Oct. 16, 2026
Hero Bystander Takes Out Teenaged School Shooter Who Shot And Killed 3 Children and a Teacher
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RSS Feed A 16-year-old Bend, Oregon resident shot through locked doors at an Oregon elementary school, and then shot and killed three children, ages 5, 8, and 11 along with a teacher. Remarkably, an armed community member saw the teen enter Silver Rail Elementary School with a long rifle and pursued him inside the school and shot him dead before police arrived. Another teacher and a 7-year-old student were critically injured and are currently in the hospital. Police say the heroic bystander saved countless lives, and credit him, along with a new classroom door lock system from keeping dozens of children and teachers safe.
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00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks. It is Friday, October 16th, and details continue to emerge from a school shooting at an elementary school in Oregon. We know at least three kids are dead, along with a teacher. And this morning, everyone wants to know who this hero is who killed the shooter. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ, a tragedy roves that it's clear would have been worse had it not been for this one bystander. We don't know who it is yet, but this is going to be a hell of a story. It really is.
00:00:37
Speaker 2: It already is. I mean, if you look at the timeline of how the events unfolded yesterday, this was in Bend, Oregon, in the name of the school, Silver Rail Elementary School. But the first 911 call came in at 1259. Police arrived on the scene at 102, and the shooter was already dead because of this bystander who rushed in. Reportedly, he saw the shooter and basically shoot out the locks of the door. The doors were locked to the school. He used his weapon to shoot the locks out to get entry into the school, and this person reportedly got up and pursued him and engaged and shot him.
00:01:19
Speaker 1: Any chance in hell that person is not a father. Okay, so... Annie, just listen to that, Robes. And we know it wasn't... I believe they're confirming it is a man... But not to say, Robes, I think an armed mom. That is behavior. You are chasing someone with a gun. That's brave as hell. And maybe this person does have a military background or a law enforcement background. We'll learn. But, Robes, this is an incredible, extraordinary story. Robes, he was able, in a matter of minutes, think of the damage the shooter could have done if they did that much damage. Correct. In a matter of two or three minutes. Babe, this is a hell of a story. It is another tragedy. But my God. This could have been scores and scores worse.
00:02:03
Speaker 2: There is no telling just how many lives this man saved. And look, here's what we know. The Oregon governor confirmed that he was a community member. A community member stopped the shooter. But on the dispatch audio that some journalists have been able to hear... he was referred to as a father. That's why it's so funny you say that. This is the quote from the audio. It looks like the shooter has been neutralized, possibly shot by a father at the school. That is what police said when they called it in when they arrived. So either they assumed it or they knew the guy. Look, this is a small community, but that is... How they described it, officials have not confirmed whether or not it was a father, but my God, that would make a hell of a lot of sense.
00:02:47
Speaker 1: And what makes no sense, what is a 16-year-old doing with a long gun and going into an elementary school? They don't know the connection yet, but even if there is one, it didn't seem like they were going in there looking for someone in particular.
00:03:00
Speaker 2: This makes no sense.
00:03:02
Speaker 1: No sense. None of these ever do, do they? No, they do not.
00:03:05
Speaker 2: And so, look, how this all ticked off, yes, a 16-year-old, we only got that he is a Bend- resident. We don't know if he's known to law enforcement, if, as you pointed out, had any connection to the school, where he was in school, if he was in school.
00:03:21
Speaker 1: But he started out.
00:03:22
Speaker 2: By, this was bizarre, the 911 call that came in at 1259 came from somebody who was in a car. He said, or this person said that the shooter shot at him several times with a long gun and While he was in his car. Why?
00:03:39
Speaker 1: Was that person a target? What was the point of doing that? And also, we don't know how this 16-year-old got to the grounds. Drive there, walk there. Just walking around with a long gun? This doesn't make any sense. So, yeah, I mean, you're talking about a 911 call at 1259 and the situation was over at 102?
00:03:57
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:03:57
Speaker 1: Are they saying?
00:03:59
Speaker 2: Look, sadly, we're getting good at this. Sadly, we know how to handle this. The police said that they had just gone over with their entire police division a drill very similar to what happened in August. So their police officers were ready. They knew what to do. Also, the Bend schools, this is pretty remarkable. Just given all of the school shootings that our country has endured over the past several years, they just... in 2022 got upgraded door locks, basically, that anyone inside the classroom can turn the lock and it immediately secures the classroom. And they were able to put the school in lockdown at 101 because a teacher also saw from her classroom window this 16-year-old walking into or walking towards the school with a gun, she immediately called the front desk and said, get the school in lockdown. I mean, it's impressive how this school acted, how the police acted, and how this bystander acted.
