One child and two adults are dead and one other student has been hospitalized following a shooting at the North Park Elementary School campus in San Bernardino on Monday, according to multiple media reports.
The shooting occurred just after 10:30am at North Park School. The gunman was among those killed, according to KTLA 5.
Officials are describing the shooting as a “murder suicide” — AP reports that one out of the four shot in a classroom was a teacher.
An eight-year-old male student is among the dead as is Karen Elaine Smith, a 53-year-old teacher at the school. She was shot and killed by her estranged husband 53-year-old Cedric Anderson, who also shot and killed himself, according to local authorities.
Anderson shot his estranged wife, but his bullets also struck students who were standing behind her — one fatally. A nine-year-old girl is in stable condition at a local hospital.
“We believe this to be a murder suicide,” San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan tweeted.
We believe this to be a murder suicide. Happened in a class room. Two students have been transported to the hospital.
— Jarrod Burguan (@RetSBPDChief) April 10, 2017
Students at the school are be taking to cajon high school for safety.
— Jarrod Burguan (@RetSBPDChief) April 10, 2017
San Bernardino has seen a major increase in violence in recent years, per the LA Times. There were 62 slayings in San Bernardino in 2016 (a 41 percent increase from the year before) — marking the deadliest year in the city since 1995.