Hello listeners, I'm your host Amara, and this is Black Girl God, a true crime podcast.

On this episode of Black Girl God, we tell the story of Karen Elaine Smith, who was 53 years old,

when she was murdered in San Bernardino, California on April 10, 2017.

Karen worked as a special education teacher in elementary school.

She recently got married, but shortly after the wedding, her marriage collapsed.

Karen decided to leave her husband.

Her husband, however, had a different plan for Karen.

The day she was murdered, he walked into the school where she worked and shot her.

He also shot and killed an eight-year-old boy before turning the gun on himself.

The brutal murder of Karen stunned everyone who knew her,

and no one could comprehend why her husband would kill her while she was at school in front of her students.

This is Karen's story.

I can't tell this week's story without acknowledging what has been happening in this country over the last two weeks.

Between the massacre and buffalo of 10 Black people, and the killing of 21 mainly brown children and their teachers,

days before summer break in Texas, it's been a rough few weeks.

Those of us who live in America have become accustomed to mass shootings and shootings at schools.

It happens so frequently that most of us don't even know all of the shootings that have taken place.

You can believe whatever you want about guns or the Second Amendment,

but I think we can all agree that something needs to be done.

What happened to Karen in April 2017 is one of the hundreds of school shootings that have taken place over the past several years.

But unlike a lot of school shootings we are familiar with,

this shooting was not carried out by a bullied student or someone with a political agenda.

...