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Teen Shooter Kills 3 Children, Teacher Before Bystander Shoots Him; Dem. Keisha Lance Bottoms Faces GOP's Rick Jackson in Georgia Governor Race; AI Data Centers Become Focal Point of Georgia Governor Race; Inflation Data Undercuts Trump's Economic Claims. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired October 16, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Pretty cool throwback uniforms. Now Seattle was down 14-11 in the fourth. They were driving to win the game, but Sam Darnold here going to throw the interception.

Seattle would actually go get the ball back, get a field goal. We'd end up going to overtime, but in OT, Darnold throws another interception. Broncos would then kick the game-winning field goal to win 17-14.

Denver wins despite their offense averaging less than three yards per play. All right, and finally, according to ESPN's Pete Thamel, the college football playoff is going to be expanding to 24 teams next year. In the new format, the season's going to start a week earlier.

Conference championship games are going to be eliminated, and the top eight seeds, they're going to get a bye and then a home game on campus in the second round. But John, not a fan of a 24-team playoff. You know, college football's regular season used to mean so much, those big games in September, October, but now, you know, lose three, four games even maybe, you still make the playoffs though.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, and the conference championship's eliminated. Let's see if this goes through. There are some things in there that I think could be problematic over the next week or two.

Andy Scholes, thank you very much.

SCHOLES: All right.

BERMAN: A new Hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: The breaking news. Three children and a teacher killed by a teenage gunman at an elementary school. Now, the new information about the hero bystander the police say jumped into action.

And the president is heading to Georgia today in his latest campaign stop. Georgia, long been his top target for unfounded voter fraud claims, so what's he going to say? Well, one of the people running for governor in that state now will be joining us coming up.

And officials in Germany say they have seized a robot for groping a girl. The big question is who is now held responsible and accountable for this?

I'm Kate Bolduan with Sara Sidner and John Berman. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BERMAN: All right, the breaking news this morning. Police are trying to determine what led a teenager to shoot his way into a school and kill four people in Bend, Oregon, three of them children ages 5, 8, and 11, and also a teacher at Silver Rail Elementary.

Another young child, a 7-year-old, and a second teacher were critically injured and rushed to the hospital. A fifth-grade teacher who witnessed it described it this way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KATHY SHELL SMITH, SILVER RAIL ELEMENTARY TEACHER: I looked at their faces. It 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'm going to die. Save my kids.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Police say the gunman, a 16-year-old from Bend, shot at the school's locked doors to force his way inside. He had a long gun. They say a bystander saw him go in, followed, then shot and killed him before the officers arrived.

This is how it was first described in emergency dispatch audio.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DISPATCHER: We are taking an active shooter. Call it 61530 Southeast Stone Creek Lane. 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)

BERMAN: Police have called the person who stopped the shooter a community member. They have not yet said whether the gunman had any connection to the school. The FBI is now involved with the investigation -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Thanks, J.B. 18 days out to Election Day in America, friends. Early voting is underway, though in states across the country, the balance of power in that building, Congress, is all at stake.

Overnight, there were more debates in the key races and two races that could not be farther apart in terms of distance, but equally important when it comes to the balance of power on Capitol Hill. In Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola is squaring off against Republican Senator Dan Sullivan in one of the country's most competitive Senate races. Sullivan went on offense last night, repeatedly referencing a New York Times report that accused Peltola of being abusive towards her congressional staff.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. DAN SULLIVAN, (R) ALASKA SENATE CANDIDATE: 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)

[08:05:00]

BOLDUAN: Now 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. As well as the fight over AI data centers, a big focus for many Maine voters.

That led to a protester interrupting the debate, prompting what then became a 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: AI 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) MAINES SENATE CANDIDATE: Oh, shut up. I didn't know that kid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Now to Georgia. That is where President Trump will be today, continuing his campaign blitz to try to prop up Republicans in many Republican states. He's trying to help Republican Congressman Mike Collins, who's trying to unseat Democratic incumbent Senator Jon Ossoff in that race.

