Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek discusses Bend elementary school shooting

Channel: CBS News

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] News out of Bend, Oregon, where we're

[0:02] learning more incredibly disturbing

[0:04] details about the shooting that left

[0:05] three little children and one teacher

[0:07] dead yesterday. Police have cons

[0:09] confirmed that the suspect was

[0:11] 16-year-old Griffin John II. They say

[0:14] when they arrived on the scene, they

[0:16] found a Maverick 88 pumpaction 12 gauge

[0:19] shotgun near the suspect and a backpack.

[0:22] In the press conference that happened

[0:23] just a little earlier today, the school

[0:25] superintendent says they just had a

[0:27] drill for this two weeks ago.

[0:30] So the the we use the I love you guys uh

[0:34] uh standard response protocol and uh we

[0:36] practice lockdown drills. Every school

[0:38] practices lockdown drills twice a year.

[0:41] We coordinate those typically with our

[0:43] uh SRO's. Um and so we have law

[0:45] enforcement on site especially when we

[0:47] do the first one. The first one is

[0:48] typically in every school scheduled

[0:51] during the first 30 days of school. And

[0:53] in this case, Silver Rail had theirs uh

[0:55] about two weeks ago and four of our

[0:57] SRO's were present.

[1:00] >> Oregon Governor Tina Cotch joins us live

[1:02] now. Governor, before we get into

[1:04] anything, I just want to offer my

[1:06] condolences to you, to the entire state,

[1:08] to all of these families. This is just

[1:10] so disturbing. Um are there updates that

[1:13] you can share with us since that press

[1:14] conference wrapped up just a little

[1:16] while ago?

[1:18] >> Well, thank you Sarah for your well

[1:20] wishes. This is a really hard time for

[1:22] my state. Um when any part of our state

[1:24] hurts, uh we all hurt. And I was in Bend

[1:27] yesterday. I got there as soon as I

[1:29] could. And

[1:31] um just a horrible situation for

[1:34] everyone. You know, yesterday morning, a

[1:35] beautiful fall day here in this our

[1:37] beautiful state. Parents sent their kids

[1:40] to school, expected them to come home

[1:42] and they did not. And um when I was in

[1:45] the community yesterday um I attended

[1:48] the vigil, attended a press conference.

[1:50] very proud of the way um everyone

[1:55] responded to a really difficult

[1:57] situation uh professionally um taking

[2:00] care of the families and um as you know

[2:02] this is an evolving situation and um I

[2:05] can tell you that

[2:07] >> in a town of about a 100,000 people

[2:09] everybody knows people right and they're

[2:12] they know people who have been affected

[2:13] and the whole the whole town is still

[2:16] reeling and my job as governor is to

[2:18] make sure they have what they need but

[2:19] this

[2:20] No community should have to go through

[2:21] this.

[2:22] >> Certainly not. Um, every time something

[2:25] like this happens, there's this

[2:27] conversation that happens shortly after

[2:29] about how can we fix this? I I know just

[2:31] regular American citizens feel such a

[2:33] frustration that nothing seems to

[2:35] change. Um, what can we do, do you

[2:38] think, in your state, I know things

[2:40] might must happen at the federal level

[2:42] as well, but what do you think your

[2:44] state can do to prevent something like

[2:46] this from happening again?

[2:48] Yeah. Well, that this should not be

[2:50] inevitable and I believe it should not

[2:52] be inevitable that these things happen.

[2:55] And we know this year there have been

[2:57] 100 plus incidents around gun violence

[3:00] in our schools. But right now, I would

[3:03] say we're in disaster response mode for

[3:05] our community. This this first 72 hours,

[3:08] it's even it's only been a little over

[3:09] 24 hours since the shooting. And so, I'm

[3:12] focused right now taking care of folks.

[3:15] uh my state agencies are mobilized as we

[3:17] would in a disaster. We have crisis uh

[3:20] response centers set up uh in the

[3:22] community. Um we have students today who

[3:25] weren't in school and needed a place to

[3:28] go and I am super proud of the folks in

[3:30] Bend. Uh I've been reading online places

[3:32] are like we're going to set up a place

[3:34] for you to bring your kids so they can

[3:35] color and draw and somewhere to go today

[3:38] that is safe and friendly. Um, again, we

[3:41] should not have this in the United

[3:42] States of America, but right now, I'm

[3:44] taking care of our communities. Um,

[3:46] there will be plenty of time to talk

[3:47] about how we could do more for our

[3:49] prevention and intervention. And that is

[3:52] a public policy conversation we will

[3:54] always have um after something like

[3:56] this. And I have led on those issues uh

[3:58] in the legislature as governor. But

[4:00] right now, I am focused on what people

[4:02] need just to get through the day. Mhm.

