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CNN Headlines: 3 Children And A Teacher Killed In Oregon School Shooting; Trump's Campaign Blitz Continues Today In Georgia; Vatican: Pope Carrying Out "Daily Activities" And Recovering As Expected After Lung Surgery. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired October 16, 2026 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:24]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATHY SHEIL SMITH, TEACHER AT SILVER RAIL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: 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)
BRAD SMITH, CNN ANCHOR: That teacher hurried to get her kids to safety during a deadly school shooting in Oregon. More on this developing story this morning.
Vice President J.D. Vance and Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed did not hold back when it came to talking about each other. More on their dueling rallies in battleground Michigan.
And the investigation at what police have called a house of horrors. What they say they found after digging in the yard. We've got that coming your way.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Brad Smith. This is CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS. Glad that you're with us today.
Let's get started. An investigation is underway and a community in Oregon is in mourning after a deadly school shooting. The community of Bend, Oregon, gathered and left messages of support at a candlelight vigil overnight, at least three children and one teacher are dead.
Police say another child and a second adult were hurt. They say the teenage suspect is also deceased.
CNN's Amy Kiley has more details as the community begins to grapple with the aftermath of this violence.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Their feelings, there's pain and there's hurt.
AMY KILEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Community members are grieving after a deadly shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School in Central Oregon Thursday.
CHIEF MIKE KRANTZ, BEND POLICE DEPARTMENT: The deceased at the scene includes three children, ages five, eight and 11, and one teacher.
KILEY (voice-over): Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz says a seven-year- old and a second adult were taken to the hospital. Classes and activities in the area are canceled today, according to the district superintendent.
STEVEN COOK, SUPERINTENDENT, BEND-LA PINE SCHOOLS: This is the kind of thing you hear about in other places and pray that it never happens here. And it has happened here.
DISPATCHER: We are taking an active shooter call.
KILEY (voice-over): Krantz says a caller reported around 1:00 that someone had shot into a vehicle. The chief says the suspect was 16 years old and forced his way inside the building with a long gun. Krantz says police arrived on scene about three minutes after that first 911 call.
KRANTZ: An officer reported the 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.
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: We can only imagine, um, in our worst imagination, that had that person with a firearm not been there and taken that action, that the fatalities, that the casualties could be worse, that this could have gone on longer.
KILEY (voice-over): I'm Amy Kiley reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SMITH: All right. Thank you, Amy.
Overnight, we also heard from a teacher at Silver Rail Elementary School. And here she is giving her account of what she saw during yesterdays mass shooting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATHY SHEIL SMITH, TEACHER AT SILVER RAIL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: Looks on their faces. It was really hard to see, just trying to calm them down. You know? And, um, uh, 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)
SMITH: It's not clear whether the shooter had any connection to the school or what his motive was. We will have more on this story ahead in our next half hour. We know that Election Day is less than three weeks away, and today, President Donald Trump has Georgia on his mind as he's speaking this afternoon at a rally for Republicans, Rick Jackson, running for governor in the state, and Mike Collins, who's running for Senate. Georgia voters are already casting ballots in record numbers since early voting opened up Tuesday.
And now about that Senate race, Georgia Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff is looking well positioned in his reelection bid against Mike Collins, the Republican, raising less than 3 million in the third quarter, while Ossoff pulled in more than 33 million. The gap remains, even if you factor in outside spending. Democrats have outspent Republicans roughly 2 to 1 in this race since Labor Day.
And now we take you up the East Coast from Mike Collins to Susan Collins, the Republican senator from Maine won't be seeking and seeing Donald Trump in her state anytime soon. He said as much yesterday on Newsmax, and that's probably fine with her as during last nights final debate with challenger Troy Jackson. She resisted all efforts at trying to pin her record to the president's record.
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TROY JACKSON (D), MAINE SENATE CANDIDATE: The reason that she votes with Donald Trump 96 percent of the time is because she is the rubber stamp, and we all know it.
SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): I have to do a rebuttal on that because once again, you have heard Troy say that I vote with the president 92 or 94 percent of the time.
[05:05:10]
That takes only a third of the votes. If you look at 90 percent of the votes, you will find that I vote with him 72 percent of the time, not 95 percent of the time.
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SMITH: Senator Collins also reiterated her criticism of the Iran war, saying congress should have been consulted beforehand.
Right now to Michigan, that's another key Senate race, as Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers are going head to head and Vice President J.D. Vance was there Thursday stumping for Rogers and calling El-Sayed, quote, "obsessed with the Middle East rather than the issues in Michigan".
