Karen Smith tied the knot in January with a man she had known for years.
A pastor her own age with a military background, Cedric Anderson seemed like a man of faith with whom she could share the next chapter of her life.
But after they wed and he moved into her Riverside home, another side of her new husband emerged.
Police say Anderson, 53, had previous domestic violence allegations against him, but it’s unclear what Smith experienced. Her mother said it was enough to break up with him and pursue divorce.
On Monday, the tumult of their brief marriage burst into a San Bernardino elementary school. Anderson walked into Smith’s special-needs classroom and opened fire, fatally wounding her before turning the gun on himself, police said. One of Smith’s students, an 8-year-old boy, was also struck by the gunfire and died. A second child was injured.
The violence has devastated Smith’s friends, family and colleagues. It has also exposed a troubled relationship between Anderson and Smith — two people with very different pasts who had once seemed so in love.
“She thought she had a wonderful husband, but she found out he was not wonderful at all,” said Smith’s mother, Irma Sykes. “He had other motives. She left him and that’s where the trouble began.”
At North Park Elementary School, Smith, 53, was known as a caring educator with a special affinity for working with children with learning disabilities. To her classroom, she brought the wisdom and patience of raising four children of her own, who are all now adults.
For some parents, Smith seemed like a miracle worker. Rachel Valles said Smith was persistent in helping her son, Ethan, improve his reading. At the start of the school year, he could read only basic words, but now gets excited by learning new vocabulary.
“She did so much for him,” Valles said. “I would ask her, ‘How do you do it?’ ”
Substitute teacher Diane Abrams said Smith “dedicated her life to her students.”
Smith, who spent most of her life in the Harbor City section of Los Angeles, had pursued a teaching career much later than other educators, earning a degree and her credentials about a decade ago, according to her mother.
She wanted to help children with autism and learning disabilities, taking after her mother, who was a teacher for 41 years.
As her career bloomed, Smith also ended her first marriage, after 21 years, in 2009, according to court records. At some point around 2013, she met Anderson.
A maintenance technician who spent at least eight years in the military, Anderson had lived around Atlanta, Las Vegas and towns across Southern California.
At some point in the late 1990s or early 2000s, Anderson participated in an expose by an NBC affiliate in Las Vegas about housing fees at Nellis Air Force Base, according to a copy of the segment that Anderson appears to have published on YouTube. The report said Anderson had been in the Navy for eight years and was married to a 19-year Air Force veteran who had been deployed to Pakistan.
He had at least one son, about whom he spoke proudly on social media.
Najee Ali, a community activist in Los Angeles and executive director of Project Islamic Hope, said he knew Anderson as a pastor who attended community meetings.
“He was a deeply religious man,” Ali said of Anderson, who sometimes preached on the radio and joined community events. “There was never any signs of this kind of violence … on his Facebook he even criticized a man for attacking a woman.”
His effect on Smith was obvious. One neighbor along Mt. Wasatch Drive in Riverside, who declined to be identified, recalled Smith becoming more outgoing and cheerful — a noticeable change from years past.
They seemed to be happy, the neighbor said, and once were overheard praying together, but never fighting.
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North Park student Elijah Beaven attends a candlelight prayer vigil with his mother, Laura Beaven.
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North Park Elementary School Principal Yadira Downing is comforted after the candlelight prayer vigil on the school’s playground.
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The mood is somber as hundreds of residents, students and faculty attend a prayer vigil on the playground of North Park Elementary.
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Adrian Newton of San Bernardino attends a candlelight vigil at North Park Elementary.
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Students spend time at a memorial near North Park Elementary after a prayer vigil.
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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.
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Ellie Paez places homemade “Stars of Hope” along the fence at North Park Elementary School.
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A young boy pays his respects at a makeshift memorial for the shooting victims at North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Parents wait to be reunited with their children at Cajon High School after a school shooting at North Park Elementary School.
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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.
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A parent and child hug after being reunited hours after a shooting inside North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino.
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Parents are reunited with their children at Cajon High School after a school shooting at North Park Elementary School.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Parents are reunited with their children after a shooting inside North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino.
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Parents are reunited with their children at Cajon High School after a school shooting at North Park Elementary School.
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Parents are reunited with their children after a shooting inside North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Parents are reunited with their children who were evacuated after a shooting inside North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino.
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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.
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A woman is tended to outside North Park Elementary School.
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San Bernardino police officers help evacuate children to awaiting school buses after a shooting inside North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino.
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Children are led across a playground, holding hands. Students were being evacuated to Cal State San Bernardino’s physical education building.
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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.
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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.
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SWAT officers walk through the playground after a shooting inside North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino.
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Evacuated students and teachers gather on the playground after a shooting inside North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino.
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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) In photos posted on social media, Smith and Anderson are seen on the beach, leaning toward each other and smiling, as Smith holds a small white dog in her lap. Another shows their legs crossed in front of a fireplace, with Smith’s flip-flop-clad foot touching Anderson’s leg.
After their Jan. 28 wedding at a church on Crenshaw Boulevard, the couple retreated to Sedona, Ariz., for a honeymoon.
“We are having such a good time,” Smith says in a video shared on Facebook after Anderson kisses and hugs her. “We are having a ball,” Anderson says into the camera, adding: “It’s been nice.”
Anderson seemed to relish the lighthearted squabbles of domestic life, saying in a Facebook video in late February: “What I love about my wife, boy. She is making me really happy. She knows when to ignore me,” he says, pausing to laugh. “That makes a happy marriage.”
But after about a month of living together, Smith put an end to it. She was contemplating divorce, her mother said, and police described them as estranged.
Although Smith’s mother declined to elaborate on what happened in the home, Anderson’s past may offer clues. San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said Anderson’s criminal history included allegations of domestic violence, weapons charges and possible drug charges.
In 2013, Anderson was charged in Los Angeles County Superior Court with assault and battery, brandishing a firearm and disturbing the peace. Court records, however, show that the charges were dismissed in May 2014.
Nearly two decades earlier in 1993, Anderson faced two misdemeanor counts of battery in Kern County Superior Court, but according to records, he was exonerated six months after the case was filed and both charges were dismissed.
Burguan said investigators are still piecing together information on what led to the couple’s estrangement.
It was that appearance of a happy union that allowed Anderson to get onto the school grounds so easily. When he stopped by the office to check in, his presence went unquestioned. No one saw a weapon, no one suspected anything was amiss between the couple until the gunfire.
“He killed her, and he killed himself,” Sykes, her mother, said. “And I want to see what he’s going to say to God about that.”
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Twitter: @mayalau
Times staff writers Sonali Kohli, Paloma Esquivel, Veronica Rocha, Melissa Etehad, Ben Oreskes and James Queally contributed to this report.
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