Wisconsin latest: Police identify deceased 15-year-old student Natalie Rupnow as shooter in school killings
The suspected shooter, identified as Natalie Rupnow, was a 15-year-old student at Abundant Life Christian School, police said. The motive is still unknown
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Natalie Rupnow, a 15-year-old student, is believed to have opened fire at a private Christian school in Madison, Wisconsin, on Monday morning, killing a classmate and a teacher, police announced.
Investigators have not yet determnined a motive.
Police responded to reports of an active shooter at Abundant Life Christian School just before 11 a.m. and entered the building immediately upon arrival.
The suspected shooter was dead when police arrived, Madison Police Department Chief Shon Barnes said.
Six others were injured in the incident.
Two victims are in critical condition with life-threatening injuries and four others have non-life-threatening injuries.
Police recovered a handgun at the school.
The suspected shooter’s family is cooperating, the chief said. The motive is still being investigated and the alleged shooter’s cause of death has yet to be officially determined, Barnes said, though police suspect the death was from a self-inflected gunshot wound.
President Joe Biden has been briefed on the school shooting, the White House has said.
Barnes warned members of the public to rely on credible reports about the shooting and not to spread false information on social media.
Motive still unclear in Madison shooting
Police are still looking for information on what motivated an individual to shoot up a Christian school in Madison, Wisconsin, on Monday.
Madison police chief Shon Barnes told reporters on Monday it remained unclear if the victims of the shooting were targeted.
“Whether they were targeted or not would speak to motivation and we don’t know that answer just yet,” Barnes said at an evening news conference.
Impact of shooting will be ‘etched’ on students and community
Local leaders are reeling after today’s shooting in Madison.
Here’s what police chief Shon Barnes said on Monday evening.
This is a day that will be certainly be etched in the collective memories of everyone in Madison, and just another example of what can happen in our country. We have to do better. We have to collaborate with each other...We have to use our resources when we see things that may being going wrong or someone who may be going off the beaten path. That’s the charge really to our country now, and we have to do a better job of taking care of each other. All children have been reunited with their parents. The children are now the latest group of survivors of a school shooting.”
Suspected shooter didn’t ‘breach’ school: police
The gunman who opened fired and killed two people at a Wisconsin Christian school on Monday does not appear to have broken into the building, according to police.
“We believe the shooter was at school,” Chief Shon Barnes of the Madison Police Deparment told reporters on Monday. “We have no information that there was some kind of breach at the school.”
Madison shooting update: student reunification complete, two released from hospital
Students from Abundant Life Christian School have finished reunifying with their parents after today’s mass shooting, while staff reunification remains ongoing, according to Madison Police Department chief Shon Barnes.
Two of the six people hospitalized in the shooting have since been released, he said.
Police chief warns public about unverified rumors on Madison shooting
Madison Police Department Shon Barnes is warning members of the public to only get their information about today’s shooting from trusted government and media sources, as online speculation about the incident runs rampant.
“Social media, quite frankly, is something I can’t control,” he said.
“If you’re listening to this and you’re at home or thinking about reposting something that did not come from someone in this room, a trusted and respected journalist, please don’t do that,” he added. “It does help erode the trust in this process, and that’s all we have.”
Barnes said such rumors could “fan the flames” at a time when “we need to come together and not be divided by anything.”
WATCH: Madison police chief addresses public
Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes is addressing the public with the latest information about today’s shooting.
“I cannot at this time formally tell you the age or gender or name of the shooter,” Barnes said, despite unconfirmed media reports the suspected shooter was a female student at the school. “We do not want to compromise any part of the investigation.”
Watch his full remarks here, via WMTV.
'Not a drill... we heard popping...'
A Wisconsin father has described how he first heard about the shooting from his 14-year-old daughter 31 minutes before being informed by the school.
Rob Nelson, whose daughter Olive is in the ninth grade at Abundant Life Christian School, told The Washington Post that she texted him at 10:58am local time to say: “Not a drill... we heard popping.”
Oliva then described sitting in a corner of her classroom while the shooting went on outside, hearing shouts for an ambulance, and seeing police officers swarm the premises.
Nelson then received a text message from the school at 11:29am informing him of an “active shooter incident”, with a follow-up text instructing him to go to a medical clinic to be connected with his children.
“We’ve been packed into a small room in the basement here for the last several hours, basically with no information,” he said.
Madison school did not have school resource officer: police
Abundant Life Christian School did not have a school police officer or metal detectors on-site at the time of Monday’s shooting, according to local police.
“I’m not aware that the school has metal detectors, nor should schools have metal detectors,” Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes told reporters on Monday. “It’s a school, it’s a safe space.”
As The Independent has reported, school resource officers are a frequent topic of discussion after school shootings, but research hasn’t shown that they’re effective at stopping mass gun violence incidents.
Police didn’t stop shootings in Parkland or Uvalde. Biden is giving them $300m anyway
Campus police officers are often cited as an effective tool against gun violence. But the data shows they do little to stop school shootings — and often discriminate against students of colour. Josh Marcus reports
Vigil planned at Wisconsin Capitol after shooting
A vigil is planned tomorrow for the victims of Monday’s school shooting in Madison.
The event will take place at the Wisconsin State Capitol.
“We are actively planning ways to provide support, including safe spaces for youth to process their feelings, sharing mental health resources, and collaborating with community partners to address community needs,” Michael Johnson of the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County wrote on Facebook.
‘It’s just a shame’: Milwaukee Bucks coach on Madison shooting
Doc Rivers, head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks NBA team, is the latest community leader to weigh in on the Madison shooting.
“It’s just a shame that this keeps happening, that kids can’t go to school safe and it seems like we don’t do anything about it,” Rivers told reporters on Monday. “I’m not going to get up on the podium and give a long speech, except for it’s just bad, and we’re thinking about ‘em.”