A 15-year-old girl opened fire at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin on Monday, killing a teacher and a student and wounding six others at the school she attended, police said.
The suspect, Natalie Rupnow, is also dead, police said. Evidence suggests the teenager, identified as Samantha, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.
The teenage suspect used a gun, police said. Authorities are investigating the origin of the firearm and are searching Rupnow’s home on the city’s north side, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said.
A motive is unclear, Barnes said at a news conference.
It is also unclear whether any of the victims were specifically targeted, authorities said Monday.
The suspect’s father was reportedly talking to police at one of their facilities.
Police are “trying to determine what he knew or didn’t know about what happened today, but once again he lost someone,” Barnes said.
Emergency vehicles are parked outside the SSM Health clinic, where parents are meeting with children after a shooting at Abundant Life Christian School on Dec. 16, 2024 in Madison, Wis.
Scott Bauer/AP
Barnes also said police are not looking to charge Rupnow’s parents in connection with the fatal shooting.
“The parents are fully cooperating, we have no reason to believe that a crime has been committed at this time,” Barnes said.
“This has obviously shaken up our school community,” said Barbara Wiers, director of elementary and school relations at Abundant Life Christian School. “But we know it affects not only our school community, but Madison and the wider area and all the schools.”
The shooting happened just before 11:00 a.m. in a study hall with mixed ages and grades.
A second-grade teacher called 911, police said Tuesday, after a student who had started earlier alerted authorities to the situation.
The school does not have metal detectors or a school resource officer, but has other security protocols in place, including cameras, Wiers said.
“Before the school year started, we had a drill. We train in that. We do lockdown drills, we do evacuation drills as part of our standard simulation protocols. Our students are well aware. Our faculty are well aware of that,” he explained. the training we did in the beginning (with the Madison Police Department), before the students came back to campus, had some new updates, so we went over some of those things. So I think everything was perfect. fresh for our faculty.”
“I can’t, I can’t tell you how well our students did in that process. They were clearly scared when they found out — when we practice we always say, ‘This is a drill, it’s just a drill.'” Block, block, and when they heard nothing else, they knew it was real,” Wiers said, adding, “But they played themselves great.”
Two students are in critical condition with life-threatening injuries, Barnes said, while three other students and a teacher suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Two of the four injured at SSM Health St. They were discharged from Mary’s Hospital – Madison on Monday evening.
Officers responded to a report of an active shooter around 10:57 a.m. No weapons were fired by officers, Barnes said.
The police believe that the suspect was already at school and that there was no violation.
Emergency vehicles are parked outside Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wis., where several were injured after a shooting on Dec. 16, 2024.
Kathleen Foody/AP
“I’ve never seen so many police cars in my life: blue and red lights at the school, lining the streets. Firefighters, paramedics, everyone was there,” boasting a normally quiet neighborhood, John Diaz De Leon told ABC News Live. .
He said he saw officers at the scene with long guns and older students running across the parking lot from the school.
“Later, they let the younger students cross the parking lot slowly, in a more orderly manner, holding hands,” he said.
‘I’ve never seen so many police cars’: Madison school shooting witness
John Diaz De Leon discussed what he saw as a witness to Monday’s shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin.
ABCNews.com
The school has been cleared, Barnes said. There is no danger to the community, he said.
The police chief said that the family of the suspect is cooperating.
Detectives are investigating whether there were any potential warning signs, Barnes said.
All students were reunited with their parents by Monday afternoon, Barnes said. About 390 students from Kindergarten to 12th grade attend the private school.
“Our hope is that good things will come out of this so that they can learn and grow and continue to help other schools,” Wiers said.
He thanked first responders for their help and said the school community is relying on their faith at this time.
Law enforcement officers appear at the scene of a shooting, Dec. 16, 2024, at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison.
Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel/USA Today Network
President Joe Biden called the incident “shocking and senseless.” statement On Monday afternoon, he called on Congress to act “now”.
He insisted they support “common sense” gun safety laws, including universal background checks, a national red flag law and a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
“It is unacceptable that we cannot protect our children from this scourge of gun violence,” the statement said, adding: “We cannot continue to take it for granted.”
Biden also cited his administration’s efforts to combat the gun violence epidemic in the United States, including the establishment of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, saying more needed to be done and offering his prayers to those affected in Madison.
The Madison police chief said he began his career as a teacher.
“We owe it to our community to do everything possible (to make schools not only a special place, but also a safe place),” he said.
“I hoped this day would never come in Madison,” said Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway.
He stressed the need to prevent gun violence and said he wants to make sure the community and the country “never have a public official to be in that position again.”
Buses transporting students leave as emergency vehicles park outside Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, WI, where several were injured after a shooting on Dec. 16, 2024.
Morris Gash/AP
Jill Underly, Wisconsin’s superintendent of public instruction, also emphasized the need for change, saying in a statement: “This tragedy is a reminder that we must do more to protect our children and our educators so that such horrors never happen again. We will not rest on our laurels.” until we find solutions that make schools safe.”
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said in a statement, “There are no words to describe the devastation and heartbreak we feel,” calling the shooting “a terrible tragedy.”
A police officer directs traffic as emergency vehicles are parked outside Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wis., where several were injured following a shooting on December 16, 2024.
Morris Gash/AP
Evers said he and his wife “are praying for the families and loved ones of those whose lives were so senselessly taken and for the educators, staff and entire Abundant Life school community.”
“It’s unthinkable for a child or an educator to wake up one morning and go to school and never come home,” he said. “This should never have happened, and I will never accept this as the face of reality, nor will I stop working to change it.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
