Wisconsin school shooting latest: Natalie Rupnow ‘received texts’ from man plotting government building attack

Star Wars actor Mark Hamill has shared a heartbroken and evergreen headline after the United States was rocked by another school shooting, which has left three people dead.

A 15-year-old girl, who police identified as Natalie Rupnow, killed a teacher and fellow student after opening fire at the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin. Rupnow was also pronounced dead at the scene, Department Chief Shon Barnes said.

Six others have been left injured, including two left in critical condition with life-threatening injuries. At the time of writing, Rupnow’s motives remain unclear.

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A Wisconsin school community has been left traumatized after a 15-year-old female student killed a teacher and another pupil in a shooting spree on Monday morning at a Christian school.

Police named Natalie Rupnow, also known as Samantha Rupnow, as the young woman who they believe killed two and injured six others at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin beginning around 11 a.m.

But even survivors lucky enough to escape with their lives “won’t be okay for a long time,” said one mother. An 8-year-old student who witnessed the panic and the wounding of a teacher told CNN: “I was really scared and I was really sad.”

Rupnow was found dead at the scene, with evidence of self-inflicted gunshot wounds, according to police. An official cause of death has not been determined, and police have not yet determined a motive.

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A Republican representative whose great niece and nephew were present at the Abundant Life Christian School during Monday’s shooting says both children are doing “fine” following the horrific incident.

Assemblyman Jerry L. O’Connor told CNN’s John Berman that his great nephew “could hear bodies hitting the floor” and his great niece had heard gunshots from accross the hall.

Asked how the youngsters were doing, O’Connor said: “They're doing fine. I think it's going to be a little bit of time as they reflect back on what happened. My nephew could hear bodies hitting the floor. My great niece across the hall could hear gunshots.

“And as I understand it there were nine people in the room and the shooter shot eight of them... So it's a terribly sad situation. I also have a brother-in-law that's a basketball and golf coach there, and I have a brother whose brother-in-law is the school principal.

“So I have a lot of connections to this school and there are a lot of hurting families in that Madison area today.”

A spokesperson from the Madison Police Department confirmed to The Independent that, at this time, there is no police press conference scheduled for Wednesday.

Police plan to hold a press conference any time there is a significant update to share, but there were “no significant updates at this time,” the spokesperson said.

“We will announce if something comes to pass that would warrant an update,” they added.

Adam De Wilde was taking out the trash at around 12:30 p.m. Monday when he noticed something unusual.

Some 90 minutes earlier, a student at the Abundant Life Christian School — roughly eight miles away from the tidy 3-bedroom home he and his wife share in Madison, Wisconsin’s Sherman Village section — had fatally gunned down a classmate and a teacher, and wounded six others.

But De Wilde did not yet realize that his neighbor, 15-year-old Natalie “Samantha” Rupnow, who would not be identified publicly by police for another several hours, was the person responsible for the unthinkable bloodshed.

“I saw that there were a bunch of cop cars, probably between eight and 12 vehicles, which is not normal for this neighborhood,” De Wilde told The Independent. “... You rarely see a single cop car driving down the street [around here] with its lights on.”

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Rupnow was encouraged by her father to practice her weapons-handling skills in the months leading up to Monday’s bloodshed, according to a review of his online activity.

In August, Jeff Rupnow - who was unable to be reached on Tuesday - posted a photograph on Facebook of what appears to be his shotgun -wielding daughter shooting clay pigeons at a local gun club.

“Is that kiddo?” a friend commented.

“Sure is!!!!” Rupnow, the father of one, replied. “We joined NBSC this spring and we have been loving all [sic] every second of it!”

In the photo on her father’s Facebook page, Natalie Rupnow is wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the logo of the venerable German electro-industrial band KMFDM.

The top is similar to ones worn by teenage mass shooter Eric Harris, who in 1999, with classmate Dylan Klebold, shot and killed 15 students at Littleton, Colorado’s Columbine High School.

After the Columbine massacre, the members of KMFDM — which stands for Kein Mehrheit für die Mitleid, which translates to “No Pity for the Majority” — condemned the bloodshed, calling themselves “sick and appalled” by what had happened.

Several schools in the Madison Metropolitan School District were targeted by false threats on Tuesday, police said

Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes told reporters that police are investigating the “false threats often known as swatting”. Police do not believe there are any current threats to schools in the district.

“Making false threats is a crime, and we are working with the district attorney,” he added.