Wisconsin latest: Police identify deceased 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow as school shooter
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 determined 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 of a suspected self-inflected gunshot wound, 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 with police, the chief said.
President Joe Biden has been briefed on the school shooting, the White House 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 do not know whether the shooting had a specific target or motive.
“Whether they were targeted or not would speak to motivation and we don’t know that answer just yet,” Madison police chief Shon Barnes said on Monday.
Unclear if classes to continue this week at Abundant Life
School officials are still discussing whether students will return to class at Abundant Life Christian School this week, after a mass shooting on Monday left three dead and six injured. “Whether we will return to classes this week — because this was our last week, we were done on Friday — is still to be determined,” Barbara Wiers, director of elementary and school relations at Abundant Life, told The Associated Press.
ICYMI: What we know about the shooter who killed at least two in Madison
An unidentified juvenile shooter has killed at least two people and injured six others at a private K-12 school in Madison, Wisconsin.
The shooting occurred at Abundant Life Christian School around 11 a.m. The suspected shooter is believed to be a “juvenile” student at the school who died by suicide, Madison Police Department Chief Shon Barnes said on Monday afternoon. Six people were taken to nearby hospitals with injuries ranging from minor to life-threatening.
“I’m asking everyone to send your heartfelt wishes and prayers, and thoughts, yet again, to a community — but this time it’s my community,” Barnes told reporters.
Wisconsin school shooting: What we know about the shooter who killed at least two
The suspected shooter attended the private K-12 school, police said
Police appear to search Madison home in connection to shooting
Madison police appear to be searching a house on the north side of the city in connection with today’s shooting.
A WMTV news crew captured footage of officers outside the house, whose door appeared off its hinges on the ground nearby.
“As soon as I went in the house, I heard a loud boom,” a neighbor who gave her name as Maureen told the station.
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.