911 tapes in US school shooting released

San Bernardino police have released tapes of a 911 call when a man shot his estranged wife in a classroom, killing her and a pupil and wounding another.

Police in California have released portions of an emergency call from the shooting at a primary school that killed a special-education teacher and her pupil as a boy wounded in the incident left hospital.

A panicked 911 caller immediately identified a teacher's husband as the man who opened fire at the San Bernardino elementary school and told the dispatcher that she had locked herself in the office.

In one of the short tapes, a caller says a teacher had been shot by her husband and describes his clothing.

"I'm scared," the caller says before the tape cuts out.

Cedric Anderson walked into his estranged wife's classroom at North Park Elementary on Monday and fired 10 rounds from a .357 Magnum before turning the gun on himself, authorities said.

He targeted Karen Smith but also struck two of her students: eight-year-old Jonathan Martinez, who died, and nine-year-old Nolan Brandy.

Anderson had accused Smith of infidelity just weeks into their marriage, prompting her to move out of their home, San Bernardino police chief Jarrod Burguan said.

Police have said there was no evidence of unfaithfulness. When Anderson failed to win her back, he killed her, Burguan said.

Smith told family members that Anderson had threatened her after she moved out last month, but she didn't take him seriously and thought he was just seeking attention, the police chief said.

The young victim, Martinez, had previously survived heart surgery and had Williams syndrome, a rare genetic disorder characterised by learning delays, mild-to-moderate intellectual disabilities and heart problems.

School officials said he was a happy child who loved music and playing with friends.

Briana Pastorino, a spokeswoman for Loma Linda University Hospital, said Nolan was released on Friday.

Nolan was "recovering better than we expected", his parents said in a CNN interview on Friday.

"He's in really good spirits, he's upbeat," father Leon Brandy said.

The boy was shot in the torso, but the bullet missed all of his vital organs, said Maria Garcia, a San Bernardino schools spokeswoman.

The school is expected to reopen Monday.


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Source: AAP


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