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LEGAL VIEW WITH ASHLEIGH BANFIELD

Shooting in Oregon; Semiautomatic Involved in Shooting; Students Evacuated

Aired June 10, 2014 - 12:00   ET

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


EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: There's no other shooters there perhaps. We believe that it's only one shooter, but, you know, it's very -- it's very sketchy information at this point, Michaela.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Evan Perez, thank you so much.

Again, the news of an active shooter - we believe an active shooting situation at a high school in Troutdale, Oregon, about 10 minutes from Portland. Ashleigh Banfield picks up our coverage right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN's breaking news coverage.

Hello, everyone. I'm Ashleigh Banfield. And welcome to LEGAL VIEW.

We are monitoring a situation in Portland, Oregon. And we start this hour with the breaking news that shots have been fired and people are wounded. Again, we report about a high school. This time it is a high school in a suburb of Portland, Oregon. Police there are telling CNN that apparently a semiautomatic weapon has been involved in this incident. There's very little information at this very early stage.

But we do know this, police officers, along with sheriff's units and SWAT teams, as you can see by these pictures that are just in from KPTV, one of our affiliates, they are on location. We are also being told that this area is now secure and that the situation is contained. But, clearly, the kind of story that we are bringing you all too often.

I am happy at this point to report, though, that there are no deaths reported in this school shooting, but there have been reports that people were injured, were wounded. We don't know the numbers. We don't know whether they were students or adults in this school. You can see a lot of the onlookers. Without question, some of them may be parents who have rushed to the scene because they also, all too often, have heard of these reports on the news that there is yet another school shooting.

This breaking news to us again coming from a school called Reynolds High School. And it's just outside of Portland, Oregon.

I want to go to Evan Perez, our justice correspondent, who's watching this live with me, monitoring the situation from Washington.

Evan, do you know anything more about the situation?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: Ashleigh, it looks like this all began around 8:00, just after 8:00 in the morning local time. And the reports are of, obviously, some shots being fired. They say that there was a semiautomatic firearm that was involved. Now, we don't know if they've recovered this and if they've arrested a suspect. We still have very few details at this point in time.

We do know that they're obviously now checking the school to make sure that there's nobody else that could pose harm to these kids. And now they're going to try to basically interview the kids and then try to get them with their parents who are being told that they need to stay at a parking lot nearby. Don't come to the school because obviously the situation is not over yet, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: And, Evan, you know, gosh, I'm so sick of these stories. I'm so sick of reporting on these stories. And I hate to say it becomes easier because we can almost do this by rote now -

PEREZ: That's right.

BANFIELD: Guaranteed where they've now said that this is a contained situation. Clearly there are going to be students who are brought out. Clearly they will be brought out carefully. They may come out with hands up, as we've so often seen. Amongst the younger one, it's typically in a chain formation where they hold hands. I don't think when I got into this business I would know all of this before seeing those pictures, but that just seems to be the standard operating procedure at this point.

Evan, do you know anything about all the people who've gathered outside, whether, you know, obviously parents are asked to stay away, people are asked to stay away, but they're there. Do we know who they are?

PEREZ: Well, you know, I'm sure that some of them are neighbors and bystanders. And, you know, parents are worried about their kids so you can't blame them for showing up there and being -- wanting to be there to see what is happening. They're asking them to please go to another location nearby so they can also get away from the media and, you know, deliver the news to them, whatever the latest is. They can get some information about the safety of their children.

This is something that's probably going to take a little while. We know that typically federal law enforcement gets called in, the FBI and the ATF, because they have some -- sadly, they have a lot of expertise dealing with these scenes now because these have become so much more common, as you pointed out. But this is something that we're probably going to take -- it's going to take a little while before we know whether the scene is over and whether or not it's been secure.

BANFIELD: And, Evan, there are those pictures that I was mentioning.

PEREZ: That's right.

BANFIELD: Look, we're taking these pictures as they come into us from KPTV, one of our affiliates. But you can see these kids coming out. I think I saw their hands up. Yep, look at that. I don't even need to see the pictures to know they're coming. Kids coming out of a high school in Troutdale, Oregon, with their hands up, clearly to signify that they're the safe ones being evacuated, that they are not - but look at that. If you're one of those children walking by those SWAT officers, heavily armed with your hands up, and look at the images those kids are seeing as they file out of that school. God knows what they've seen inside the school. God knows what they've heard inside the school.