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J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What you have on the other side of this election is one of the craziest, one of the most far left and one of the most radical people running for high office in the history of the United States of America. You deserve better than a little weasel who should shut his mouth and show a little gratitude to the country that gave him everything. (END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: Later, El-Sayed responded directly to this attack. The loyal Michigander having this to say to Vance, an Ohio native.
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ABDUL EL-SAYED (D), MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE: You know, it was funny. He called me a -- J.D. Vance called me a little weasel today. I'm like, no, no, no, what you're talking about is a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) wolverine.
(CHEERING)
EL-SAYED: You can take your buckeye and go shove it somewhere else.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: Today, New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez continues to campaign in Michigan for El-Sayed for the second day.
Evacuation orders are in effect for parts of Malibu, California. This is as firefighters battle the fast moving 100-acre Bryson Fire in rough terrain. A red flag warning is in effect until 8:00 p.m. Pacific Saturday for parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties, meaning risk of high winds that could be especially dangerous for fires.
For the first time since 1982, what an image, the Milwaukee Brewers are headed to the World Series. They swept the reigning champion, the L.A. Dodgers, who were hoping to try for a three-peat with one of the game's most expensive rosters. But Brewers won 6-4 last night, and now, they'll face either the Cleveland Guardians or the Tampa Bay Rays. Congrats.
All right, we've got lots more to come on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS including this --
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JOSHUA NELSON, BROTHER IN LAW OF SIX FLAGS ACCIDENT VICTIM: His last words were to my daughter and they were. This is my favorite ride. I'm so excited to be here.
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SMITH: The chilling last words of the man who died after falling from a Six Flags roller coaster. How his family is remembering him as the amusement park is set to reopen today.
And get those pumpkin spice lattes ready, as its finally going to feel like fall for millions this weekend, where the temperatures will be about 25 degrees cooler. We've got that forecast coming your way.
And up, up and away. Tesla reveals what it calls a flying car, what you need to know and see.
That's all coming up on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS.
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SMITH: Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is currently closing ranks with European leaders as Kyiv's relations with the U.S. deteriorate. He is with E.U. leaders in Brussels trying to shore up support for Ukraine. Relationships between the U.S. and Ukrainian leaders have taken a sharp turn for the worse here, as President Trump recently cut a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to allow Moscow to export diesel again.
In an interview with "The Financial Times", Zelenskyy said the move puts him between a rock and a hard place.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: The diesel deal, I don't want to be in war. If he attack us, we will respond. This is our rule. Don't involve us to some diesel deals.
If you ask us to help with the situation, of course, like the partners, we will help. But we are asking you, so energy ceasefire. If not energy ceasefire, it doesn't depend on you. Okay.
The question, can you give me missiles for Patriot? Because when I will not attack them because you asked me not to attack them, they will attack me. It's fair. If you will give me with what to defend.
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SMITH: And here's what President Trump had to say about it.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Zelenskyy is a not a good guy for us to deal with. Biden gave him hundreds of billions of dollars, billions and billions of dollars.
INTERVIEWER: Have you lost faith in him?
TRUMP: Well, I think they're going to -- if they're going to end up with a settlement of some kind, they're not going to do it with him. He doesn't want to settle. He says he wants to settle, but he doesn't.
No, I'm not -- I'm not a big fan of Zelenskyy. They've destroyed that country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: Putin says that recent Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries did not cause much damage. And overnight, Ukraine and Russia traded strikes targeting each others energy infrastructure.
Today, Six Flags over Georgia is set to reopen for the first time since Monday's fatal accident. That's when Hassan Kariem was ejected from the goliath roller coaster and fell to his death.
CNN affiliate WANF spoke to his family as they continue to process the loss.
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JOSHUA NELSON, BROTHER IN LAW OF SIX FLAGS ACCIDENT VICTIM: He loved everything about Atlanta. He loved kids. He loved technology.
REPORTER: A dedicated father, husband and brother, all words Hassan Kariem's family uses to remember him. Kariem, his wife, daughter along with Joshua Nelson's daughter all went to Six Flags on Monday to celebrate his 13-year-old daughter's birthday.
NELSON: His last words were to my daughter and they were: This is my favorite ride. I'm so excited to be here.
REPORTER: Investigators say Kariem was ejected from the Goliath coaster and fell to his death on Monday. Nelson says his daughter said right next to Kariem.
NELSON: How she described it was, you know, he went up like, I guess as the ride was going, he would go up, he went down, he went up, he went down. And the third or fourth time that happened, the latch came undone. And that's when he fell out. When it first happened, she called me. When they got her off the ride crying, and that was the only thing she was like, I don't know where he where he went.
