A 9-year-old girl in a gray zip-up sweater ran to her mother in tears.

“Mommy, I still have blood on my sweater,” she cried.

Elisabeth Barajaz had reunited with her daughter Marissa after hearing there had been a shooting at her San Bernardino school.

“The boy just walked in with the gun,” said Marissa, a third-grader. “He just shot everywhere. I went under the table and then I saw a teacher run out. So I just ran out. My friend and my teacher, they got shot.”


A gunman had walked into a North Park Elementary School classroom of special needs children Monday morning and opened fire on his wife, a teacher there, and then killed himself, police said. Stray bullets struck two students, who were rushed to a hospital in critical condition. One of them, an 8-year-old boy, died later in the morning.

Word of the shooting set off a panic in a city traumatized by a terror attack just 16 months before. Where the unthinkable had already happened, nerves were triggered for a catastrophe.

Parents wept as they waited for word of their children outside North Park. One woman fell to her knees. A man tried to push through the police line to get inside.

As details emerged, it was clear the shooting was domestic violence, not terrorism — another terrible day in a wave of mayhem that has shaken the city as much as the December 2015 mass shooting and taken many more lives.


1 / 45 North Park student Elijah Beaven attends a candlelight prayer vigil with his mother, Laura Beaven. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 45 North Park Elementary School Principal Yadira Downing is comforted after the candlelight prayer vigil on the school’s playground. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 45 The mood is somber as hundreds of residents, students and faculty attend a prayer vigil on the playground of North Park Elementary. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 45 Adrian Newton of San Bernardino attends a candlelight vigil at North Park Elementary. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 45 Students spend time at a memorial near North Park Elementary after a prayer vigil. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 45 Adrian Newton, 8, of San Bernardino brings a bouquet of flowers to place at a memorial for shooting victims Jonathan Martinez, 8, and Karen Smith the day after the two were shot in a classroom at North Park Elementary School. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 45 Ellie Paez places homemade “Stars of Hope” along the fence at North Park Elementary School. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 45 A young boy pays his respects at a makeshift memorial for the shooting victims at North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 45 Bobbie Haywood, who lives in the neighborhood, stops by to pay respect at a makeshift memorial for the shooting victims at North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 45 Denna Lopez and her 9-year-old son, Raymond Lopez, brings a stuffed animal to place at a makeshift memorial for the shooting victims at North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 45 A sidewalk memorial in front of North Park Elementary on April 11, 2017, a day after a gunman walked into a classroom and opened fire on his wife, a teacher there, also wounded two students, one of whom died, and then killed himself. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 45 Betty Rodriguez hugs her granddaughter Giselle Rodriguez, 11, during a prayer vigil outside Our Lady of Assumption Catholic Church for the victims in the shooting at North Park Elementary School. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 13 / 45 Residents hold a prayer vigil outside Our Lady of Assumption Catholic Church for the victims in the shooting at North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 14 / 45 A child rests his head on his father’s shoulder during a prayer service at Our Lady of Assumption Catholic Church for the victims in the shooting at North Park Elementary School. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 15 / 45 Parents wait to be reunited with their children at Cajon High School after a school shooting at North Park Elementary School. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 45 Children walk in single file to be reunited with parents at Cajon High School after a school shooting at North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times) 17 / 45 A parent and child hug after being reunited hours after a shooting inside North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 18 / 45 Parents are reunited with their children at Cajon High School after a school shooting at North Park Elementary School. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times) 19 / 45 Children high-five on their way to be reunited with parents at Cajon High School after a school shooting at North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times) 20 / 45 Parents are reunited with their chidlren at Cajon High School after a school shooting at North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times) 21 / 45 Parents are reunited with their children at Cajon High School after a school shooting at North Park Elementary School. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times) 22 / 45 Parents are reunited with their children at Cajon High School after a school shooting at North Park Elementary School. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times) 23 / 45 A police officer leads children to be reunited with their parents at Cajon High School after a school shooting at North Park Elementary School. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times) 24 / 45 Parents are reunited with their children at Cajon High School after a school shooting at North Park Elementary School. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times) 25 / 45 Parents are reunited with their children at Cajon High School after a school shooting at North Park Elementary School. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times) 26 / 45 Children high-five on their way to be reunited with parents at Cajon High School after a school shooting at North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times) 27 / 45 Children high-five on their way to be reunited with parents at Cajon High School after a school shooting at North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times) 28 / 45 Parents are reunited with their kids at Cajon High School after a school shooting at North Park Elementary School. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times) 29 / 45 Children high-five on their way to be reunited with parents at Cajon High School after a school shooting at North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times) 30 / 45 Parents are reunited with their children after a shooting inside North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 31 / 45 Parents are reunited with their children at Cajon High School after a school shooting at North Park Elementary School. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times) 32 / 45 Parents are reunited with their children after a shooting inside North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 33 / 45 Children high-five on their way to be reunited with parents at Cajon High School after a school shooting at North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times) 34 / 45 A SWAT officer stands guard with evacuated children on the playground at North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino after a shooting in the school. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 35 / 45 Summer Terrell hugs her daughter Jaylah James, 5, after being reunited with her at Cajon High School hours after a shooting inside North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 36 / 45 Parents are reunited with their children who were evacuated after a shooting inside North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 37 / 45 Children high-five on their way to be reunited with parents at Cajon High School after a school shooting at North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times) 38 / 45 A woman is tended to outside North Park Elementary School. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 39 / 45 San Bernardino police officers help evacuate children to awaiting school buses after a shooting inside North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 40 / 45 Children are led across a playground, holding hands. Students were being evacuated to Cal State San Bernardino’s physical education building. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 41 / 45 Children are evacuated from North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino. Two injured students were airlifted to a local hospital, authorities say. One student later died. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 42 / 45 SWAT officers stand guard with students waiting to be taken to Cal State San Bernardino. Parents were directed to go to Cajon High School, where officials will verify their identity before sending them to the college to pick up their children. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 43 / 45 SWAT officers walk through the playground after a shooting inside North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 44 / 45 Evacuated students and teachers gather on the playground after a shooting inside North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 45 / 45 A San Bernardino police officer puts up crime scene tape after a shooting inside North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Cedric Anderson, 53, of Riverside, entered the school’s front office and checked in, saying he had to drop something off with his estranged wife, Karen Smith, San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said. School officials did not see Anderson’s .357 handgun, Burguan added.

