A man walked into a school in southern California Monday (10 April) and shot dead his estranged wife in front of her students, killing an eight-year-old boy in the crossfire before turning his gun on himself.
Police said local resident Cedric Anderson had checked into the office as a visitor after entering the campus in the city of San Bernardino and going to a classroom, where he opened fire on Karen Elaine Smith, 53, as she was teaching.
Officers said Anderson, also 53, had only targeted Smith but two students were caught in the crossfire and one of them, Jonathan Martinez, died later in hospital.
“This does appear to have been a murder-suicide with both male adult and female adult victim succumbing to injuries, with the male succumbing to a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” Lieutenant Mike Madden of the San Bernardino Police Department told a news conference.
Police said initially the two wounded students had been listed as critical but later confirmed Martinez’s death.
Students at North Park Elementary School—which has around 500 students between kindergarten and sixth grade—were transported to a nearby campus, where they were “being well cared for, having snacks, playing games and watching a Disney movie,” the police department tweeted.
