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The Student News Site of San Francisco State University

Golden Gate Xpress

The Student News Site of San Francisco State University

Golden Gate Xpress

School shooting in San Bernardino

San+Bernardino+police+chief+tweets+about+shooting.
San Bernardino police chief tweets about shooting.

A school shooting in San Bernardino Monday ended with two adults and one student dead, confirmed San Bernardino police chief. The shooting took place a short distance away from the location of the 2015 attack.

Police Chief Jarrod Burguan tweeted that the classroom shooting at North Park Elementary School is believed to be a murder-suicide.

“We do believe the threat is down,” Burguan tweeted.

The Associated Press reported that the shooting is believed to be a domestic dispute, involving an estranged couple, one of which was a teacher at the school. The shooter, 53 year-old Cedric Anderson, died of a self-inflicted gunshot after shooting the teacher, 53 year-old Karen Elaine Smith, San Bernardino Police Lt. Michael Madden said in a press conference following the attack.

Two children were struck and airlifted to a local hospital. Jonathan Martinez, 8, died at Loma Linda University Medical Center soon after. The other student is still in critical condition, according to a hospital statement.

The children were not targets, said Burguan.

“This is a tragic incident that has befallen our city,” Madden said.

There were two casualties from today’s shooting unlike the 2015 mass shooting, which killed 14 people and sparked major gun control debates, a long-standing controversial topic among Americans.

Stances on firearm regulations vary depending on the president currently holding office. President Donald Trump, who was endorsed by the National Rifle Association in May, reversed a regulation in February that restricted the sale of guns to people with mental illness.

Trump was applauded for respecting the rights of gun owners by the NRA.

“We are pleased that this example of government overreach will no longer be pursued,” said Chris Cox, executive director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action.

“No single law — no set of laws can eliminate evil from the world, or prevent every senseless act of violence in our society,” President Obama said following the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school in 2013. “But that can’t be an excuse for inaction.”

Although pro-gun control activists fought for stricter regulations, they argued Obama’s regulation further stigmatized mental illness.

“A large majority of people with mental disorders will never engage in violence against others,” said the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence on their website.

The now-nullified regulation was Obama’s response to the shooting at Sandy Hook and would have added an estimated 75,000 names to the background check database, according to the Obama administration.

Today’s incident marks the 220th school shooting since the shooting at Sandy Hook in 2013, according to Everytown for Gun Safety.

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    Harold A. MaioApr 11, 2017 at 4:52 pm

    —-they argued Obama’s regulation further stigmatized mental illness.

    I am curious about your use of the term “stigmatized”. How did you happen upon it? Could you offer some more concrete terms?

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School shooting in San Bernardino