9-year-old girl killed, 3 injured in Southern California school bus crash

DESERT HOT SPRINGS, Calif. - The child killed when a car struck a school bus in Southern California and then plowed into a group of walking children has been identified as a 9-year-old girl.

Two other children were injured, one seriously, in the crash Thursday afternoon in the Riverside County town of Desert Hot Springs, east of Los Angeles and north of Palm Springs.

A white Cadillac rear-ended the bus, then went around it and hit four students who were walking home from a bus stop, the California Highway Patrol told KESQ-TV.

Nine-year-old Monica Gonzalez Guzman of Desert Hot Springs died at the scene, according to the Riverside County Coroner’s Office.

The driver of the Cadillac also was injured and hospitalized in unknown condition.

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