Monday, April 10, a teacher and a student were shot dead and another child was critically wounded by a gunman, who then shot himself in a murder-suicide at an elementary school in San Bernardino, California.   

According to USA Today, the gunman was identified as, 53 year old Cedric Charles Anderson. He burst into a special needs classroom at North Park Elementary School, armed with a .357 revolver and fatally shot his wife 53 year old, Karen Elaine Smith. Two children were struck by gunfire behind Smith in the apparent murder-suicide shooting.

Anderson reloaded his handgun and used the last round to take his own life.

One of the children who was standing behind Smith was identified as, 8-year-old Jonathan Martinez by San Bernardino police. He was taken to Loma Linda University Medical Center via helicopter where he later died.

The second student, a 9-year-old whose identity has not been made public, He was in stable condition at the hospital.

The school has about 600 kindergarten through sixth grade students, The school was placed on lockdown as law enforcement and first responders swarmed the school.  A video showed lines of students walking across the school fields and basketball courts as authorities evacuated the building. Parents gathered outside the elementary school waiting to pick up their children and get updates on the shooting.

“This is a tragedy, especially for young students, but school officials and law enforcement acted quickly to deal with the event. As we grieve for those who died or were injured, this is also a time to remind all California public schools to make sure they annually update their mandatory school safety plans,” said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson in a statement released after the shooting.

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos also issued a statement saying, “My heart and prayers go out to the victims of this horrible act and to all students and members of the North Park Elementary School community. I want to thank the first responders, teachers and school administrators who were there to protect the students in harm’s way. As a mother and grandmother, today’s senseless violence is a tragedy no parent should ever have to face. I ask everyone to join me in keeping all the victims and those impacted in your prayers.”

North Park Elementary School is about 10 miles from the Inland Regional Center, where 14 people were killed and 22 wounded in a December 2015 terror attack carried out by a husband and wife.