It would appear Collins needs a boost from the president. His campaign reported raising $2.4 million in the third quarter, holding just $1.1 million in cash on hand entering October, what a lot of people see as a worrying sign for Republicans in a state that they are desperate in a seat. They are desperate to flip -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thank you so much, Kate. We are closely tracking what is happening in Georgia, where the president is also backing Rick Jackson for governor.

With me now is a Democratic candidate for governor there, former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. Thank you so much for being here with us this morning. You know, let's start with this.

Since the president is in your state, where he has long accused the state of election fraud with no proof it exists. This year, the FBI raided an election facility in your most populous county, taking out ballots. And the Trump administration, demanded names and personal information for thousands of Fulton County employees and volunteers who had worked on the 2020 election. A judge stopped that from happening.

But then in September, the Georgia State Election Board wrote a letter to the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security, urging them to examine Georgia's voting machines. Do you expect the Trump administration to take more action in Georgia's election?

KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS, (D) GEORGIA GOVERNOR NOMINEE: Well, but also what one mentioned is that there are over 250 FBI agents that have been dispatched to Georgia to examine this 2020 election. And it just speaks to how out of touch Donald Trump is. We are on the eve of a historic election in Georgia.

We are seeing record turnout already. He is coming to Georgia today, not just to stand with Collins, but also with my opponent, Rick Jackson, who says he wants to be Trump's favorite governor, and that he then disagreed with a single policy from Trump. So I believe that the turnout that we are seeing already in early voting is reflective of people's disdain for what Trump is trying to do and how he's trying to disrupt our democracy.

SIDNER: Let me ask you about some of the issues that people have expressed that they care a lot about. And one of them is data centers. Georgia is now a national leader in new data center construction.

The topic of this has riled a lot of citizens across the country, not just in Georgia, over concerns of the impact on electricity use, water use, imminent domain, and sometimes just the secrecy surrounding these kinds of deals. But those data centers can also do things like bring jobs, fuel the new technology that's being used by millions of people and businesses. I want to just remind you and the audience of how your opponent, billionaire businessman Rick Jackson, responded to this issue in the first and only debate that he has taken part in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RICK JACKSON, (R) GEORGIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: I won't approve a data center unless three things happen. Number one, the community absolutely approves it, period. Number two, that it has strict EPA standards.

And number three, and as important, that each person in the community gets a benefit of a reduction of their power bill and their property taxes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: What is your plan when it comes to dealing with data centers?

BOTTOMS: Well, I want us to pause new construction on data centers. The state of Georgia has not been open with the residents about what the impact, what the long-term impact may be. People are complaining about their power bills.

We have people complaining about tainted water sources. And we need all of the information. I can tell you Rick Jackson is not impartial.

Right now, one of his four companies that are invested in data centers is trying to push one down the throat to people in Bowie, Texas. So everything that he stood on that debate stage -- the one and only debate that he accepted while I accepted seven -- he is saying things that are inconsistent with what's happening right now in Texas.

[08:10:00]

The community is saying he's building a data center that's shrouded in secrecy. They don't want it. And he's shoving that down their throat. So he can't be trusted on data centers.

SIDNER: You point out that your opponent only did one debate. He did not show up the second time, so it was only you there on the stage answering questions in the second debate. I do want to ask you lastly about health care because that is also another issue in Georgia but also around the country.

Georgia is one of ten states that has not fully expanded Medicaid. It has another plan called Pathways to Coverage, which is for all low- income adults eligible for Medicaid but only if they prove they have worked 80 hours a month. What's wrong with that plan, you think?

BOTTOMS: Well, this plan has been an epic failure. We've spent in Georgia hundreds of millions of dollars on this Georgia Pathways plan, and less than 30,000 people are enrolled in the plan. We have 300,000 people right now who don't have health care coverage because we've not expanded Medicaid in Georgia.

We left $700 million on the table, and then after the big ugly bill, more than 600,000 Georgians dropped their coverage. So what's interesting about Trump's visit today is that he's going to Whitfield County where 20 percent of the residents there rely on Medicaid. My opponent invests in health care companies that are able to thrive when we have a failing health care system in Georgia, and he's doing it across the country.

And I just ask if people want to support our campaign, they do it at keshaforgeorgia.com. This is a guy -- keshaforgovernor.com -- this is a guy who's a billionaire who's making a lot of money off of people's pain in Georgia and across the country.

