Brandman student killed in San Bernardino shooting

The April 10 shooting that killed Karen Smith took place at North Park Elementary School in one of Smith’s classrooms. One of her 16 students was also killed in the shooting and another was injured, said San Bernardino Police Department Lt. Michael Madden. Courtesy of Wiki Commons

Brandman University student Karen Smith, 53, was killed by her estranged husband in a shooting that took place at about 10:30 a.m. April 10 at North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino, San Bernardino Police Department Lt. Michael Madden told The Panther. The shooting, which took place in Smith’s classroom, left one of the 16 students in the classroom dead and another critically injured, Madden said.

Lynn Larsen, an associate dean and faculty mentor at Brandman, which is a nonprofit subsidiary of Chapman, was scrolling through the news April 10 when she recognized a photo of one of the shooting victims as Smith, who is one of her former students.

“Karen’s picture popped up on the screen, and I just started crying,” Larsen said. “I knew immediately who it was, and it just was very upsetting.”

Karen Smith

Larsen said that she had been following the events of April 10 closely because she knew that one of the shooting victims was a special education teacher, but she did not know it was Smith until she saw Smith’s photo on the news.

Smith had studied special education at Brandman University since 2006, when Brandman was called Chapman University College, Larsen said. Smith had received three credentials from Brandman at the time of her death, all related to special education. One credential focused on teaching those with autism spectrum disorder.

At the time of her death, Smith was working to earn her master’s degree in special education.

Christine Zeppos, the dean of Brandman’s School of Education, said that Brandman plans to award Smith her master’s degree posthumously at the university’s commencement – which will take place on Wilson Field May 21 – because Smith had completed all the coursework for the degree. Zeppos said that Brandman has reached out to Smith’s family members to see if they would like to attend the commencement.

“It’s obviously a difficult time for them right now,” Zeppos said. “But we’re hopeful that they’ll be feeling well enough to come and celebrate her life with us at Chapman.”

Larsen, who mentored Smith during her time at Brandman, said that she remembers her as a caring and considerate person.

“She was so passionate about education,” Larsen said. “She was really passionate about students with disabilities. She had such a warm and caring heart. Not just for the students that she served, but for all the people she came in contact with.”

Madden said that the motive for the attack appears to have been “a result of domestic violence,” something that Larsen hopes will not be part of Smith’s legacy.

“It’s really important to focus on her as a person and not the domestic violence aspect of it,” Larsen said. “She just had such a warm heart and lit up any room that she went into, and that’s how I’m choosing to remember her.”