[4:05] Uh, and I'm sure people are going to

[4:07] need not only just the the health care

[4:09] that the injured need, but mental health

[4:12] support after something as traumatic as

[4:14] this. I I want to ask you sort of

[4:16] zooming out a little bit. We heard

[4:18] something from the news conference that

[4:19] was very interesting because as a parent

[4:21] in another state, these drills have

[4:24] become a part of our children's lives

[4:26] and they play an important role. We

[4:28] heard that that school just weeks ago

[4:30] conducted their own drill. Is that

[4:32] something that you may also review to

[4:34] see if there's some another step that

[4:36] you could go to to make sure they're

[4:38] more comprehensive or or function at a

[4:40] higher level if that's even possible?

[4:43] Well, as as you heard, um the school

[4:45] district and local law enforcement had

[4:47] done their required bienial trainings

[4:50] and so um you could see that training

[4:53] yesterday um when they went through the

[4:56] reunification protocol um where they uh

[5:00] got the students to a safe place and

[5:03] then there's a very organized process to

[5:05] reunite children with their parents.

[5:07] When we were doing the 5:30 press

[5:09] conference yesterday, there were still

[5:11] parents who had not yet been reunited

[5:13] with their kids. That's we were right in

[5:15] the midst of it. I will say that again,

[5:17] we have a school district that was well

[5:20] trained. We have local law enforcement

[5:22] well trained. We also have a school

[5:24] building that is very modern. So, this

[5:27] isn't about the building or the response

[5:29] at the end of the day. It's what

[5:31] happened here. What can we do? And this

[5:34] does come back the to the have the

[5:35] ability for a young person to have

[5:38] access to a gun and the dire

[5:41] consequences that have resulted.

[5:42] >> And I do want to ask you that and I I

[5:44] hear what you're saying because I

[5:45] understand that the focus, you know, has

[5:47] to be the victims and their families

[5:49] right now. And and we we do want to

[5:50] respect that, but we also have to ask

[5:52] some of these questions and they're

[5:53] difficult, but access to guns is a part

[5:58] of this. And uh we've seen unfortunately

[6:00] in other school shootings that parents

[6:02] have uh been involved in this and have

[6:04] actually faced consequences for either

[6:06] allowing uh their child to have access

[6:09] to a firearm or or simply not really

[6:11] preventing uh one of these tragedies

[6:14] from happening uh precedent setting

[6:16] cases. Is that something you think is

[6:18] possible for your state and law

[6:21] enforcement to look into in this case?

[6:24] Well, I know that this is an active open

[6:27] investigation uh and looking at the

[6:29] situation of how um the young person got

[6:33] access to the gun. So, we'll learn more

[6:35] about that and certainly if there's

[6:36] anything we can do differently, we

[6:38] should explore it. Um I supported our

[6:41] current statutes around safe storage in

[6:43] the home and if those have to be

[6:45] improved, we should look at it.

[6:46] Governor, finally, I just want to ask um

[6:49] for those who were affected by this and

[6:52] you know, I understand this is a small

[6:53] town, but really the world is so

[6:55] connected. I've seen people in the

[6:56] comments of social media saying it was a

[6:58] cousin uh who was involved or a friend

[7:01] and and really just the seven degrees of

[7:03] separation. The story has touched so

[7:05] many people. Uh can you tell us what

[7:08] both your office is doing and

[7:10] authorities are doing to give this

[7:11] community the support that they need

[7:14] after this?

[7:16] Well, again, right now we're in

[7:17] emergency management protocols to deal

[7:19] with the immediate aftermath, but this

[7:21] will be a process. Um, and we will I

[7:24] will stand with this community to give

[7:26] them everything they need. That will be

[7:28] mental health supports. It will be, you

[7:30] know, how do we get students back into

[7:32] this school. It's going to take a while.

[7:34] So, there's, you know, our department of

[7:35] education, our health authority,

[7:37] everyone is focused on making sure the

[7:39] community has what it needs. You know, I

[7:42] have been to this elementary school. I

[7:43] was there about almost a year ago. I was

[7:46] there because we were doing a phone bank

[7:48] to call parents to thank them and

[7:51] congratulate them because their students

[7:52] have been showing up into the classroom.

[7:55] This is an amazing elementary school

[7:56] that has been shattered by all this. My

[7:59] number one focus will be bringing a

[8:01] sense of safety and security back to

[8:03] those kids and their parents because

[8:04] they deserve that.

[8:05] >> They 100% deserve that. and uh also the

[8:08] teacher who lost her life and the

[8:11] heroics of the other teachers who were

[8:13] ready to protect their students as

[8:15] they've told us. Uh just really really

[8:17] um deeply sorry for everything that your

[8:20] state and the community of Bend is going

[8:21] through. Governor, thank you so much for

[8:23] spending part of the your very busy day

[8:25] with us today. Thank you sir.