00:05:07
Speaker 1: They got to do these. Every country in the school needs to do these once a month, babe. This is proof it works. And even if we see it on TV enough, don't we, Robes? We see school shootings. Every teacher, even if they're not doing drills that often, has a plan of some kind in their mind of how they're going to react and what they're going to do. Robes, live in New York. Sabine comes home and tells us, yeah, we got an active shooter drill today. These incidents have happened in New York. Her school in New York, there was a weird person they don't know walked into the school. School goes into lockdown while they try to find an individual in the school that's not supposed to be there. Robes, these are... terrifying that you and I did what? I did tornado drills. Tornado drills.
00:05:51
Speaker 2: I was in Missouri.
00:05:51
Speaker 1: Did you do earthquake at some point?
00:05:53
Speaker 2: No, I just did tornado drills and fire drills. Oh yeah.
00:05:55
Speaker 1: Those are the three. We did a little earthquake a little as well. That's what these kids are doing. Active shooter drills.
00:06:00
Speaker 2: Do you know what this reminds me of? You and I were sitting around with our daughters actually watching Carrie, a brand new series on, I think it's on Amazon prime and it's set in the Stephen King original, but it's set in modern times and Carrie is has never gone to school. If you know the story of her, she was homeschooled. Her mom was religious and freakish and she has supernatural powers, but she is in her first day in her first classroom and they do a shooter drill. And you look to Sabine because it was scary. We were watching it. And you look to Sabine, you said, is that how they do it? Where they actually start rattling the doors and make you feel like someone's trying to get into your classroom and Carrie in the show is freaking out because she has no idea what's going on. And they're laughing at her because they're so used to it. That was remarkable.
00:06:46
Speaker 1: But the door lock thing, babe. The door lock thing is so key because the law enforcement folks will tell you that's so important because if a shooter is there, goes to a door and it's locked, they're not going to waste time. They're trying to get through an event as quickly as possible. A locked door is everything. To hear this, I hadn't heard this at other schools. All right, now I guess a lot of old schools, you got to put a key in there and turn, and maybe the teacher is the only one. You got to pull the blinds down and all this stuff. Robes, anybody, click.
00:07:18
Speaker 2: They said this was a multi-million dollar investment that they put in place four years ago.
00:07:23
Speaker 1: And thank God. This is going to be a big story. It is. That they are going to advertise. See, it works. Every school in the country needs to have it.
00:07:32
Speaker 2: I have chills thinking about it. And look, I have chills also reading this. The teacher who notified the front desk or the front office that she saw- the shooter, she immediately got her kids. They locked the door, obviously. She got her kids all in the corner, but she described, and this was just, this broke my heart. She's a fifth grade teacher. They were so afraid. The looks on their faces was really hard to see. I mean, that breaks my heart. Imagining these poor little kids and a seven, and sorry, a five-year-old, an eight-year-old, and an 11-year-old are dead this morning. A teacher is dead this morning. And there is a seven-year-old student and a 54-year-old teacher critically injured in the hospital right now. We don't know whether or not they believe they'll pull through, but we were warned early on by police that the death toll could rise.
00:08:21
Speaker 1: You and I were... I'm not even sure which crime we were talking about, but we... Like, what's the... Where was the fine line between evil and illness? A 16-year-old kid... Just what it takes to take a long gun and aim it at a five-year-old and pull the trigger? Is that evil or is that illness? God, or both, maybe. It's an impossible imagination to rip a bullet through the body of a child that size. So what was going on with this 16-year-old? We don't have, at this point, at least at this recording this morning, Robes, there are no answers being offered.
00:08:57
Speaker 2: Right now, police say there is no motive. And yes, we don't even have an ID on the shooter yet. But my head is still spinning at just how quick this response was, how effective this response was, and still four people are dead.
00:09:12
Speaker 1: We're going with the debate now, Robes, with guns in the country. Because you hear it already. See?
00:09:20
Speaker 2: Oh, I know.
00:09:21
Speaker 1: You need more people with guns because they can stop the bad people with guns. And that is true. No, that is exactly what happened. Yes, that is true.
