Police in San Bernardino, California, are seeking more clues to the marital discord they believe led a gunman to walk into an elementary school class taught by his estranged wife and open fire, fatally shooting her and a student before killing himself.
Monday's shooting at North Park Elementary, the latest of dozens of US schools traumatised by armed intruders in recent years, left a second child badly wounded and reopened a debate about what educators can do to safeguard students against gun violence.
The gunman in the North Park shooting was identified as Cedric Anderson, 53, who according to police had a criminal history that included weapons charges and domestic violence that predated his brief marriage to the slain teacher, Karen Elaine Smith, also 53.
Her mother, Irma Sykes, told the Los Angeles Times the couple had been friends for four years before they married in January and that her daughter "decided she needed to leave him" after just a month.
The two students hit by gunfire happened to have been standing behind Smith and were believed to have been unintentional victims, Police Chief Jarrod Burguan told reporters on Monday.
One eight-year-old boy, Jonathan Martinez, died from his wounds. A nine-year-old classmate who was not publicly identified was admitted to a hospital, where he was said to be in stable condition.
Fifteen students and two adult teacher assistants were in the classroom at the time of the shooting, police said.
Police said Anderson was welcomed into the school as a legitimate visitor who stopped by to "drop something off with his wife," Burguan said. He kept his weapon concealed until opening fire in the classroom without saying a word, then reloaded and shot himself to death.
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