8-year-old dead after being shot at San Bernardino elementary school

A family reunites after the shooting in San Bernardino.
(Image credit: David McNew/Getty Images)

An 8-year-old student and his teacher were shot and killed when the teacher's estranged husband entered her classroom at North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino, California, Monday morning and opened fire.

San Bernardino Police say Cedric Anderson, 53, checked in with school authorities under the guise of having to drop something off for Karen Smith, 53. He entered her special needs classroom with a large-caliber revolver and opened fire without saying a word, police said, before he turned the gun on himself.

Two students were standing behind Smith when she was shot and were hit by gunfire; both students were rushed to local hospitals, and police say Jonathan Martinez, 8, died before he was able to undergo surgery. A 9-year-old student remains hospitalized. San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said there were 15 students from the first through fourth grades in the classroom, as well as two adult aides. He also said Anderson and Smith had been married for just a few months.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.