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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson

3 Children, 1 Teacher And Suspect Killed In Oregon Elementary School Shooting; Trump To Hold Georgia Rally For Collins Amid Midterm Push; Elon Musk Unveils First Ever Flying Car The Next-Gen Roadster; Ocasio-Cortez Set To Rally For El-Sayed In Michigan; Anti-Gang Mercenary Operation in Haiti; Evacuation Orders in Malibu Amid Fast Moving Fire. Interview with L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath; Brewers Earn World Series Berth with Sweep of Dodgers. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired October 16, 2026 - 01:00   ET

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

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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welsh Parliament. But few will know that given how the Sussexes first public engagement has stolen the media's attention once again. Anna Stewart, CNN, London.

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ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Anna, and thank you for watching the first hour of The Story Is. It was jam packed. And we've got an even more jam packed second hour that starts right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Los Angeles, The Story Is with Elex Michaelson.

MICHAELSON: I'm Elex Michaelson. It's 10 o'clock here in Los Angeles and in Oregon. Coming up, the story is a community in mourning after a devastating school shooting in Bend, Oregon. We have CNN's senior law enforcement analyst Charles Ramsey standing by live.

The story is on the ground in Michigan, Vice President JD Vance hitting the campaign trail in the battleground state. While on the same day Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined Abdul El-Sayed's rally.

And the story is fighting for power in Haiti. Our Nick Paton Walsh reports on a controversial mercenary group battling the government for control that debuts right here on The Story Is.

But we begin with authorities investigating a deadly shooting at an elementary school in Bend, Oregon. Officials shared new details in a press conference a few hours ago, but there's still a lot we don't know about the attack. Police say that three children, ages 5, 8 and 11 and one teacher were killed. They are being remembered at a candlelight vigil for the community.

Another child and teacher were also injured in the shooting and taken to the hospital. Police say the shooter is dead. The suspect, a 16- year-old armed with a long gun, forced his way into Silver Rail Elementary School by shooting at locked doors. It's not clear yet whether the shooter had a connection to the school, what he was motivated by.

Police haven't identified him yet. The director of the FBI, Kash Patel, says that federal agents are on the scene and assisting in the investigation. All school district activities will be closed on Friday.

This marks the 36th shooting at a kindergarten through 12th grade school this year, according to a CNN analysis.

Oregon's governor says no community should have to live through a day like this. The police chief described how a local resident stopped the shoot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF MIKE KRANTZ, BEND POLIEC DEPARTMENT: At 1:02 p.m. our first officers arrived on scene. Moments later, an officer reported that 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. Our officers entered the building and confirmed the suspect was dead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Joining me now live is CNN senior law enforcement analyst Charles Ramsey welcome back to The Story Is.

Speaking of that bystander. I want you to listen to some of the emergency dispatch calls describing what happened.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are taking an active shooter call at 615307 SE 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)

MICHAELSON: Talk to us about the actions of that man and how important they were.

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT: Well, thank God he was there. I mean, obviously his actions were heroic. Had he not taken the steps that he took -- there's no telling how many casualties we would have had as a result of this shooting. And so this is one of those things where the right person at the right place at the right time, but it doesn't lessen the fact that, you know, three young children are now gone and a teacher gone, and for what?

I mean, as a country, we still lack the courage to do anything to try to prevent these things from occurring. And it's going to happen again. Unfortunately, we just don't know when and where. But it will happen again. MICHAELSON: Of course, it's illegal for a 16-year-old in Oregon to have a gun. So, you know, you wonder how much laws could have changed it because he's breaking the law by even having this gun.

RAMSEY: Well, you know, there are a lot of unanswered questions and nothing's going to stop things 100 percent, but that doesn't mean you don't at least try. It'll be interesting to see exactly how he got his hands on the gun. I'm sure they're doing a deep dive now into the individual, checking social media footprint, interviewing relatives, interviewing friends. This individual was 16 years old.

I would find it hard to believe that there weren't warning signs and he didn't leave something that was an indication that he planned on doing something like this.

