Panicked, confused parents await word on their children after San Bernardino school shooting
Seconds after his sister called him about a school shooting, David Zamudio started racing toward San Bernardino’s North Park Elementary School.
Zamudio, whose 6-year-old daughter is in second grade at the school, quickly found himself among a throng of panicked parents outside the building trying to determine if their children were safe, and where they could pick them up on Monday morning.
“I came because they said it was safer, more isolated. But I guess it’s not that way,” said Zamudio, who recently moved to the area from Highland.
Two people were killed and two students were injured after gunfire erupted inside a classroom about 10:30 a.m. Monday, San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said on Twitter. Police do not believe there is an active shooter on scene, and have described the incident as a “murder-suicide.” Maria Garcia, a spokeswoman for the city school district, said the shooter was an “adult male” and that the attack stemmed from an incident of domestic violence against his wife or girlfriend.
The two injured students were likely shot because they were near the teacher who was fatally shot, said Capt. Ron Maass of the San Bernardino Police Department.
“The entire incident was limited to a single classroom,” he said.
The students were airlifted to a local hospital, according to a school spokeswoman who spoke to KTLA-TV Channel 5 live on air.
At North Park, students could be seen gathered on a field at a corner of the campus near Northpark Boulevard and H Street at about 11:40 a.m., accompanied by teachers and guarded by law enforcement officers carrying long guns. Police officers in bulletproof vests could be seen walking through the school yard and basketball courts, as helicopters flew overhead.
Initially, some parents at the scene said there was confusion Monday morning over where to collect their children as information circulated that they should be picked up at either Cajon High School or Cal State San Bernardino. But their frustration melted to relief as many of the students were released around 2:30 p.m.
“It’s bittersweet. We’re happy that she’s OK but know that others weren’t as lucky,” said Ivory Skidmore, as she held the hand of her 5-year-old daughter outside of the high school. “It’s tough. It’s our community that’s hurt.”
August Brinkley, 50, was at her mother’s house across the street on Northpark Boulevard when, at 10:20 a.m., she heard police car after police car rushing by. She stepped outside and saw cruisers pulling up to the entrance to the school.
“When I saw the SWAT team — oh my God,” she said.
Parents soon started rushing the building, trying to get inside to check on their children, she said. Police turned them away, saying it would be safer to wait outside, leaving each to wait on the sidewalk with frayed nerves.
“There were a lot of tears,” Brinkley said. “It was panic city.”
Tyler Sykes left home Monday morning to go to school when he saw a line of police cars drive past with their lights on. He thought nothing of it until he reached Northpark Boulevard, about a mile from his home.
“We were just on the way to school and the street I usually take, it was blocked up,” said Sykes, a Cajon High School senior. “There was just cops everywhere, fire trucks, ambulance.”
Around 10:50 a.m. Sykes and his friend saw a helicopter on the school’s field as well as parents crying and unsure about how to get their children.
“It was sad, too, seeing the parents. Because the parents...weren’t getting more information,” said Sykes, 18.
One man tried to break through the police tape, but an officer stopped him. Sykes said the man then hugged the officer instead of trying to push his way through.
“The cop just hugged him back,” he said.
Sykes and his friends stayed at North Park for about an hour before they decided to try to get to class at Cajon, he said.
“I was just thinking it’s crazy, to be honest,” Sykes said. “I feel like the city’s just getting like worse and worse. That could have easily been Cajon High School that I go to.”
Students from the elementary school are being evacuated to Cal State San Bernardino’s physical education building, where they can access bathrooms and water, according to Joe Gutierrez, a university spokesman.
Parents need to first go to Cajon High School, where officials will verify their identity, before sending them to Cal State San Bernardino to pick up their children, Gutierrez said.
There was a brief “shelter in place” warning at the university that was lifted about 11:45 a.m. Monday, he said.
Outside Cajon High School, 42-year-old Teresa Lisa said she spent several anxious minutes waiting to hear that her two grandchildren, who both attend North Park, were safe. Her son also raced to Cal State San Bernardino and made his way inside the gym, where he found the children unharmed.
“I panicked and I booked it here,” she said. “They live with me four days a week. I’m glad they are OK.”
North Park Elementary teaches more than 500 students between kindergarten and sixth grade, mostly from low-income Latino families.
At other area schools, the day continued as normally as it could after students began to hear reports of the shooting.
San Gorgonio High School math teacher Patrick Kahler said he received emails from school district officials about the incident, and some students found out on social media. Kahler said his students did not appear shocked by the reports of gunfire and violence.
“It’s not, ‘Oh my gosh,’” he said. “It’s like students are now becoming jaded to it, which is really sad.”
San Bernardino has a lot of problems, Brinkley said, but she always thought the school was safe. She remains weary of the violence that plagues the city, but said residents are resilient.
“We’ve survived all sorts of things in San Bernardino,” she said. “We’ll survive this as a community.”
Los Angeles Times Staff Writers James Queally and Maya Lau contributed to this report.
Twitter: @palomaesquivel, @sonali_kohli, @haileybranson, @boreskes
UPDATES:
1:45 p.m.: This story was updated with comments from a high school student at the shooting scene.
1:05 p.m.: This story was updated with comments from additional parents at the shooting scene and at nearby Cajon High School.
12:40 p.m.: This story was updated with a comment from a teacher and from a parent.
This story was first published at 12:10 p.m.
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