Community Mourns Loss Of Boy, Teacher In San Bernardino School Shooting

SAN BERNARDINO, CA — As the nation mourns once again for the Southern California community of San Bernardino after a deadly classroom shooting, the young students of North Park Elementary school are home with their families for the next several days. Classes are canceled, and those affected are being offered grief counseling.

The tragic scene unfolded just before 10:30 a.m. Monday, when 53-year-old Cedric Anderson of Riverside walked into the special needs classroom where his estranged wife, 53-year-old Karen Elaine Smith, was instructing 15 students in grades one through four, according to San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan. By the time he was done unloading a full revolver in the classroom — and reloading one time — police say two young children were also struck by gunfire. One of them died a short time later, as did Smith.

Eight-year-old Jonathan Martinez died shortly after being airlifted to Loma Linda Hospital, according to Burguan.

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The other student, identified only as a 9-year-old boy, was shot in the upper body area but his condition was improving as of Tuesday.

"The last report we had was that he was in, all things considered, relatively good spirits," Burguan said Tuesday.

Burguan said that Anderson and Smith had only been married a few months — at least a month of which they'd been estranged. Smith leaves behind four adult children. Burguan said that Anderson had apparently been trying to get Smith to return to their home recently, but "she was resistant to that."

"Those closest to her said that she had mentioned that his behavior was odd and that she was concerned about his behavior," he said at a press conference on Tuesday. "He had made some threats towards her, but he had not made a specific threat to shoot her... We're also told from the family that she didn't necessarily take those threats seriously; she thought that he was reaching out for attention."

While North Park Elementary will be closed until Monday, all other schools in San Bernardino Unified School District were in session on Tuesday.

At 7 p.m. Tuesday, a candlelight vigil was slated at North Park Elementary in memory of the victims.

In 2015, 14 people were killed and 17 others wounded in a shooting at a center for the disabled in San Bernardino. The two suspects, 28-year-old Syed Rizwan Farook, and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, 27, were later killed in a shootout with police.

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• San Bernardino School Shooting: Young Special Needs Student, Teacher Among Dead

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