So, overnight they'll continue to work this, and I think the next press conference will have more information about the shooter himself. But I still think that doesn't relieve our responsibility to sit down and have an honest conversation on the steps that we can take that might have an impact on this.

[01:05:06]

Again, nothing's going to be 100%, but sitting back doing nothing is just simply not the answer.

MICHAELSON: You have run police departments in multiple major American cities. You know what it's like to be investigating behind the scenes. You just talked about it a little bit. But what does this investigation look like from here? What's going on behind the scenes right now?

RAMSEY: Well, again, they're executing search warrants. The scene is still being processed. The FBI is on the scene. And they are a valuable resource when they do show up to things like this.

I don't know how large the department is in Oregon, but they've never experienced anything like this before. And a lot of departments, even large departments, haven't really experienced anything quite like this.

So having them there, if they need processing of the crime scene, the FBI can do that. If they need help in terms of executing the search warrant and going through some of the electronic data, they can do that.

And so they'll have the ATF there. Again, you've got a firearm. They're running ballistics checks, their background, the firearm itself, to find out the history of it from its manufacturer up to the point in which it got into the hands of this young man. And so there's a lot of work that's going on right now, but it's an emotional strain.

I mean, police officers are human beings, too. And the process of seeing where, you know, three small children have been murdered like that is very difficult, you know, so this is not, this is a tragedy that goes beyond just the families of the three children. The children that are at that school will never be the same again. The trauma that they have experienced today is something that will never leave them. And I hope that they have the help that they need in order to pull through.

MICHAELSON: I mean, you think about the innocence of elementary school age kids and this, this confluence of events that they just witnessed, it's just so unfathomable to think about. Charles Ramsey, thank you so much for shedding some insight on all of this. We really appreciate it.

Let's talk politics now. We're less than three weeks before the final day to vote in the midterm elections that will determine control of Congress. President Trump heads to Georgia in the day ahead to campaign for Republican candidates there. The president set to appear in Dalton in northeast Georgia, be encouraging Republicans to turn out for governor's race candidate Rick Jackson and Senate candidate Mike Collins.

But he will not be going to Maine to stump for GOP Senator Susan Collins. Mr. Trump told Newsmax, quote, there's no real reason for me to go. That's probably fine with Collins. During her final debate with Democrat Troy Jackson on Thursday night, Collins criticized the Iran war and sought to distance herself from Trump, who of course did not win Maine in 2024.

Senate candidates faced off in Alaska Thursday night as well. Republican Dan Sullivan and Democrat Mary Peltola participated in their final debate, which included questions from the audience. Both candidates addressed the cost of living crisis and the war in Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN SULLIVAN, ALASKA REPUBLICAN U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: We need to open the Strait of Hormuz, make sure Iran does not get a nuclear weapon, but it needs to end soon. The energy costs from this war are too high. But I will tell you this, the best way to bring down costs with regard to energy in Alaska is to produce more Alaskan energy by and for Alaskans.

MAR PELTOLA, ALASKA DEMOCRATIC U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: Prices are too high for hard working Alaskans. And D.C. politicians are waging forever wars that are skyrocketing our costs. I'll take on the rigged system that allows D.C. to wage forever wars while lining their own pockets. I'll make sure we're focused on federal funding for Alaska because I'd rather we spend our money here in Alaska on erosion control rather than foreign wars.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Joining us now live from Juneau, Alaska, Mark Sabbatini, the editor of the Juneau Independent. Welcome back to The Story Is. Thanks so much for being here.

MARK SABBATINI, EDITOR, JUNEAU INDEPENDENT: Thank you.

MICHAELSON: So we just heard them talking about the war with Iran. How much is that at the center of this race?

SABBATINI: I would say not a lot, except to the extent that affects fuel prices. And those are an enormous issue up here, as they are in many, many places. One of the points noted in the debate was fuel prices, especially in rural west, are considerably higher than they are in other parts of the country. And that's of immense concern to plenty of voters.

