKSON (D), MAINE SENATE CANDIDATE: Oh, shut up. I did not even know that kid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: And now we turn to Georgia, where President Trump will be today. He's throwing his political weight behind Republican representative Mike Collins, who's trying to unseat Democratic incumbent senator Jon Ossoff. It seems like Collins could use this boost. His campaign reported raising just $2.4 million in the third quarter and holding just $1.1 million in cash on hand entering October, and a minuscule number compared to the $33 million raised by the Ossoff camp for the same period.

CNN's Alayna Treene is at the White House for us this morning. What are you learning this morning about this trip that the president is taking heading to Georgia?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, heading to Georgia, Dalton to be specific, Sara, part, of course, this frenetic pace of campaign that we've seen the president really take on with less than three weeks now to go until November 3rd.

Now, Georgia, of course, was really at the heart of many of the false claims of election fraud that the president has levied in past U.S. elections.

I'm going to mention the candidates that you brought up. One is, yes, the Republican, Mike Collins. He is running for Senate against the incumbent Democratic senator, Jon Ossoff. But there's also the gubernatorial race here, Rick Jackson going up against the former Atlanta mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms. So, a lot of, you know, kind of high-profile races. And what's so interesting, I think, about the president's trip to Georgia today is unlike where we've really seen him spend a lot of his time in recent weeks, in a lot of these red states.

[07:10:07]

I mean, this week alone, he was in Alaska, Montana, he's been to Tennessee, Alabama. The list goes on. Georgia is not like that. Georgia is a true battleground, and so curious to see how the president, and if he will, change his messaging to fit that.

Now, I will say we heard as well from Senator Ossoff as well as Keisha Lance Bottoms saying that they are welcoming Trump's presence to the state as the Democrats there. They're saying, you know, this message that Trump has been using in recent weeks telling his supporters to pretend he's on the ballot is the same message that they've been using to rally up their Democratic supporters.

So, we'll see how the president tries to m- potentially change his message to fit the electorate in Georgia. I should note, though, however, Dalton is in northern Georgia. It's more of a conservative area, so he's still going to be, of course, among some of his fiercest supporters. Sara?

SIDNER: Alayna Treene, thank you so much for your reporting.

And speaking of which, coming up in the next hour, I'll be speaking with the Democratic candidate for governor in Georgia, Keisha Lance Bottoms. Kate?

BOLDUAN: New video of an attack on a supermarket in Ukraine is coming in, and President Zelenskyy of Ukraine is now offering a new message to Europe, well, also to the world, saying he is grateful for the, quote, real leaders in Europe as his relationship with President Trump hits a new low.

And very soon, Alex Murdaugh is headed back to court in South Carolina, and it is expected to be heated. Everything from DNA evidence to cell phone records are going to be the focus in this pretrial hearing out of his retrial in the shooting deaths of his wife and son.

And a CNN investigation revealing a record of maintenance issues, mechanical problems, even injuries, and raising new questions long before Monday's fatal accident on a Six Flags rollercoaster.

We'll be back.

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BOLDUAN: This morning, Alex Murdaugh is due back in a South Carolina court ahead of his retrial for murder. This hearing critical to what evidence will or won't be allowed, and this is months after, you'll remember, this ongoing saga of the state Supreme Court overturning Murdaugh's original convictions for killing his wife and son, finding that the former county clerk's conduct during that trial tainted it.

CNN's Dianne Gallagher is live outside the courtroom. Dianne, what is expected then today?

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, Kate, we weren't actually supposed to be back until the middle of next month, but Judge Deborah McCasland called this urgent hearing to discuss these evidentiary and discovery matters after the defense filed this flurry of motions and said that they weren't getting the responses that they needed.

Now, I do expect that we're going to hear, of course, about DNA evidence and cellphone data from Maggie and Paul Murdaugh's phones. There's also the matter of ballistics evidence that the defense wants to obtain from shootings in nearby counties that used the same type of firearm that was used in those murders, a 300 Blackout assault rifle.

Remember, those murder weapons were never found, and that is key to this other sort of staggering motion that was filed by the defense that cited local media reports from sources saying that a police chief who was at the crime scene may have been in possession of, and potentially disposed of, those murder weapons.

Now, look, the defense, of course, argues that any evidence about an alternate suspect or someone being involved or even the murder weapons themselves needs to be disclosed to them before the retrial begins in April. But there was a subpoena for that police chief included in the defense's motion. But we spoke with the attorney for that police chief, who says that his client has not been required to appear before the grand jury, and quote, has nothing to do with taking evidence or concealing.

He anticipates we're going to hear more about this in this hearing today, Kate. Again, the new retrial for Alex Murdaugh on the murders of his wife and son is set to begin in April. There are, of course, many things to clear up between now and that point.

BOLDUAN: Yes, certainly. It's good to see you, Dianne. Thank you so much. Let's see what comes today. John?

BERMAN: All right. Fake websites, phony merch, we've got new reporting on how scammers are now targeting voters.

And police investigating after a robot allegedly sexually assaulted a teenage girl.

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[07:20:00]

BERMAN: All right. This morning, a new report on how scammers are targeting voters with fake messages and phony merchandise just weeks before the election. They're using official logos to make voters think they're donating to a real campaign. I want to get right to CNN's Marshall Cohen in Washington, who's got some new reporting on all this. What's going on? How pervasive is it, Marshall?

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN SENIOR REPOTER: Hey, John. Good morning to you. For the folks watching at home, you should be on the lookout for these scams. This isn't necessarily cutting edge, state-of-the-art stuff, but it can still get you.

So, the security firm Check Point put out a report yesterday highlighting some of these concerns as we get into the very final stretch of the midterm elections. The first one are phishing emails, where scammers are impersonating election officials and sending emails and text messages, like the message you see on your screen here, to voters claiming that they are coming from their election office and saying, hey, you need to check your registration. You need to request a ballot. And to do that, you need to click this link or fill out this form. And it's not real. It's a way to capture your private data and possibly get sensitive information or login credentials that they can use to steal your money and get into your accounts. So, watch out for that one.

But even more interesting, another scam that's popped up are these phony merch sites like the ones that we'll show you right here from Texas. Check Point found 200 websites that all seem to be connected to each other. Look at this. It says Talarico for Texas. That's the actual James Talarico campaign logo, but this site is not affiliated with the James Talarico campaign, and the same person who is running this site also is running what is claiming to be the official Team Paxton shop for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton running against James Talarico in that highly competitive Texas Senate race.

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The problem here is that, yes, if you use these sites, you'll probably get that hat or that bumper sticker, but the money is definitely not going to the campaign that you think you're supporting. And it's clearly just an attempt to cash in on both sides of the election.

So, people should watch out, John. And just as a public service here, if you do get any emails -- for the folks out there, if you do get any emails that you're not sure about that claim to be about the election, reach out to your local election office. You can Google your county or your city plus election office. Give them a call. This is important to them. It's like their Super Bowl. They are staffed up, ready to go. They want to help you make sure that you can cast your ballot and make sure that it gets counted. John.

BERMAN: This is a favorite time for scammers, and as you say, they don't have to be high tech to be highly effective. Marshall Cohen, thank you so much for sharing your reporting on this. Kate?

BOLDUAN: We're also following the new details that are coming out of Bend, Oregon after the horrible school shooting tragedy there yesterday, and the new information about the hero member of the community who is now credited with taking down and taking out the shooter even before police arrived. We'll bring you the updates on that.

And there's new video of a Russian drone strike blowing up a Ukrainian supermarket. This comes as there's also new reporting that Ukraine has run out of Patriot defense missiles.

We'll be back.

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