00:09:32
Speaker 2: The governor said, I love this, they spoke directly, the governor spoke directly to the bystander, even though we don't have the name. Your actions carry a heavy emotional burden, and I just want you to know that my thoughts are with you as well. And I thought that was an important thing. Think about that. Yes, this heroic bystander, if he was a father, he rushed in his adrenaline, he knew how to handle a gun, and he took out the shooter and saved countless lives. Yet, he still shot and killed a 16-year-old kid. That's got to weigh heavily on you.
00:10:01
Speaker 1: Weighs heavily, even more so if you are a parent as well. That person can feel a lot of things right now, and that's great to note. Yes, hero, going to be hailed, talk to the governor, stop the crime, stop more death. You had to kill a teenager, baby.
00:10:17
Speaker 2: And that teenager has parents. You know what?
00:10:20
Speaker 1: You said small community. It's a small community. What if they all know this kid?
00:10:23
Speaker 2: Yes. So I hadn't thought about that. We're all lauding him, and obviously we still will and will continue. But I hadn't thought about his mixed emotions today.
00:10:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's tough. There's nowhere to celebrate. We can be relieved about some things, but this is one of those stories. It's hard. You've got to find something in there, but let the debate rage on because Robes, somebody that was armed, a bystander, Police got there. It's cool, guys. We're good. I got it. Took care of it. Police didn't have to pull a trigger.
00:10:53
Speaker 2: Nope.
00:10:54
Speaker 1: That's wild.
00:10:56
Speaker 2: That is crazy. All right. When we come back, this brings, we'll tell you what the number of school shootings are now this year officially with this latest school shooting. It is so much higher than I even imagined. I cannot believe we still have dozens and dozens of deaths from school shootings each and every year. We'll get you caught up on the latest numbers. Welcome back everyone to Amy and TJ. We are talking about the school shooting in Bend, Oregon yesterday, four dead, including a five-year-old, an eight-year-old and an 11-year-old, a teacher, two others right now in the hospital fighting for their lives. But there was a heroic bystander, possibly a father who was able to, I guess the way they put it, neutralize the 16-year-old shooter and Within moments of him walking into that school. And I think by all accounts, the death toll would have been significantly higher.
00:12:01
Speaker 1: He had a long gun.
00:12:03
Speaker 2: If that man had not followed this young man, chased him down, and shot him.
00:12:12
Speaker 1: Again, I'm only imagining based on the locked doors. Yeah. Was he... forgive the phrase, an easy target, given that he didn't have anywhere to go to hide. All the doors were locked. Did he have a clear shot at this kid? Was the kid not even paying attention to him and didn't even realize somebody was coming up? Or was this an actual shootout of some kind? We don't know. Robes, there will be a danger in a conversation. If you have everybody out there armed and just firing, then you're going to have a situation where a bystander gets hit and gets killed at some point. That's a danger. But Robes, there is no argument in a situation like this. No argument. police department would ever encourage. This. You're not supposed to do it. You're supposed to wait for the police to come and do their thing.
00:12:53
Speaker 2: Your kids in that school, and we all remember what happened with Uvalde.
00:12:57
Speaker 1: You can kiss my ass. Okay, police officers, y'all stay right here. My kids are in there.
00:13:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, Uvalde, I think that was, you know, it reminds me of, and it's so heartbreaking to think about this, but it reminds me of the way we act now on planes. If someone is trying to open the cabin door, the cockpit door, People rush that person. We do not give people a second to try to figure out what they might be doing. We neutralize the threat immediately.
00:13:26
Speaker 1: You talk about opening cabin doors or cockpit doors. Robes, we saw a case recently. Guy was just loud and being annoying, and they tied him to his chair. They don't have to be violent.
00:13:35
Speaker 2: We are not going to take any chances. So that happened, obviously, after what happened on 9-11 and then with Uvalde. those parents who were desperate to try to get in because frankly, the cops were afraid to engage the shooter and they wouldn't let parents and the parents were like being like wrestled to the ground. And I, I just knew there's no way like, and I think that maybe they felt hesitant to do so. Cops, police are telling you not to go in, but this man was like, Oh hell no. I mean, you learn because if, if police or if parents had been able to break into Uvalde, think about how many lives could have been saved. And so no one is going to mess around with that anymore.
00:14:13
Speaker 1: Robes, on this one, what would police have done? What's their protocol? Would they have set up a perimeter? Would they have taken some time, tried to make contact? Right? Waiting for the specialty SWAT unit. We don't know. That's time. That's time. that somebody else just reacts. What was it in Uvalde, babe? 90 minutes?
00:14:35
Speaker 2: It was insane. It was absurd.