It's also an issue in terms of they did a poll of the audience. What were the biggest issues? Cost of living was a big one with about a third of the audience. Another one was resource development and that refers to resource development here in state. And both candidates talked about that as a way to deal with energy costs aside from the war in Iran.

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So it's a big issue, but the war itself is, is probably not as big an issue as some other things affecting folks day to day.

MICHAELSON: So in the clip about Iran that we just saw, Mary Peltola kept looking down at her notes and reading off comments over and over again. The debate itself got contentious. They both accuse each other of lying. And then this happened. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I asked a moderator question. We weren't supposed to get these questions beforehand, were we?

SULLIVAN: No, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Neither one of you got questions beforehand. Absolutely not. No.

SULLIVAN: Questions seem to be answered.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: What did you make of that dynamic?

SABBATINI: What I made that is anybody preparing for a debate in a major race like this is going to anticipate the questions they're going to be asked. And Mary Peltola obviously brought more notes than Senator Sullivan did. I saw Senator Sullivan at times look down. He clearly had to be looking at notes.

And I don't think this race is going to determine on who was reading their talking points more versus who had memorized their talking points better.

MICHAELSON: Yes. By the way, when CNN does debates, you are not allowed to bring notes with you. So that's interesting that they chose to do the debate that way.

In terms of President Trump and his impact, we just saw him in Alaska taking the long trip from Washington to Alaska recently. The Vice President of the United States, JD Vance, also visiting Alaska, showing the importance of this to the White House. How is that trip being interpreted? How is it helpful? What has been the impact?

SABBATINI: Well, I think a key point was made by some folks who said a key thing here isn't that it's going to necessarily sway anybody to change their minds, but what it will do is energize folks who, if they were inclined to support Trump, they might be more energized to go out and vote by his visit here as opposed to not turning out. You're stirring up enthusiasm.

And arguably the same thing could be done by folks in the Peltola campaign or who are running on non-Republican tickets and other races. It might be a chance to point at the president and whatever it is they're criticizing that Hammond saying same thing. It calls a lot of attention and can get either base very, very energized.

MICHAELSON: Mark Sabbatini, editor of the Juneau Independent, thanks so much for being with us. It's going to be fascinating to watch. Alaska, Alaska late on election night. We appreciate it.

Check this out. Tesla has unveiled what it is calling a flying car at a product reveal in Texas CEO Elon Musk revealed the new Tesla Roadster, which came off a steep ramp, hanging upside down before flipping and using air jets to land. Musk said the two person sports car uses ultra-high pressure air tanks to propel itself. He says it'll go into production in 2028.

Be really interesting to see like an independent analysis of how this works. See this away from the Tesla video, but a fascinating potential look at the future from Tesla.

Still ahead on The Story Is, AOC has been campaigning in Michigan with Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. Our political panel will discuss whether their efforts are moving the needle.

Plus, some controversial comments from the VP there today.

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MICHAELSON: Welcome back to The Story Is. I'm Elex Michaelson and let's take a look at today's top stories. The FBI is assisting with the investigation into a deadly school shooting in Bend, Oregon. The community gathered for a candlelight vigil to remember the three children and one teacher killed in the attack. Police say the 16- year0old shooter was shot and killed by a resident who saw him entering the school. No word yet on a motive for that attack.

President Trump speaking out about an exclusive CNN report that the U.S. military is considering using what's known as the mother of all bombs against Iran. To be clear, the bomb is not nuclear, the president told Newsmax. It's just an extremely large bomb, adding I wouldn't use nuclear. We don't have to.

Report said the bomb could potentially target Iran's energy infrastructure and nuclear sites.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez campaigned alongside Democratic Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. On Thursday, New York representative appeared at a rally for El-Sayed in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. She's expected to head south on Friday to campaign with El-Sayed in Pontiac, Dearborn and Detroit.

Let's discuss with our panel. Joining me is California State Senator Suzette Valladares and plus political commentator and host of the podcast Red, Blue and Real, Eric Messersmith. Welcome back to both of you.

