Three people have been killed and one more injured in a school shooting incident in Southern California’s San Bernardino.
The incident took place on Monday at the North Park Elementary School when a man fatally shot a female teacher, later identified as his wife, and injured two children before taking his own life.
One of the injured children succumbed to her injuries in the hospital and the other is in a critical condition.
"This does appear to have been a murder-suicide with both male adult and female adult victim succumbing to injuries, with the male succumbing to a self-inflicted gunshot wound," said Lieutenant Mike Madden of the San Bernardino Police Department.
The attacker has been identified as Cedric Anderson, and his wife as Karen Elaine Smith, both 53. Reportedly, they had been married briefly and had been separated for about a month and a half before the incident.
Some 15 pupils were in the classroom along with two adult teacher assistants when the gunmen entered. Anderson gained access to the classroom by telling the school he was just going to “drop something off with his wife."
Police have noted that they believe the children were not the target of the gunman and were injured due to their proximity to the murdered woman.
Following the incident, students were evacuated to another school.
San Bernardino was as the scene of a shooting rampage on December 2, 2015, when a married couple went on a shooting spree, killing 14 people and injured 21 more.
Tashfeen Malik, 27, and her husband Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, stormed a holiday party in San Bernardino, killing at least 14 people and injuring 21 others. Hours later, the couple died in a fire exchange with police. The Daesh Takfiri terrorist group claimed responsibility for the mass killing, declaring the couple as its followers.