00:14:39
Speaker 1: People could hear shots. They go in. Kids are being killed.
00:14:43
Speaker 2: That poor teacher was sitting there with pretty much every one of his students dead in his classroom.
00:14:48
Speaker 1: You rush. And I don't know, babe. And law enforcement probably isn't trained. We hear shots. Everybody run in and let's go figure this out. I don't know if that's their training. And it's probably not. There is something more you have to do. Robes, this person... It was a human. We needed a human being in that moment. We needed a dad. Or a father, right? A dad without a badge who just reacts.
00:15:09
Speaker 2: Yep. And look, we are unfortunately getting used to this. There have been, this brings the total this year to 52 school shootings in 2026. There have been 32 deaths and 50 injuries so far this school year.
00:15:25
Speaker 1: Those count include college campuses?
00:15:27
Speaker 2: Yes, that's college campuses and schools. elementary and just all school campuses. Yes. And then look, last year we didn't, we actually had a lower year and there was hope, but we're shooting back up again this year. But remember last year, Brown university in December, the gunman entering that lecture hall, killing two students, injuring nine. And they were able to track him down using those cameras, those yeah, flock cameras. And then the Catholic school, the Annunciation Catholic Church school killing, two people killed, 19 others injured. But those are the two notable ones from last year. And look, they seem like we're not having the big mass ones that we had before. I think the last one, even Apalachee High School in Georgia, which got a lot of headlines because the father was also convicted in that for supplying the gun to his son. but he killed two students and two teachers. The last big one was Uvalde, 2022. 21 people killed, 19 students and two teachers.
00:16:25
Speaker 1: Are we doing something right, baby?
00:16:27
Speaker 2: It seems like fewer people are dying because we have better systems in place to address the anticipation of a school shooter.
00:16:37
Speaker 1: Isn't that something, baby? If they had millions of dollars for those doors, fine. But Robes, are you really telling me that something as simple as a lock, just click, could have saved, what, 2, 3, 10, 20 people yesterday in this situation? Yes. And if we are getting that something, if the evidence is there, then I applaud. Baby, we've learned. And it is getting better. Sure, we still got school shootings, but the number of dead is 2. versus 12.
00:17:05
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:17:05
Speaker 1: We are doing something right. Maybe we should be applauded for whatever, or even the attention. Do you think school shooters know now? It's not as easy a target as I.
00:17:14
Speaker 2: Yes, I do. And I think that helps. And I think, yes, something as simple as a lock. I think every single parent, and I think every single human in every community. If you want to raise my taxes, and I know that money is going straight to supply those types of locks.
00:17:28
Speaker 1: And they have a system in place.
00:17:30
Speaker 2: They had like a guard building.
00:17:32
Speaker 1: You have to register.
00:17:33
Speaker 2: So he's passed through all of those checkpoints, so to speak. And it set off alarm bells. People saw somebody doing something that he shouldn't have been doing. And people reacted immediately.
00:17:47
Speaker 1: You know what? Bro, as awful as this story is, you're very, very right. We got to a point in newsrooms, this sounds morbid as hell. But when we hear about a school shooting, I wrote how many times in a newsroom over the past decade or so. How many dead? How many dead? And somebody says two, and you'll hear a producer, an executive respond, well, that doesn't go so high up in the rundown. Correct. Unless the numbers, we're now become, A little, what was the word?
00:18:16
Speaker 2: Desensitized.
00:18:17
Speaker 1: Desensitized to school shootings. What was the one in Vegas? Not the school shooting. The Vegas, the one that was 50 something. Yes. Pulse nightclub was 50. Yes. It has to get to that to shock us now. It shouldn't be the case. But man, this is something to celebrate. Yes. Sorry to use that word. I apologize. That's not what I meant when I'm saying we are seeing results. And that is something we should take note of.
00:18:40
Speaker 2: Absolutely. And you can celebrate the fact that we are getting smarter and it is saving lives. That is something to note.
00:18:48
Speaker 1: You know what? Another thing to note, we've been covering a lot of this familicide in this country. Still, the 32, we have had more fathers take out their families. And those are a greater number of fatalities in the country this year than school shootings. That's insane.
00:19:06
Speaker 2: And we've had a couple of mothers too in the last couple of months. So Adding to that.
00:19:10
Speaker 1: I only note that because I hadn't seen the school death number. 32. Robes, we are far surpassed that in terms of fathers killing their families. Killing their families this year. So I'm saying we paid so much attention and we should to that. This is another phenomenon going on, Robes, and we got more people dying at the hands of their own family members.