JD Vance, the Vice President, United States talking about Abdul El- Sayed. Here's how he described him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JD VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: What is it that animates Abdul El-Sayed and drives him to seek public office? It is not the well-being of his fellow Americans. It's not the hopes or aspirations of the amazing auto workers of Detroit or the students of Ann Arbor or families in Flint.

[01:20:02]

No. What excites him is this prospect of wielding the power of a country he hates. 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)

MICHAELSON: Little weasel country he hates. As an elected official, I think this is a good way to talk about him?

SUZETTE VALLADARES, CALIFORNIA STATE REPUBLICAN SENATOR: You know, that is definitely not my style. I don't like the name calling. I think that you can be impactful and effective without, you know, calling people names. What I will say is the Vice President has a very powerful microphone and I think it is completely reasonable for him to question El-Sayed's previous friendships, especially with Hasan Piker who said that 9/11America deserved 9/11.

MICHAELSON: I think he said he now disowns that comment. But yes, and said -- has said that he disowns that comment.

VALLADARES: I understand that. But I think that the Vice President does have a role and a responsibility to point out what I think is a valid point about who El-Sayed has been hanging out with over the past couple of years.

MICHAELSON: Here's how El-Sayed responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABDUL EL-SAYED, U.S. SENATE DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE FROM MICHIGAN: He wanted to raise questions about my commitment to America. And let me tell you, nobody understands how deep and profound the gift of this country is. Like a kid who was born here, but for the accident of history that allowed that to happen.

JD Vance called me a little weasel today. I'm like, no, no. What you're talking about is a wolverine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: That's one way to respond.

ERIC MESSERSMITH, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Pretty good comeback. Michigan, of course, the nickname for the football team, the Wolverine. So that's what he's referring to there. And you can tell a lot by how a campaign is going, by what the candidates are focusing on. And you can see the Democrats by and large are focusing on the economy, affordability, how to make things better. Republicans, it's nasty and it's personal with JD Vance tonight with El-Sayed.

It's one thing to say I disagree with my opponent's positions. I think they're wrong for America to say that he hates the country. The man talks about trying to make the life better for Americans all the time. And, and Talarico yesterday, when JD Vance was in Texas implying that Talarico was gay, talking about his internet search history, his attacking his religion and how he believes in God.

These are the closing arguments, not just from like a low level junior staffer from the Vice President of the United States. This is what he's using to close in this campaign. I think it shows incredible weakness. And by the way, he's not as good as it at it as Trump is. And Trump can get away with it because he has that unique connection with a lot of voters.

I don't know that Vance has that, and I don't know it plays as well when Vance does it.

MICHAELSON: What do you think about it?

VALLADARES: What I will say is I agree that it's if you want to win elections today or in the next two and a half weeks, whether it's for local office, whether it's for a U.S. Senate seat, voters, especially undecided voters, want to know what you're going to do. People are suffering right now. They can -- they're having to decide between a gallon of milk, a gallon of gas. They want to know, they want to see results. And they're frustrated. I don't blame them.

And I do think that Republicans have to go out there and say, listen, this is what we're going to do. We're going to unleash energy independence, we're going to suspend gas taxes, we're going to make energy more affordable. We have to talk about affordability, acknowledge that Iran has caused the price of gas to go up. But what are we going to do to make life more affordable?

MICHAELSON: I'm curious from you being an elected official, having your name on the ballot, going through this process and right now your name's not on the ballot because it's an off year for you. But what's this feel like the last few weeks, give us some insight on what that's like being in a campaign.

VALLADARES: So not only have I been on several ballots, but I'm also -- I've been in very competitive races and races --

MICHAELSON: Right.

VALLADARES: -- that, you know, my seat, the Democrats hold a nine- point voter registration advantage. And so for me, I have to talk to all sides. I have to talk to my district, to my community. Two and a half weeks out, you are -- you are just full throttle ahead. You are talking to every voter. For me, two years ago, I was literally on the phone dialing for dollars to get my message out. Up until October 30th, you're working the phones for votes, for volunteers until the very end. And then in California, and then we have ballot carrying.

