The shooting at the Madison, Wisconsin, school on Monday left three people dead and several others injured, including the 15-year-old female shooter.
Police said Natalie Rupnow, who goes by Samantha, used a gun in the shooting to kill a teacher and a classmate.
Rupnow died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound before officers arrived at the school, police said. The officers did not fire a weapon.
Two students suffered life-threatening injuries and are in critical condition, while a teacher and two other students were treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
Police said in a news conference Monday that the shooting took place “in a classroom of a classroom full of students from multiple grades.”
A police officer stands guard outside Abundant Life Christian School on December 16, 2024 in Madison, Wisconsin.
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Police have not yet suggested a motive for the attack or said whether the victims were specifically targeted.
The suspect’s father reportedly spoke to the police at one of their facilities shortly after the incident. Police are “trying to determine what he knew or didn’t know about what happened today, but once again he lost someone,” Barnes said.
“The parents are fully cooperating, we have no reason to believe that a crime has been committed at this time,” Barnes said.
A second-grader called 911, Barnes said. “Let that soak in for a minute,” Barnes added. “A second grade student called 911 at 10:57 a.m. to report a shooting at the school.”
President Joe Biden called the incident “shocking and senseless” in a statement Monday afternoon that called on Congress to act “now.”
A family leaves a shelter after a shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin, on December 16, 2024.
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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.
Police direct traffic outside Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin, after a shooting on Dec. 16, 2024.
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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.”
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.”
