Maria Sonia Ju-Louis Bernard was 45 when she was killed on the morning of April 3, 2009, inside the American Civic Association in Binghamton, New York. Born in Haiti on February 1, 1964, she had moved to the United States in 2006, held an associate degree in office administration, and worked at McDonald’s while attending English classes at the ACA to widen opportunities for her family.

At about 10:30 a.m. a man later identified as Jiverly Antares Wong, also known as Jiverly Voong, entered the building wearing a bullet-resistant vest, a bright green jacket, and dark-rimmed glasses, firing almost immediately. The rampage lasted roughly three minutes; Wong shot himself and was found dead at the scene. Thirteen people besides the shooter died that morning, and others were wounded. Bernard and her spouse, Marc Henri Bernard, both were killed; they lived in Endicott and were raising two children, Hermanoschy and Valentina Chystelle Bernard.

The suspect died at the scene, so there was no prosecution; investigators treated the attack as the act of a lone gunman. Little remains certain about motive beyond materials found after the attack that suggested a troubled state of mind. If anyone knew Maria Sonia Ju-Louis Bernard or her family, or has information that could add to the record of that morning, please come forward.