MICHAELSON: Yes. And that's a whole process, too. As we know, the election can go for three weeks after the election here in California. In Texas, a little bit different system. Talk about what's going on in Texas.

We had the big town hall last night on CNN with James Talarico. Here's what President Trump posted on Truth Social today. If Ken Paxton loses, it will be because of weak and ineffective political hacks. Like John Cornyn, the senator from Texas right now, and Karl Rove, the political strategist who supported George W. Bush, who have ineffectively opposed me for my entire political career.

[01:25:07]

Of course, President Trump chose not to endorse John Cornyn. He endorsed Ken Paxton. He's the reason Ken Paxton is the nominee right now.

MESSERSMITH: Right.

MICHAELSON: And yet he's already trying to shift some of the blame.

MESSERSMITH: Yes, the blame goes to him. John Cornyn, say what you will about him, I think pretty much everyone agrees, would be in a much stronger position vis-a-vis James Talarico. He still might lose. It would probably still be close, but they probably wouldn't have to spend as much money as they're spending right now, lighting hundreds of millions of dollars on fire in a race that right now you would have to say Talarico is the favorite.

And I said it's not a good sign when you see the really vicious personal attacks. It's also not a good sign when you are preemptively laying the groundwork of who's going to be to blame if you lose one of the marquee races. That shows you that their internal polling does not look good.

And again, John Cornyn did everything he could. He voted with Trump consistently. He tried to name a road after Trump. He was groveling basically for that endorsement. And now, not only did he not get the endorsement, they're probably going to lose the race because Trump went with Paxton. MICHAELSON: Hindsight, do you think it would have been better to have Cornyn on the ticket?

VALLADARES: I think that candidate quality matters. And especially in a general election where you're really -- in order to win, you need independence. Right. You need people who are in the middle who are not the tried and true blue or tried and true red.

I think Michigan has the same problem. Right. Candidate quality matters.

MICHAELSON: You mean that you think that Haley Stevens would have been a stronger candidate than Abdul El-Sayed?

VALLADARES: I do think that -- absolutely.

MICHAELSON: Yes.

VALLADARES: I think they're -- they're in a candidate quality matters. And it's really hard for Republic for moderate mainstream Republicans or Democrats to get through primaries, and that's what we're seeing now. But you have to figure out a way, as a candidate, as a party, how to communicate with your voters and how to get your message all the way across the finish line in order to secure the win.

MICHAELSON: Yes. So, I mean, you think that he's the favorite. You think that Talarico is the favorite?

MESSERSMITH: Oh, I don't think there's any question about it. That's why you saw Elon Musk coming in with all of this money, mainly going to Texas, and why they're spending so much money there and why Trump's already preemptively blaming them, Cornyn and Roe for the loss. And I think you saw the candidate quality issue on display last night. If you watch that CNN town hall could Talarico, I thought, handled himself very well.

An incredibly interesting format by the way, having people debate him one on one. I don't think there's anyone in politics that could imagine Ken Paxton doing that. Could you imagine him going in and trying to debate people one on one with hostile questioning? He would never be able to get through that. Not only is he corrupt, he's a terrible candidate and that's why he won't debate Talarico.

MICHAELSON: Last point to you.

VALLADARES: Yes. What I was just going to say is, you know, yes, I don't know who's going to win in Texas, who's going to win in Michigan. But I will say that it is very well known that during a midterm election, whoever's in power typically loses seats. So the fact that we're this, we're two and a half weeks out and we're still this close in so many races is actually a pretty good thing I think for Republicans.

MICHAELSON: But it's most of those states that you're close in are red states --

MESSERSMITH: Yes.

MICHAELSON: -- that President Trump won big. And the fact that the Democrats even have a shot is actually a bad sign because if you looked at that map at the beginning of the year, I mean Republicans should not be in this position as you look at the numbers to your point about, about Ken Paxton, just for the record, CNN offered a chance for to host a with him and James Talarico. He declined that or hasn't responded. They offered to give him a town hall similar for an hour and a half and he has not responded on that. And he has not responded to Fox News Channel and their offer to have him on with Brett Baier.

