An 8-year-old student has died after being shot in a San Bernardino classroom during what police describe as a murder-suicide.
The suspected gunman, 53-year-old Cedric Anderson, of Riverside, also fatally shot his wife, 53-year-old Elaine Smith. She was a teacher in the special-needs classroom for students in first through fourth grades where the shooting took place.
Police say Anderson said nothing and opened fire on his wife with a large-calibre revolver.
Police identified the boy who died as Jonathan Martinez. A second 9-year-old boy was wounded and is in stable condition.
WATCH: 3 dead following San Bernardino elementary school shooting
Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said Monday at a news conference that Anderson and Smith had only been married for a few months and estranged for at least a month.
He says “no one has come forward to say they saw this coming.”
Burguan also said Anderson had a criminal history of weapons charges, domestic violence and possible drug charges but didn’t provide details.
“There was no indication the gun was visible upon his arrival at the school,” police Capt. Ron Maass had said earlier.
The 600 other students at the school were bused to safety at California State University’s San Bernardino campus, several miles away. Television news footage showed students, escorted by police officers, walking off campus hand-in-hand.
As word of the shooting spread, panicked parents raced to the school, some in tears, some praying as they anxiously sought information about their children. They were told to go to a nearby high school where they would be reunited.
READ MORE: Sandy Hook school opening to public, 4 years after massacre
Four hours later, the children began to arrive at the high school, getting hugs from emotional parents.
School officials said the school would remain closed for at least two days.
In December 2015, a terror attack left 14 people dead and 22 injured when Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, a husband and wife, opened fire inside a San Bernardino County building. The pair died in a shootout with police.
READ MORE: McGill University preparing students with training video in case of a school shooting
Monday’s shooting was the latest tragedy for a city that has struggled in recent years with more than its share of them. Once a major rail hub and citrus producer, San Bernardino filed for bankruptcy in 2012 after struggling to pay its employees despite steep cuts to the budget.
An outlying suburb of Los Angeles, it was hit hard when the Great Recession sent housing prices tumbling. As the city struggled with economic problems that forced layoffs of police and other government workers, violent crimes, particularly homicide, began to rise.
In the past year, however, the city seemed to be making a recovery. Police Chief Jarrod Burguan, who won national praise for the way his department responded to the 2015 shootings, announced last year he was hiring additional officers.
Comments