SIDNER: Kesha Lance Bottoms, thank you so much for talking me through all of these different issues. There are so many of them. We will see what happens on Election Day.

Appreciate your time -- John.

BERMAN: All right, this morning we are standing by to see Alec Murdaugh in court as he stands trial for the murders of his wife and son, a retrial. The DNA evidence and cell phone records that will be under the microscope this time.

A new world record set for the fastest speed reached on a skateboard. This seems completely safe.

And then police in Germany investigating after a robot allegedly sexually assaulted a teenage girl. What we're learning this morning.

[08:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: All right, back now to the investigation into that deadly shooting rampage at an elementary school in Bend, Oregon. Police say a 16-year-old, armed with a long gun, shot his way into the school and killed four people, three young children and a teacher, and wounded two others. And investigators say the gunman was shot and killed by a community member who ended up following behind him into the school.

Police have not yet said whether the shooter had any connection to the school or what the motive may be.

Joining me now is CNN law enforcement analyst, Jonathan Wackrow. It's good to see you. Thank you for being here this morning. Look, you hear from police that this shooter forced his way into the school by shooting through the doors. The school, for its part, says, look, we have locked doors, that we have secure entry vestibules, classroom door locks, and security cameras.

Is there anything more that a school can or should do to try and stop these shootings?

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, good morning, Sara. And it's a great question, right? Because I think that what people are looking at today is ever since the Columbine shooting years ago, schools across the country have spent a long time trying to build different layers of protection, really anticipating this type of critical event.

And as you had mentioned, that ranges everything from locked entrances to lockdown drills to real coordination with rapid response by police. So when you see all of those efforts going into these schools, yet a determined attacker can still bring this violence into it, you have to ask the question of, why did it happen and how did it happen? But I think it's really important when we think about school safety, it's not just about locked doors.

It's a system, it's a process. Now, in this case, those locked doors actually did act as a delay mechanism, not allowing the easy access into the school. That provided critical seconds potentially on the inside for lockdown and other measures to be put into place.

So again, it's not one single security measure that's going to stop this. It's an entire system of physical security, as well as training and coordination with local law enforcement, first responders, and teachers and administrators of the school, working in coordination. Again, you want to try to prevent these attacks from happening, but when they do present themselves, how do they respond in a coordinated way?

SIDNER: I'm curious about, you know, we're hearing from police that a community member was the one who followed a shooter into that school and ended up fatally shooting him before police were able to get there. That person undoubtedly saved so many people in that school. But describe how police deal with a case like this, because obviously if you're there and perhaps, you're holding a gun and police show up, they may not know the difference between you and the perpetrator.

WACKROW: Yes, and this is a great point because, you know, CNN has been reporting and we've been listening to the radio traffic from the police dispatcher going out, essentially calling for all available resources to go to the school. They don't describe who the shooter is in the moment or where they are.

[08:20:00]

So those first responding officers have one primary mission, and that is to identify where the threat is and stop the shooting from progressing. They don't know that it's a 16-year-old or a grown adult. All they know is that there is someone with a weapon that is presenting a threat to that school.

So those first responding officers, you know, have to quickly make a determination. Was that individual that, you know, what we know is the bystander who had the weapon, were they actually the threat? So these are very dynamic situations where the judgment by those responding officers has to be made in a split second as to not conflate the actual threat from the bystander who actually stopped the shooter in the shooting in progress.

SIDNER: Jonathan Wackrow, it is so good to have you here to analyze all of this, and there's just so much sadness there in Bend, Oregon as they deal with the consequences of this latest school shooting. Thank you so much -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: With another critical inflation gauge showing more worrying signs surging to its highest level in more than four years, President Trump took to the campaign trail, now promoting numbers that are not real. We'll bring you that.

And new video of police facing off with an alligator. Oh, what happens next?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:25:00]

BERMAN: Wholesale inflation has now surged to its highest level in more than four years. Data on consumer prices also came in much hotter than expected. Yet, President Trump has been making several false claims about inflation as the midterms approach.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: 1.7 inflation in the last three months. Think of that, 1.7. He had real inflation. He had real inflation of 19 percent.