MESSERSMITH: I'm shocked by that because I was told he was the tough guy in the race. He was the one with the high tee. So I'm really surprised that he's afraid of these forums.

MICHAELSON: Great having both of you here. Really appreciate the insight into being a candidate too. Really interesting to hear. Thank you both for coming in.

Coming up next on The Story Is, a nation being torn apart by gang violence. CNN on the scene in Haiti to get first hand insight into a mercenary operation run by a U.S. security tycoon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: About seven or eight shots have kind of flown over us. We've heard the crack. It's a sign that the gang is still really close by and don't want the police to ever feel comfortable down here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[01:33:43]

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Shock and mourning in a small town in Oregon as a teenager opens fire at an elementary school, killing three children and a teacher. The residents of Bend held a vigil for the victims.

Police say the shooter forced his way into Silver Rail Elementary School Thursday afternoon by firing at locked doors. A resident reportedly followed the teen in the building, killing him before police arrived.

It's not yet clear if the shooter had any connection to the school or what his motive may have been.

The U.N. Security Council has renewed sanctions against individuals and groups fueling gang violence in Haiti. The U.N. says thousands of people have been killed or injured in recent months.

The political chaos has formed (ph) upcoming elections to be postponed indefinitely as the government battles to regain control. Nick Paton Walsh reports from Port-au-Prince on a controversial mercenary group now entering the fray. A warning: the following video contains material that may be harmful or traumatizing to some audiences.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Haiti is so stifled and tormented by gangs, the fight against them has spread to hills outside the capital, Port-au-Prince.

[01:34:50]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are in misery. Kenscoff is in misery. The bandits killed our families, our kids. We had to run away from home.

WALSH: Here in Kenscoff, they were pushed out, but stormed back in again, killing and kidnaping dozens of locals in revenge.

We joined police on a day's long advance to reclaim tiny remote villages. We're blurring faces for security.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The guys are shooting.

We cannot stay here. We are exposed.

WALSH: But as we move in with the police, the gangs use the fog and hills to keep shooting.

You can see that debris barrier there. I mean, another way, the gangs slow the police down. About 7 or 8 shots have kind of flown over us. We've heard the crack.

It's a sign that the gangs are still really close by, and don't want the police to ever feel comfortable down here. There's another one.

More barricades lie ahead. Locals eager on the road to get back to homes they've not seen for two years. The barricades dismantled and burned so the gangs can't return and remake them.

It is an extraordinary scene of locals just flooding in to kind of reclaim their own streets after the gangs have been pushed out.

A ritual praising the heavens, overshadowed by ruin.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The gangs leave their youngest members behind while they run away.

WALSH: Hours earlier, two helicopters used a pause in the rain to land a police SWAT team in the hilltops.

The helicopters are part of American security tycoon Erik Prince's operation here, bringing new capabilities and the experience of foreign ex-Special Forces. But not for free.

And these are the first pictures of Prince's private security fighters in Haiti, who led the push with specialized Haitian police in what's called the task force.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hear a lot of things about you.

You see up here.

WALSH: He tells the police where to position. Nobody has seen their operations in Haiti before. And this drone footage shows gang members fleeing.

Erik Prince made his name and millions in Iraq with Blackwater, sullied and reprimanded over civilian casualties there.

His ties to Blackwater long severed, he is now selling a new idea, the private security, mercenaries to their detractors, can tackle security or gang problems for failing states that can't.

ERIK PRINCE, FOUNDER, VECTUS GLOBAL: Yes, that's a bad city, right? That's the bad part right there.

WALSH: Yes.

He was first sent to Haiti as a Navy SEAL 32 years ago, and now he gave CNN his first interview and access to his operation here.

