Karen Elaine Smith was an American school teacher at North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino, California. She taught Special Education. ^[1]

Karen Smith was a Special Education teacher at North Park Elementary. She took up teaching about 10 years before her death after her four children grew up. She followed in the footsteps of her mother, Irma Sykes, who taught for 41 years.

She taught students from first to fourth grade.

She was the estranged wife of Cedric Charles Anderson. They had only been together for a few months. According to her mother, Karen Smith and Cedric had been together for four years before they were married.

On April 10, 2017, Smith was killed in a murder-suicide incident that occurred at North Park Elementary School. ^[1]

Her estranged husband, Cedric Charles Anderson entered the Elementary School at about 10:25 a.m. local time, signing in at the front desk to visit Smith with a concealed handgun. ^[1]

He was allowed entry to the school and went to her mixed-grade classroom where he opened fire on her and two children standing near her before turning the gun on himself. ^[1]

San Bernardino Police found him and Smith both shot dead in the classroom. The two unidentified children were taken to a local hospital in critical condition. ^[1] One of them, an 8-year-old boy named Jonathan Martinez, was also killed in the shooting. ^[1]9-year-old Nolan Brandy is the only child who got shot during the incident and survived.