I want to listen in really quickly, if I can, to the KPTV coverage of this. Let's listen to what they've got.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Said that they have confirmed -- the Reynolds School District confirms that there is an incident at the high school. We can see that with our own eyes. They're asking parents to stay away from the school while police are responding and they will issue a statement shortly. Now that was issued about 45 - or, excuse me, about 15 minutes ago. So that's the last we've heard from the district. We, of course, are still in contact with them. But they're probably trying to get as much information as we are.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hard -

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Obviously, a very chaotic situation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And it looks like in that one shot they're showing, that we just had sort of across through the fence, that was law enforcement that have sort of gathered in, you know, to further strategize about how best to go about this. We had heard they're sort of going building to building and clearing it in a methodical sort of way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. We're just -- we do have a neighbor on the phone - Tony, I don't want to interrupt you. I'm sorry. But we do have a neighbor who lives nearby the school on the phone and we want to chat with this person quickly.

Are you there?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is your name?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lynne.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lynne, do you have a student at this school? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't. My daughter's at middle school. But I am

watching the students as they file back into school. They were about 10, 15 minutes ago gathered in the south field and now the police are filing them back into the school. And I just wanted to let them know -- the parents know, anybody who has -- that the students appear to be safe and very well taken care of.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well that would corroborate what we heard from Kay Cagle (ph), our reporter there, who said that she had heard from a law enforcement source that the active shooting part of this investigation was over so that it was no longer an active threat. However, we still don't know what occurred. Can you tell us, take us back in time, what you heard over the last hour or so? What you saw?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, honestly, I was - I was reading a book and I didn't know what was going on until a co-worker called me and I immediately looked outside and turned the television on to you guys to get some information. I did see one student, as I was looking out my window, start to cross the field. So I ran outside and yelled at him to go home, that there was a shooter and he needed to go home. He looked a little confused, but he turned around and he left.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So he was running towards the school?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was - he was walking towards the school.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And so you yelled at him to turn around and go back?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I told him to just go home. There's a shooter, go home. And he turned around and he left. And it was probably about 10 minutes later that I saw students start to come outside to the back field. And they were gathered in a few different spots but together with the staff. And then some law enforcement came out and spoke to them and they all started filing up in a -- lining up in a line and filing in single file back into the school. And they're just - got the last couple of people are walking in right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So at no point did you hear any kind of gunfire?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I heard nothing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Interesting that they would allow the students back in, because you would assume an investigation would be underway --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To keep them out. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. Unless there's a special area they're taking them to, to keep them in one spot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Perhaps.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I think that, you know, if this bears out and this - you know, it turns out to be the case, it certainly would be a positive development because you can't - I can't really imagine them letting them into any area of the school if there was a threat in one part of the campus and not -

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because they would still want to be absolutely sure that there was no threat whatsoever to the students. And if they're letting them back in, that would appear to corroborate what Kate was hearing from her law enforcement source.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And on the phone again, if I can ask, the demeanor of law enforcement - oh, she's already hung up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was just curious if they seem to be in a less tense, you know, stance at this point, which would corroborate the fact that perhaps, you know, the most dangerous of the situation has passed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It sure seems that way from the shots that we've been seeing, that things have settled down somewhat in the last 15 minutes or so.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Although, you know, we still see ambulances there at the scene as well.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Perhaps it's a precaution. And no confirmation of anything about injuries.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But, obviously, as a precaution, you would see, you know, numerous emergency vehicles there, including ambulances.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Obviously a lot of concerned parents. And the question on many of their minds is where to go and what to do. Joe Vee (ph) is at the Cherry Park Safeway. He's joining us by phone right now.

Joe, are you there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I just arrived on scene, guys. Been here about five minutes. And essentially this is where the law enforcement folks are telling parents to come for information. So we've got several groups of parents. I just arrived on scene, like I said. There's actually a group of students that I spoke with that had - they had arrived late to school and so when they arrived the school was already - you know, had been shut down and they were told to come over here. But they said they've spoken to some of their friends about, you know, what happened.

And now, look, the information that they're all given me is secondhand. I've yet to speak with the public information officer. So, I don't necessarily want to repeat kind of -- it's rumors at this point exactly what these kids are saying happened. But they did talk to some of their friends when the incident when this incident occurred.

They weren't necessarily at the, you know, at the spot where anything happened, but, again, they've kind of just been passing information back and forth. And, you know, there's a lot of conflicting reports when stuff like this goes on. But they just spoke - they just - they spoke with some of their friends that were in the school who were fine and - but they were hearing --

BANFIELD: We've been watching some of the coverage from our live affiliate in the Portland area of this school shooting. And you probably just heard someone who was identified as a neighbor giving her account. Someone who lives nearby, giving her account of the last hour, as this school shooting has played out. And it has only been about an hour from the start.

And as we continue to look at the live pictures of the kids with their hands on their heads or hands up as they file throughout that school campus, that neighbor suggested she saw them filing back in to the school. I think it would be a stretch to suggest that with a crime scene kids who are still live and filing along with their hands on their heads would be going back into a school. So I'm not sure that that is accurate information from that neighbor. I'm not sure that she has an eye line. She certainly didn't hear any of the action either. But she told KPTV live on the air just moments ago she thought she saw kids filing back in.