PRINCE: When we started, a police truck like the one we rode in here on (ph) pretty much one of those was lost every week, attacked, ambushed, burned, the occupants slaughtered, butchered.

That's done now because there's much better response, quicker air support, drones, whatever that prevents the police from being overmatched. That's really why we're here.

WALSH: Over 2,000 drone strikes on varied targets in the past year, a task force source said here. And what they said was a gang Molotov cocktail factory.

Prince wouldn't reveal his annual fee of likely tens of millions of dollars. But on top of that, he gets a 10th of any new Customs revenue generated if his leaner operation ends smuggling at dozens of illegal border crossings.

Could you put a number on what your contract is worth in terms of what the Haitian government pay you?

PRINCE: The previous U.N. force is that our cost is one sixth of what their annual camp cost was. So it's a fraction of a fraction of a fraction.

WALSH: He had aimed to free up key roads within a year here, but hasn't, although the U.N. has said this year has seen the gangs spread in the capital halted, even reversed.

You haven't killed any major gang leaders yet. Have there been challenges in some of the operations you're doing? Is not killing top leaders part of your strategy? PRINCE: Look, insurgencies are not defeated by taking out just

leadership. I know there's been an obsession of that in the United States, but wars are won by taking significant numbers of enemy manpower off the battlefield. We are in the process of doing that and enabling sovereignty to resume.

[01:39:48]

WALSH: To grasp the enormity of the collapse in daily trauma, we head to the once-vibrant downtown of the capital. So long gang-held, swathes of it are now overgrown, as though nature is tired of the violence and wants to take back control.

We patrol at dawn with the new U.N.-mandated gang suppression force. Here, soldiers from Chad.

First light, when those who live under the gangs make their daily break for it to head out to the rest of the world on foot, through rivers of sewage and trash to reach work or food. A body lies abandoned in the road, likely dumped there overnight.

We go back with them at dusk to see it all happen again for the home trip.

We all talk about how desperate life must be here. To attempt this in the daylight must simply be terrifying. It's eerie being here inside an armored personnel carrier, but they're risking it out on the street, here in the dark, many of them carrying what looks like food for their homes, things back into gang-held areas.

The promise of a quick fix at a price that's still out of reach.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAELSON: Our thanks to Nick Paton Walsh.

You're watching THE STORY IS.

For our international viewers, "WORLD SPORT" is next. And for our viewers in North America, we're following the wildfires breaking out here in California now approaching homes.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath joins us live -- that's not the right video. Lindsey Horvath with us when we come back here on THE STORY IS.

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MICHAELSON: Santa Ana winds are bringing warm temperatures and fire threats to the southern California region. Those are the same type of winds that drove the deadly Palisades Fire in Malibu in January of last year. Red flag warning is in effect until 8:00 p.m. Pacific Saturday for

parts of L.A. County, Ventura County. That means risk of high winds could be especially dangerous.

You're looking at video of what's called the Bryson Fire. This is burning right now in Malibu. In the last hour, we got word that it had doubled in size. It's now at 200 acres.

This is an area that has dealt with far too many fires, especially during the month of October in the past. And there is an active fire fight underway right now.

Lindsey Horvath is the L.A. County supervisor who represents Malibu, went through the Palisades Fire with the residents of Malibu still dealing with the recovery from that.

She joins us live right now. She was just at a press conference. You're supposed to be on us -- on with us here for a different story earlier in the night. We understand why you had to go out there and deal with what we're seeing on the ground.

So give us the latest in terms of where things are at on this fire. And the biggest area of concern in the hours ahead.

LINDSEY HORVATH, L.A. COUNTY SUPERVISOR: Well, the fire has reached about 146 acres, as you mentioned, this started in the Encinal Canyon Area. And the fire has not jumped the canyon, that's a critical focus for us right now.

The fire department has been working tirelessly to hold that line and make sure that no structures and certainly no people are impacted. And so far, they've been successful in that regard.

There are a couple of evacuation orders, which means people need to leave their homes and leave the area that are in place right now. They're in the Zuma and Trancas Canyon areas, as well as the Saddle Rock area. You can go to emergency.lacounty.gov for the latest orders and warnings.