00:19:29
Speaker 2: Maybe mental health help.
00:19:31
Speaker 1: Big time. Big time.
00:19:33
Speaker 2: All right. We always appreciate you listening to us, everyone. I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ Holmes.
00:19:39
Speaker 1: We'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks. It is Friday, October 16th, and details continue to emerge from a school shooting at an elementary school in Oregon. We know at least three kids are dead, along with a teacher. And this morning, everyone wants to know who this hero is who killed the shooter. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ, a tragedy roves that it's clear would have been worse had it not been for this one bystander. We don't know who it is yet, but this is going to be a hell of a story. It really is.
00:00:37
Speaker 2: It already is. I mean, if you look at the timeline of how the events unfolded yesterday, this was in Bend, Oregon, in the name of the school, Silver Rail Elementary School. But the first 911 call came in at 1259. Police arrived on the scene at 102, and the shooter was already dead because of this bystander who rushed in. Reportedly, he saw the shooter and basically shoot out the locks of the door. The doors were locked to the school. He used his weapon to shoot the locks out to get entry into the school, and this person reportedly got up and pursued him and engaged and shot him.
00:01:19
Speaker 1: Any chance in hell that person is not a father. Okay, so... Annie, just listen to that, Robes. And we know it wasn't... I believe they're confirming it is a man... But not to say, Robes, I think an armed mom. That is behavior. You are chasing someone with a gun. That's brave as hell. And maybe this person does have a military background or a law enforcement background. We'll learn. But, Robes, this is an incredible, extraordinary story. Robes, he was able, in a matter of minutes, think of the damage the shooter could have done if they did that much damage. Correct. In a matter of two or three minutes. Babe, this is a hell of a story. It is another tragedy. But my God. This could have been scores and scores worse.
00:02:03
Speaker 2: There is no telling just how many lives this man saved. And look, here's what we know. The Oregon governor confirmed that he was a community member. A community member stopped the shooter. But on the dispatch audio that some journalists have been able to hear... he was referred to as a father. That's why it's so funny you say that. This is the quote from the audio. It looks like the shooter has been neutralized, possibly shot by a father at the school. That is what police said when they called it in when they arrived. So either they assumed it or they knew the guy. Look, this is a small community, but that is... How they described it, officials have not confirmed whether or not it was a father, but my God, that would make a hell of a lot of sense.
00:02:47
Speaker 1: And what makes no sense, what is a 16-year-old doing with a long gun and going into an elementary school? They don't know the connection yet, but even if there is one, it didn't seem like they were going in there looking for someone in particular.
00:03:00
Speaker 2: This makes no sense.
00:03:02
Speaker 1: No sense. None of these ever do, do they? No, they do not.
00:03:05
Speaker 2: And so, look, how this all ticked off, yes, a 16-year-old, we only got that he is a Bend- resident. We don't know if he's known to law enforcement, if, as you pointed out, had any connection to the school, where he was in school, if he was in school.
00:03:21
Speaker 1: But he started out.
00:03:22
Speaker 2: By, this was bizarre, the 911 call that came in at 1259 came from somebody who was in a car. He said, or this person said that the shooter shot at him several times with a long gun and While he was in his car. Why?
00:03:39
Speaker 1: Was that person a target? What was the point of doing that? And also, we don't know how this 16-year-old got to the grounds. Drive there, walk there. Just walking around with a long gun? This doesn't make any sense. So, yeah, I mean, you're talking about a 911 call at 1259 and the situation was over at 102?
00:03:57
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:03:57
Speaker 1: Are they saying?
00:03:59
Speaker 2: Look, sadly, we're getting good at this. Sadly, we know how to handle this. The police said that they had just gone over with their entire police division a drill very similar to what happened in August. So their police officers were ready. They knew what to do. Also, the Bend schools, this is pretty remarkable. Just given all of the school shootings that our country has endured over the past several years, they just... in 2022 got upgraded door locks, basically, that anyone inside the classroom can turn the lock and it immediately secures the classroom. And they were able to put the school in lockdown at 101 because a teacher also saw from her classroom window this 16-year-old walking into or walking towards the school with a gun, she immediately called the front desk and said, get the school in lockdown. I mean, it's impressive how this school acted, how the police acted, and how this bystander acted.