About 10:27 a.m., Anderson walked into Smith’s special education classroom and, without speaking, opened fire, hitting her and two students behind her. Anderson then reloaded and shot himself, Burguan said. Smith, 53, died at the scene. Jonathan Martinez, 8, was airlifted to a hospital and died before entering surgery. A 9-year-old boy was in stable condition at Loma Linda Medical Center on Monday evening.

Burguan said Anderson had a criminal history, including weapons charges and “a domestic violence past” that preceded his relationship with Smith. Los Angeles County Superior Court records show that Anderson was charged in July 2013 with assault and battery, brandishing a firearm and disturbing the peace.


Burguan added that it was “not uncommon” for a person to be able to gain access to a campus to meet his or her spouse. San Bernardino City Unified School District Supt. Dale Marsden said the school’s staff followed entry procedures, including asking Anderson for identification.

Smith’s mother, Irma Sykes, said her daughter and Anderson had been friends for about four years before getting married in January.

But a month after they moved in together, Anderson showed a different side to his personality and Smith “decided she needed to leave him,” Sykes said in a telephone interview.

Sykes declined to provide details of Anderson’s behavior.


She said her daughter pursued a teaching career after raising four children. Smith earned a degree and teaching credentials at Cal State San Bernardino about a decade ago, Sykes said, because she had a passion for helping children with autism and learning disabilities.

Diane Abrams, who worked in the special needs class, said Smith was a “beloved teacher” who “went to bat for every one of her students.”

Abrams remembered Jonathan as an “8-year-old boy full of life. He was so special to teach. … He was curious to learn. He’d say, ‘Ms. Abrams, am I being an all-star?’”


North Park is a magnet school for students in pre-kindergarten through sixth grade who are interested in environmental issues, said Maria Garcia, a school district spokeswoman. Armed security officers are not assigned to any of the district’s elementary schools, Garcia said, but she described security on the North Park campus as “very, very tight.”

“Once the school bell rings, the only way into the campus is through the front office,” she said.

She credited school staff with getting the students outside within minutes of the shooting.

Jaidyn Stanley, 9, was in another classroom when it happened.


“I was in my class and my teacher was teaching us a lesson, and then I heard three gunshots. My teacher told us to get on the ground. Then we started hearing sirens,” the third-grader said.

After about 30 seconds, his teacher told the class to run, following her out an emergency exit. They left their backpacks behind.

“There was a lot of people in my class crying and they were scared,” the boy said. “They thought the shooter was going to come in the classroom.”

Jaidyn said once he and his classmates were outside on a soccer field, they planned to walk to nearby Cajon High School, but he spotted his mother and she scooped him up and took him home.


Other parents desperately tried to get into the school, but officers turned them away.

They watched in terror as police in bulletproof vests walked through basketball courts, helicopters droning overhead.

Sandy Detinne, whose 5-year-old grandson attends the school, was one of them. She was driving by when she saw police racing to the campus.

“I thought, ‘Oh my God! They bombed the school,’” she said.


Mark Coronado, 45, a stay-at-home dad and self-described helicopter parent, heard “way too many sirens.” The first thought that entered his mind was the Inland Regional Center shooting, which left 14 dead in 2015.

His children no longer attended North Park, but he still volunteers there.

He ran to the school and directed confused parents where to go to pick up their kids.

This is a good neighborhood school, he said, with teachers who live nearby.


Still, he said, he always worried about security at the campus. About a year and a half ago, he said, a man tried to bring a knife to the school when trying to pick up his child. He said he confronted the man before the police came and dealt with him.

After the shooting, the children were taken to nearby Cal State San Bernardino and Cajon High School, but parents had trouble finding them.

“We were told to come to Cajon,” said Talia Martin, who was trying to pick up her 9-year-old. “Nobody is here to guide us. It’s a mess.”

Barajaz, whose daughter Marissa was in the classroom, was furious that she could not get any information until the afternoon.


“I don’t know how we’re going to get through this,” she said.

She said she’d have to get counseling for Marissa to help her cope with seeing her teacher killed.

“She was very kind,” Barajaz said of Smith. “She would always tell me how Marissa was doing.”

In the end, she had one haunting question: “How did he get in?”


Times staff writers Joe Mozingo, Sonali Kohli, Benjamin Oreskes, Richard Winton, Matt Hamilton, James Queally and Veronica Rocha contributed to this report.

paloma.esquivel@latimes.com

laura.nelson@latimes.com

maya.lau@latimes.com


hailey.branson@latimes.com

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