MICHAELSON: And this evacuation center, actually, my old high school, Agoura High School, that's been set up for people that need to go somewhere.

Talk about the threat of these winds. These are the winds, the Santa Ana winds, that drove the Palisades Fire. The Santa Ana winds currently driving a fire in the Camp Pendleton area as well.

How dangerous they are and how unpredictable they are for firefighters.

HORVATH: Truly, they are the contributing factor to the conditions that we're seeing tonight. It's why we gave a strong warning this morning from Van Nuys Airport. And we have been alerting communities while -- even while we were in Malibu last weekend, dealing with a red tag building as a result of El Nino impacts. We also were getting warning that today we would be in red flag

conditions. And these conditions will -- are projected to continue through 8:00 p.m. on Saturday.

So, we are asking people to stay safe and stay prepared. Once you are issued an evacuation warning, that's your alert to gather your go-bag and get ready to get on out.

We need to make sure that people are staying safe and that we can keep people moving. Because once you are issued an evacuation order, you got to go.

MICHAELSON: Yes. And Santa Ana winds, for people that may not be from this region, usually the wind blows from the ocean towards the land. Santa Ana winds -- it's the opposite. It's going from the land towards the ocean.

They're very strong. They're warm.

HORVATH: That's right.

MICHAELSON: And it's a -- it's a different thing. And sometimes they can be very, very powerful, as we're seeing in the next few days.

In terms of sort of the lessons learned from all of the fires that you've dealt with over the years, how are you implementing that in terms of the fire fight now?

HORVATH: Well, our after-action report from the Palisades Fire made clear where we needed to make improvements in our office of emergency management and communications.

So I led our board to invest additional $77 million just this budget cycle alone. We now have 44 new positions in that office to expand our capacity to communicate and coordinate, which were some of the challenges that we saw with -- especially with fires happening in multiple locations at the same time.

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HORVATH: So we've strengthened our office of emergency management and we'll continue to do so.

We also know that voters allowed us to have more resources to invest in our fire district. So we're doing that as well.

Investing in equipment and stations to harden them and to expand our capacity and support the great work that our fire department is doing.

MICHAELSON: Well, let's hope that we keep at the place where we are now with no structures burned on this particular fire. The scary thing is that this very dangerous fire weather is expected to continue for the next two days. So hopefully we can stop other fires from starting in that meantime.

Lindsey Horvath, joining us live, as you manage the response to this fire. Thank you so much for taking some time to talk with us and get the message out.

Obviously, that's a big part of this.

HORVATH: Thank you.

MICHAELSON: We'll be back with more news right after this.

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MICHAELSON: So these were the scenes last week in Lima, Peru as K-Pop superstars BTS continued the Latin American leg of their world tour.

Thousands of fans gathered outside the concert venue with some camping overnight. The group is set to play in Chile on Friday.

Latin America has become one of K-Pop's most important growth markets, driven by a highly-engaged fan base and strong streaming consumption.

Let's talk baseball.

The Milwaukee Brewers are headed to the World Series for the first time in 44 years. They beat the L.A. Dodgers 6 to 4 to complete the sweep.

The Brewers got home runs from Garrett Mitchell in the sixth and David Hamilton in the ninth. The Dodgers were hoping to become the first team ever to win three consecutive World Series title. First team in National League history to do that, the Yankees, were able to pull that off in the American League years ago.

Meanwhile, in the American League, the Cleveland Guardians are up two games to one on the Tampa Bay Rays. Thanks to this fifth inning blast from center fielder Petey Halpin. From there on out, it was a pitchers' duel that ended 3 to 2.

Game four in the Best of Seven series is Friday night in Cleveland. The team looking for its first World Series appearance since 1948.

Some fan bases that will be very, very grateful to be in the World Series, if that's what it turns out to be.

Thanks so much for watching THE STORY IS.

The news continues here on CNN after a break. I'll see you next week.

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