[Breaking news update 6:48 p.m.]
Jonathan Martinez, 8, one of two students hit by gunfire, has died after a shooting at North Park Elementary School in San Bernadino, California, San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said.
The shooter was identified as Cedric Anderson, 53 of Riverside, Burguan said. Anderson later took his life, police said.
Anderson entered a special needs classroom and opened fire, killing his wife, Karen Elaine Smith, also 53, Burguan said.
[Previous story published at 6 p.m.]
Two adults died in a shooting Monday in a classroom at San Bernardino, California’s North Park Elementary School, in what is believed to be a murder-suicide, San Bernardino police said.
A female victim was killed and a male died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, San Bernardino Police Lt. Michael Madden told reporters. The relationship between the man and the woman is unknown at this time.
Two students were also injured, and are listed in critical condition at area hospitals, Madden said.
The names and ages of the students are not being released, pending notification of family.
Police do not believe the two children were targeted; they happened to be near the female adult in what may have been a multigrade classroom.
“This is a tragic incident that has befallen our city,” Madden said.
Madden said police received reports of the shooting at the school shortly before 10:30 a.m., and officers responded within minutes.
San Bernardino Police Capt. Ron Maass, the incident commander, said the suspect had gone to the classroom to visit the female victim, who was an instructor. There is no indication the suspect’s handgun was visible when he entered the school, Maass said.
The man signed in at the front office before going to the classroom, according to Maass. He said he believed the suspect was known to the front office.
The San Bernardino County Coroner is working to identify the two deceased victims.
“Far too often in our country and throughout the world, we gather to report this news of tragic events that take place,” San Bernardino Mayor R. Carey Davis said.
The San Bernardino City Unified School District said the students were evacuated to nearby Cajon High School to be reunited with parents. CNN affiliate KABC showed footage of school buses that were being used to take students to Cajon High.
Frantic parents rushed to North Park Elementary. Brad Hendran told CNN affiliate KABC he was looking for his daughter, who is in the second grade.
“I fell to my knees and started saying our father and hail Mary’s. … I’m gonna hug her. … I’m gonna hug her. I hope she is OK,” Hendran said.
One father, who wasn’t identified by the CNN affiliate, stood behind police tape, looking for one of his sons. He said his two boys are in second grade and fifth grade.
“I see one of my boys, but not the smallest one,” he said tearfully. His eldest son had just gotten on a bus, he said.
He was at work when he heard about the shooting from the boys’ mom, who works for the school district.
District Superintendent Dale Marsden said North Park Elementary would be closed for at least the next two days.
“I would like our community and our nation to keep our families in prayer,” he said.