And I want to bring in Tom Fuentes, who's a CNN law enforcement analyst.

Tom, doesn't that strike you as really highly unlikely -

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST (via telephone): Yes.

BANFIELD: That at the very least this would be a crime scene that needs to be processed, that needs to be analyzed, that needs to be swept and cleared.

FUENTES: That's absolutely true, Ashleigh. And I think it's astounding to me that within one hour you would say this is secure and everything's over. I mean it would mean that they're positive that the shooter's been neutralized, either dead or committed suicide or in custody, and that it was the only shooter by himself. And that would be pretty difficult to determine immediately. That it wasn't a group effort, that there weren't fellow students, classmates, colleagues of his, involved in this thing, to be able to declare in one hour that we've completely solved this and the one and only person involved is neutralized and there's no explosives, there's no further danger, everything's finished are pretty -

BANFIELD: Well, I will say this, Tom. Look at the pictures. These - Tom, the pictures are, they've got these kids walking at a slow pace and a very controlled pace outside of this school. If there was still an active situation, which they have said it is not, they've said it's under control, they'd be running and they'd be ducking and they wouldn't have them quietly walking like this. I mean when they say it's under control, police have it under control.

FUENTES: Well, I think once they're out of the building, I don't think they would have them, you know, run for their lives for very far. I mean so if they're out of the building, I think they're pretty confident that they're in a safe situation.

I can't imagine they would think it's safe enough to let them back in the same building because, you're right, it's a crime scene. Has it been swept for other explosives or victims or other shooters or anything that might be pertinent? The last thing you want is hundreds of students trampling around the inside of that school. So I just -- I find that report is probably false. And I just think that they -- the police would keep that secure for a long time while they process the crime scene.

BANFIELD: So, Tom, I have an update on that. In fact, we're just being told by a woman named Patricia Rondema. She's an employee of the Reynolds School District. And I'll remind you that this is Reynolds High School. She is reporting to us that the high school remains on lockdown. And that would indicate there is not a student being let back into that school.

And that they are going to be processing this. That the school is still heavily populated by the police. They are on site. Parents should not come to the school, which is what they've already iterated and reiterated. And that this incident is isolated to the Reynolds High School. So those are coming to us, those statements are coming to us from an employee of Reynolds School District.

And I also just want to let you know that this was scheduled to be the second to last day of school for these kids. Their website say that tomorrow all day is the final day of school, the last day of school for these kids.

I want to bring in Mike Brooks, who's also a CNN enforcement analyst.

It's odd that you would hear a witness, perhaps getting it wrong, suggesting kids are being let back in. But when you hear that, Mike, that the police are on scene, the school remains on lockdown, does that tell you they are still sweeping?

MIKE BROOKS, CNN ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Absolutely. Absolutely. And there's no doubt in my mind that they're still absolutely sweeping the building for everything and taking a look at video surveillance there also, Ashleigh, to see exactly what the movement of the shooter or shooters was. Now, we don't know if there's still an active shooter inside the school or if the shooter has been neutralized or taken into custody, but this is still going to remain a crime scene. We are very --

BANFIELD: Hey, Mike, in your - in your world -

BROOKS: Yes.

BANFIELD: When law enforcement says this thing's under control, this doesn't mean there's an active shooter, does it?

BROOKS: If it -- if they say it's under control, then usually the active shooter has been neutralized or has been taken into custody. But it's still - that still does not end the investigation. You still have an active crime scene there on the scene. You might have duffel bags. You don't know what that shooter or shooters brought in with them.

BANFIELD: Sure. We know in the past that, you know, the Columbine killers booby trapped the place. You have no idea. And we've had myriad different copy-caters and cases that I've covered where there have been these booby traps, bombs and projectiles and explosives, et cetera.

For the last hour and 15 minutes or so, you're looking up on the top left-hand corner of your school, it says Troutdale, Oregon, not far from Portland, Oregon, Reynolds High School, the kids filing out with hands on their head, a familiar set of pictures you've been, sadly, privy to over the last few years of kids who then become victims of a school shooting and ultimately are being evacuated out of the school.

This one apparently involving a semiautomatic weapon, happening during the regular school hours, about 8:00 Pacific time, about an hour and 15 minutes ago. There were classes and students that were in the school and there were injuries we're told from the police department in that area. However, no fatalities, which is the good news. If there's ever a silver lining.

If there's ever a silver lining when we have to report on yet another school shooting, there are no fatalities in this one.

Mark my words, these high school students on their second to last day of school are filing out, hands other head, to these images of SWAT and police officers and heavily armed responders who have locked down their school and the media has descended upon this to find out, yet again, if this will be another awful statistic.

Quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: We are continuing our breaking news. Your live pictures are coming to you courtesy of Troutdale, Oregon, the latest in this school shooting.

I can report to you now that the shooter involved in the shooting is apparently dead. We're just being told now that the situation is under control because the perpetrator has been killed. This happening in Reynolds High School, in the Portland, Oregon, area, Troutdale, Oregon, to be specific, there are dozens upon dozens of heavily armed police members on scene from SWAT to FBI to local sheriffs.

They are heavily armored with vehicles that you would see in the most dire of circumstances. Dozens upon dozens of kids have been filed out of that school in the last hour or 20 minutes or so, hands over their heads, familiar image now.

Every time we bring you a school shooting of the evacs of those kids, they are privy to all of it. They see these armored vehicles, these police officers.

I want to bring in our justice correspondent Evan Perez who's standing by watching this as well. I'm sure you've just been privy to that information as well, Evan, that the shooter has been neutralized. That is a euphemism for dead.

What else do you know?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: This all went down about 8:00 this morning. It's probably at the beginning of the school day. As you mentioned earlier, it looks like the school year is about wrapping up at this school. So it appears there was a report of gunfire. The police have said there was a semiautomatic weapon that was used. We don't know if they've recovered it. We do know the suspected shooter is dead.

The body language of the police that you see in your pictures there on your screen tells us a lot. It tell us they believe there is no further danger to them or to these kids. They wouldn't be filing out. We're talking about just an hour ago, so that's very quick for the scene to be resolved. So we know that they believe the scene is already safe enough for these kids to be out and for the police officers to now be hunched over hiding from a possible second shooter or the shooter himself.

BANFIELD: I have something official now that's just come to us from the Multnomah County sheriff's office. And I'm just going to read it straight up as it's been sent to us.

It's effectively a press release from the sheriff's office, and it says, "At 8:07 this morning, police responded to Reynolds High School on reports of shots fired at the school.

"Multiple agencies responded and tactical teams are currently evacuating students and staff. The situation is stabilized. The shooter is confirmed deceased.

"Parents are asked to unify with their students at the Wood Village Fred Meyer located" -- and it's a local address -- I'll give it to you for the locals who are watching us -- "Northeast 23rd and Northeast (inaudible) Street."

All other people asked to stay away from the area. And here's something indicative of the times we're in. The hash tag the sheriff's office will use is #rhshooting. Again, #rhshooting, for those who want to follow, minute to minute. They're certainly asked not to come to the school.

And that is real tough to do if your kid is one of the kids who have been led out with her hands on her head or with her hands over her head.

It's just, again, a real devastating thing to have to do, day after day, as a network newscaster, to bring you these stories.

We're going to take a quick break. Be back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: I'm Ashleigh Banfield. You're watching CNN's continuing coverage of yet another school shooting, this one coming to us from Oregon, a suburb of Portland, Oregon, called Troutdale.

I want to take you and zoom into the map at Reynolds High School, the scene of the latest incident. I can report to you this, what you see on your screen, the school shooter has been neutralized, in other words, dead. And that is why those heavy police presence has been able to report back to us that the scene is secure.

The kids in that high school are being evacuated on their second last day of school. They are coming out of that high school, streaming out with hands above their heads or hands on their heads.

And what they're coming out to see is this remarkable police presence, tactical team presence, heavy machinery and weaponry, heavy armed vehicles, et cetera. And obviously the looks on their faces really tells it all, doesn't it? All too often we are seeing these images, kids who will never, ever be the same after this.

I want to bring in the mayor of Troutdale, the area where this is actually taking place. Doug Daoust, can you hear me?

MAYOR DOUG DAOUST, TROUTDALE, OREGON (via telephone): Yes, I can.

BANFIELD: Mayor Daoust, I'm not going to suggest for a moment since this is still an active scene, at least because the school is on lockdown and the officers are still inside, it is a safe and secure scene, but is anyone reporting to you any further details of what's happened and what is happening?

DAOUST (via telephone): Well, you've summarized a lot of what I know. I do know that the students are being evacuated, room by room, by the police, since the shooter is confirmed dead. They're evacuating students that were in lockdown, one room at a time.

So you do see students coming out with their hands held high, and we do have a huge police presence in front of the school. There must be police from 10 or 12 different cities and counties surrounding.

BANFIELD: It is remarkable just to see that kind of presence on a -- I suppose we just know the drill now, don't we, because this is no longer a surprise, sad to say, even in a beautiful area.

I've been to your area, it's just -- it's stunning. It's so serene. And it's just unbelievable when these things happen. Do you have any word yet on the injuries? Because early on, we were told that, yes, there were injuries.