00:05:07
Speaker 1: They got to do these. Every country in the school needs to do these once a month, babe. This is proof it works. And even if we see it on TV enough, don't we, Robes? We see school shootings. Every teacher, even if they're not doing drills that often, has a plan of some kind in their mind of how they're going to react and what they're going to do. Robes, live in New York. Sabine comes home and tells us, yeah, we got an active shooter drill today. These incidents have happened in New York. Her school in New York, there was a weird person they don't know walked into the school. School goes into lockdown while they try to find an individual in the school that's not supposed to be there. Robes, these are... terrifying that you and I did what? I did tornado drills. Tornado drills.
00:05:51
Speaker 2: I was in Missouri.
00:05:51
Speaker 1: Did you do earthquake at some point?
00:05:53
Speaker 2: No, I just did tornado drills and fire drills. Oh yeah.
00:05:55
Speaker 1: Those are the three. We did a little earthquake a little as well. That's what these kids are doing. Active shooter drills.
00:06:00
Speaker 2: Do you know what this reminds me of? You and I were sitting around with our daughters actually watching Carrie, a brand new series on, I think it's on Amazon prime and it's set in the Stephen King original, but it's set in modern times and Carrie is has never gone to school. If you know the story of her, she was homeschooled. Her mom was religious and freakish and she has supernatural powers, but she is in her first day in her first classroom and they do a shooter drill. And you look to Sabine because it was scary. We were watching it. And you look to Sabine, you said, is that how they do it? Where they actually start rattling the doors and make you feel like someone's trying to get into your classroom and Carrie in the show is freaking out because she has no idea what's going on. And they're laughing at her because they're so used to it. That was remarkable.
00:06:46
Speaker 1: But the door lock thing, babe. The door lock thing is so key because the law enforcement folks will tell you that's so important because if a shooter is there, goes to a door and it's locked, they're not going to waste time. They're trying to get through an event as quickly as possible. A locked door is everything. To hear this, I hadn't heard this at other schools. All right, now I guess a lot of old schools, you got to put a key in there and turn, and maybe the teacher is the only one. You got to pull the blinds down and all this stuff. Robes, anybody, click.
00:07:18
Speaker 2: They said this was a multi-million dollar investment that they put in place four years ago.
00:07:23
Speaker 1: And thank God. This is going to be a big story. It is. That they are going to advertise. See, it works. Every school in the country needs to have it.
00:07:32
Speaker 2: I have chills thinking about it. And look, I have chills also reading this. The teacher who notified the front desk or the front office that she saw- the shooter, she immediately got her kids. They locked the door, obviously. She got her kids all in the corner, but she described, and this was just, this broke my heart. She's a fifth grade teacher. They were so afraid. The looks on their faces was really hard to see. I mean, that breaks my heart. Imagining these poor little kids and a seven, and sorry, a five-year-old, an eight-year-old, and an 11-year-old are dead this morning. A teacher is dead this morning. And there is a seven-year-old student and a 54-year-old teacher critically injured in the hospital right now. We don't know whether or not they believe they'll pull through, but we were warned early on by police that the death toll could rise.
00:08:21
Speaker 1: You and I were... I'm not even sure which crime we were talking about, but we... Like, what's the... Where was the fine line between evil and illness? A 16-year-old kid... Just what it takes to take a long gun and aim it at a five-year-old and pull the trigger? Is that evil or is that illness? God, or both, maybe. It's an impossible imagination to rip a bullet through the body of a child that size. So what was going on with this 16-year-old? We don't have, at this point, at least at this recording this morning, Robes, there are no answers being offered.
00:08:57
Speaker 2: Right now, police say there is no motive. And yes, we don't even have an ID on the shooter yet. But my head is still spinning at just how quick this response was, how effective this response was, and still four people are dead.
00:09:12
Speaker 1: We're going with the debate now, Robes, with guns in the country. Because you hear it already. See?
00:09:20
Speaker 2: Oh, I know.
00:09:21
Speaker 1: You need more people with guns because they can stop the bad people with guns. And that is true. No, that is exactly what happened. Yes, that is true.
00:09:32
Speaker 2: The governor said, I love this, they spoke directly, the governor spoke directly to the bystander, even though we don't have the name. Your actions carry a heavy emotional burden, and I just want you to know that my thoughts are with you as well. And I thought that was an important thing. Think about that. Yes, this heroic bystander, if he was a father, he rushed in his adrenaline, he knew how to handle a gun, and he took out the shooter and saved countless lives. Yet, he still shot and killed a 16-year-old kid. That's got to weigh heavily on you.