19 percent. We inherited the worst inflation in history. Think of it.

And now, the last three months, we have 1.7. We have it down to, he had 19 percent, his real number is 19 percent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, let's get right to CNN fact checker and chief Daniel Dale. Daniel, great to see you. 1.7 inflation?

I haven't seen that in the government reports that have been coming out.

DANIEL DALE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: John, the president's numbers do not make any sense. We have not had anywhere close to 1.7 inflation in the last three months. We had 3.4 percent in July, 3.4 percent in August, up to 3.7 percent in September. Now, as for where he got the quote- unquote 19 percent for Biden, I do not know. He didn't explain, the White House wouldn't explain when I repeatedly asked. But I do have a theory.

In 2022, in a speech Trump read from a script when he noted that Biden had 9.1 percent peak inflation in June of that year. But then he said, it's not that, I believe it's double that. So if you double 9.1, you get pretty close to 19, voila. Of course you can't do that. You can't double economic numbers because you feel like it. So Biden era inflation did peak at 9.1 percent June 2022, but then it fell sharply over the remaining two and a half years of Biden's term, all the way down to 3.0 percent in January 2025, the month Trump returned to office.

Now, I again have to emphasize, I can't be certain what Trump was even referring to with this quote-unquote 1.7, this quote-unquote 19. The White House wouldn't give me any answers. So on cnn.com, I wrote an article walking people through the other possibilities as well. Like maybe he was talking about cumulative inflation. Maybe he was talking about core inflation. But the bottom line is this, no matter what he was talking about, whether it was those year over year rates, we talked about at the top here, core inflation, cumulative inflation, none of it makes sense.

All of it is inaccurate, John.

BERMAN: Inflation is not at 1.7 percent. It was not at 19 percent. It just wasn't. Neither of those things are in any way true.

And Daniel, one of the things that the president said in that clip we played, and then often we get Republicans who come on this show and say it is the president inherited the worst inflation in history, right? Which is actually inaccurate on a couple fronts there. But go ahead.

You just cited the number of where inflation was when the president took office.

DALE: Again, it was 3.0 percent in the month that Trump took over. It was 2.9 percent in President Biden's last full month. There is no doubt there was significant inflation under Joe Biden.

The 9.1 percent rate in June 2022 was the highest in 40 years. But even that 9.1 percent 40-year peak was nowhere close to the all-time high. The all-time high is 23.7 percent in 1920. People might say that's too long ago to even talk about. Well, it was 14.8 percent in 1980 under President Jimmy Carter. And sometimes people say, John, well, maybe he was talking about cumulative inflation, the total inflation from beginning to end of Biden's presidency.

Even that was nowhere close to a record. It was less than half of cumulative inflation under President Jimmy Carter. So however you slice that claim either, simply was not the worst inflation of all time that Trump inherited.

BERMAN: And look, inflation was lower when President Trump took office than it is now. That's just government data. It doesn't take much to look at that.

You've also found the president is fudging the numbers on inflation in other ways too.

DALE: Yes, it's been a lying spree about inflation all midterms. He's basically trying to create an alternative reality that's much rosier than the actual reality. So he said things like, we've already stopped the inflation.

Well, of course it continues, indeed, accelerating. He said that all your prices are falling fast. Well, the vast majority of prices continue to increase.

He's even said that prices are at a lower level than when he took over. That is not even close to true. Average consumer prices, according to the CPI, are 5.4 percent higher. And as you said, even the inflation rate is higher than when he took over. 3.7, 3.4, 3.4, all higher, of course, than three. It hasn't been as low as three since the Iran war started in March. So none of these claims that President Trump is telling about inflation are true. Judging by the polls, John, I don't think people are buying it. I think people can debunk these claims with their own eyes, but the president keeps telling them, nonetheless.

BERMAN: People know how they feel about prices right now. Daniel Dale, thank you so much for being with us -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: There are new details coming in out of the deadly shooting that happened in Bend, Oregon. And big questions about what connection the shooter had to the elementary school. And big praise for the hero now credited with taking down the shooter before police arrived.

And a clash over alleged leaked records in the Cornell University sexual.