REPORTER: The Office of Commissioner of Insurance and Safety Fire says the goliath was last inspected in march and showed no warning signs, but Nelson says the family is patiently holding out for answers.
NELSON: We're banding together and, you know, once the investigation is done, try to, you know, give him the proper sendoff.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SMITH: On the day of the accident, Six Flags released a statement saying that they were deeply saddened by the incident and that their thoughts and heartfelt condolences are with the guests, family, friends and loved ones.
All that water in west Texas turned roads into rivers. So the big question now is who's getting the rain today?
Here with more, we've got CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar.
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ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The main concern for today is going to be the potential for severe thunderstorms across areas of the Northeast and the mid-Atlantic, thanks to this cold front that is pushing through. You can see we will have some of those showers already ongoing this morning. But the stronger line of thunderstorms really ramps up later on this afternoon and will continue through the evening hours for Boston, New York, as well as Philadelphia. But we see things dry out much nicer conditions on Saturday.
One thing to note though, too, is those colder temperatures are going to be spreading. They've already set into place across the Midwest. Now you're going to start to see them dropping across areas of the Northeast all the way down into the mid-south. Take, for example, Nashville looking at a high of only 70 on Friday, but 85 in Atlanta, 83 in Washington, D.C. but that 83 in D.C. is going to drop pretty quickly.
Look at that. Going from 83 to only 56 by the time we get to Saturday, New York, Pittsburgh, Boston, also seeing similar drops compared to where those temperatures were yesterday or even today.
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SMITH: All right. Thank you, Allison.
Still to come on, CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS, new CNN reporting on Pope Leo's condition as he continues recovery from lung surgery.
Plus, how his shocking diagnosis is raising worldwide awareness about the deadliest form of cancer. That's straight ahead.
Plus, the moment Tesla's so-called flying car takes flight, when CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS returns.
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[05:22:49]
SMITH: Pope Leo has been carrying out daily activities following lung cancer surgery earlier this week. A spokesperson says that he's showing good progress and his doctors remain optimistic. Meanwhile, his planned engagements are expected to go ahead as scheduled. The pope's lung cancer diagnosis has shed light on why early screenings are so important.
Here's CNN's Jenn Sullivan with more.
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JENN SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Outside Gemelli Hospital in Rome, people leaving well-wishes for Pope Leo XIV as he recovers from surgery. The 71-year-old pontiff was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma, the most common form of lung cancer.
Pope Leo announcing to the world during Sunday mass that doctors had found a localized nodule in his lung. Tuesday, he underwent surgery to remove the lower section of his right lung. Vatican saying Thursday that doctors concluded, quote, "his post-operative recovery is progressing normally," but his doctors nor the Vatican have confirmed what stage cancer Pope Leo has, or if it's spread. Though Pope Leo said Tuesday the growth on his lung was found at an early stage.
The Vatican did say he is not known to be a smoker. The shocking news is shedding light on why early detection of lung
cancer is so important, even for nonsmokers and people who don't have a known family history.
DR. STEPHEN LIU, CHIEF, HEMATOLOGY & ONCOLOGY AT MEDSTAR GEORGETOWN: Today in this country, about 20 percent of lung cancer will happen in people that have never smoked a cigarette.
SULLIVAN (voice-over): Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death not just in the U.S. but around the world, according to the World Health Organization.
DR. MARK AWAD, THORACIC MEDICAL ONCOLOGIST, SLOAN KETTERING CANCER CENTER: And the earlier you catch and diagnose and treat the lung cancer, the better and better the chance of cure.
SULLIVAN (voice-over): The American Cancer Society says only 20 percent of eligible people in the U.S. received lung cancer screenings in 2024. that's why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends anyone between the ages of 50 and 80 and or anyone who has been a smoker undergoing a CAT scan. If a scan does show a nodule or shadow on your lung, doctors recommend getting it checked and undergo follow up monitoring.
I'm Jenn Sullivan, reporting
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[05:25:01]
SMITH: Well, we've all sat in traffic for what seems like forever, and Tesla might have a solution for that with that -- what it says is a flying car. Here it is. It's called the roadster. And it's said to be able to fly by using ultra high pressure air tanks to propel itself. Musk says that it will go into production in 2028. No word yet on the price.
All right, straight ahead on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS, the latest on a school shooting that left three young children and a teacher dead and a shattered Oregon community looking for answers. That's coming up on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS.
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