00:10:01
Speaker 1: Weighs heavily, even more so if you are a parent as well. That person can feel a lot of things right now, and that's great to note. Yes, hero, going to be hailed, talk to the governor, stop the crime, stop more death. You had to kill a teenager, baby.
00:10:17
Speaker 2: And that teenager has parents. You know what?
00:10:20
Speaker 1: You said small community. It's a small community. What if they all know this kid?
00:10:23
Speaker 2: Yes. So I hadn't thought about that. We're all lauding him, and obviously we still will and will continue. But I hadn't thought about his mixed emotions today.
00:10:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's tough. There's nowhere to celebrate. We can be relieved about some things, but this is one of those stories. It's hard. You've got to find something in there, but let the debate rage on because Robes, somebody that was armed, a bystander, Police got there. It's cool, guys. We're good. I got it. Took care of it. Police didn't have to pull a trigger.
00:10:53
Speaker 2: Nope.
00:10:54
Speaker 1: That's wild.
00:10:56
Speaker 2: That is crazy. All right. When we come back, this brings, we'll tell you what the number of school shootings are now this year officially with this latest school shooting. It is so much higher than I even imagined. I cannot believe we still have dozens and dozens of deaths from school shootings each and every year. We'll get you caught up on the latest numbers. Welcome back everyone to Amy and TJ. We are talking about the school shooting in Bend, Oregon yesterday, four dead, including a five-year-old, an eight-year-old and an 11-year-old, a teacher, two others right now in the hospital fighting for their lives. But there was a heroic bystander, possibly a father who was able to, I guess the way they put it, neutralize the 16-year-old shooter and Within moments of him walking into that school. And I think by all accounts, the death toll would have been significantly higher.
00:12:01
Speaker 1: He had a long gun.
00:12:03
Speaker 2: If that man had not followed this young man, chased him down, and shot him.
00:12:12
Speaker 1: Again, I'm only imagining based on the locked doors. Yeah. Was he... forgive the phrase, an easy target, given that he didn't have anywhere to go to hide. All the doors were locked. Did he have a clear shot at this kid? Was the kid not even paying attention to him and didn't even realize somebody was coming up? Or was this an actual shootout of some kind? We don't know. Robes, there will be a danger in a conversation. If you have everybody out there armed and just firing, then you're going to have a situation where a bystander gets hit and gets killed at some point. That's a danger. But Robes, there is no argument in a situation like this. No argument. police department would ever encourage. This. You're not supposed to do it. You're supposed to wait for the police to come and do their thing.
00:12:53
Speaker 2: Your kids in that school, and we all remember what happened with Uvalde.
00:12:57
Speaker 1: You can kiss my ass. Okay, police officers, y'all stay right here. My kids are in there.
00:13:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, Uvalde, I think that was, you know, it reminds me of, and it's so heartbreaking to think about this, but it reminds me of the way we act now on planes. If someone is trying to open the cabin door, the cockpit door, People rush that person. We do not give people a second to try to figure out what they might be doing. We neutralize the threat immediately.
00:13:26
Speaker 1: You talk about opening cabin doors or cockpit doors. Robes, we saw a case recently. Guy was just loud and being annoying, and they tied him to his chair. They don't have to be violent.
00:13:35
Speaker 2: We are not going to take any chances. So that happened, obviously, after what happened on 9-11 and then with Uvalde. those parents who were desperate to try to get in because frankly, the cops were afraid to engage the shooter and they wouldn't let parents and the parents were like being like wrestled to the ground. And I, I just knew there's no way like, and I think that maybe they felt hesitant to do so. Cops, police are telling you not to go in, but this man was like, Oh hell no. I mean, you learn because if, if police or if parents had been able to break into Uvalde, think about how many lives could have been saved. And so no one is going to mess around with that anymore.
00:14:13
Speaker 1: Robes, on this one, what would police have done? What's their protocol? Would they have set up a perimeter? Would they have taken some time, tried to make contact? Right? Waiting for the specialty SWAT unit. We don't know. That's time. That's time. that somebody else just reacts. What was it in Uvalde, babe? 90 minutes?
00:14:35
Speaker 2: It was insane. It was absurd.
00:14:39
Speaker 1: People could hear shots. They go in. Kids are being killed.
00:14:43
Speaker 2: That poor teacher was sitting there with pretty much every one of his students dead in his classroom.
00:14:48
Speaker 1: You rush. And I don't know, babe. And law enforcement probably isn't trained. We hear shots. Everybody run in and let's go figure this out. I don't know if that's their training. And it's probably not. There is something more you have to do. Robes, this person... It was a human. We needed a human being in that moment. We needed a dad. Or a father, right? A dad without a badge who just reacts.
00:15:09
Speaker 2: Yep. And look, we are unfortunately getting used to this. There have been, this brings the total this year to 52 school shootings in 2026. There have been 32 deaths and 50 injuries so far this school year.
00:15:25
Speaker 1: Those count include college campuses?
00:15:27
Speaker 2: Yes, that's college campuses and schools. elementary and just all school campuses. Yes. And then look, last year we didn't, we actually had a lower year and there was hope, but we're shooting back up again this year. But remember last year, Brown university in December, the gunman entering that lecture hall, killing two students, injuring nine. And they were able to track him down using those cameras, those yeah, flock cameras. And then the Catholic school, the Annunciation Catholic Church school killing, two people killed, 19 others injured. But those are the two notable ones from last year. And look, they seem like we're not having the big mass ones that we had before. I think the last one, even Apalachee High School in Georgia, which got a lot of headlines because the father was also convicted in that for supplying the gun to his son. but he killed two students and two teachers. The last big one was Uvalde, 2022. 21 people killed, 19 students and two teachers.
00:16:25
Speaker 1: Are we doing something right, baby?
00:16:27
Speaker 2: It seems like fewer people are dying because we have better systems in place to address the anticipation of a school shooter.
00:16:37
Speaker 1: Isn't that something, baby? If they had millions of dollars for those doors, fine. But Robes, are you really telling me that something as simple as a lock, just click, could have saved, what, 2, 3, 10, 20 people yesterday in this situation? Yes. And if we are getting that something, if the evidence is there, then I applaud. Baby, we've learned. And it is getting better. Sure, we still got school shootings, but the number of dead is 2. versus 12.
00:17:05
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:17:05
Speaker 1: We are doing something right. Maybe we should be applauded for whatever, or even the attention. Do you think school shooters know now? It's not as easy a target as I.
00:17:14
Speaker 2: Yes, I do. And I think that helps. And I think, yes, something as simple as a lock. I think every single parent, and I think every single human in every community. If you want to raise my taxes, and I know that money is going straight to supply those types of locks.
00:17:28
Speaker 1: And they have a system in place.
00:17:30
Speaker 2: They had like a guard building.
00:17:32
Speaker 1: You have to register.
00:17:33
Speaker 2: So he's passed through all of those checkpoints, so to speak. And it set off alarm bells. People saw somebody doing something that he shouldn't have been doing. And people reacted immediately.
00:17:47
Speaker 1: You know what? Bro, as awful as this story is, you're very, very right. We got to a point in newsrooms, this sounds morbid as hell. But when we hear about a school shooting, I wrote how many times in a newsroom over the past decade or so. How many dead? How many dead? And somebody says two, and you'll hear a producer, an executive respond, well, that doesn't go so high up in the rundown. Correct. Unless the numbers, we're now become, A little, what was the word?
00:18:16
Speaker 2: Desensitized.
00:18:17
Speaker 1: Desensitized to school shootings. What was the one in Vegas? Not the school shooting. The Vegas, the one that was 50 something. Yes. Pulse nightclub was 50. Yes. It has to get to that to shock us now. It shouldn't be the case. But man, this is something to celebrate. Yes. Sorry to use that word. I apologize. That's not what I meant when I'm saying we are seeing results. And that is something we should take note of.
00:18:40
Speaker 2: Absolutely. And you can celebrate the fact that we are getting smarter and it is saving lives. That is something to note.
00:18:48
Speaker 1: You know what? Another thing to note, we've been covering a lot of this familicide in this country. Still, the 32, we have had more fathers take out their families. And those are a greater number of fatalities in the country this year than school shootings. That's insane.
00:19:06
Speaker 2: And we've had a couple of mothers too in the last couple of months. So Adding to that.
00:19:10
Speaker 1: I only note that because I hadn't seen the school death number. 32. Robes, we are far surpassed that in terms of fathers killing their families. Killing their families this year. So I'm saying we paid so much attention and we should to that. This is another phenomenon going on, Robes, and we got more people dying at the hands of their own family members.
00:19:29
Speaker 2: Maybe mental health help.
00:19:31
Speaker 1: Big time. Big time.
00:19:33
Speaker 2: All right. We always appreciate you listening to us, everyone. I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ Holmes.
00:19:39
Speaker 1: We'll talk to you soon.