Motive unknown in shooting that killed 2 and injured 6 at Wisconsin school, police say
Police in Madison, Wisconsin, are searching for a motive after a student at a private, K-12 Christian school in Madison killed a teenage student and a teacher and injured six others on campus on Monday. The shooter is also dead.
Police Chief Shon F. Barnes had said in an earlier news briefing that the shooter had killed four people, but the department clarified the number in an update. Officers received an active-shooter report for Abundant Life Christian School at 10:57 a.m. They did not fire their weapons and found the suspected shooter dead, Barnes said. He said the hospitalized have injuries that range from minor to life-threatening.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said in a statement that he’s praying for the victims of the shooting at Abundant Life Christian School.
“There are no words to describe the devastation and heartbreak we feel,” Evers’s statement said. He said the state will support the school’s community and local law enforcement “through what will undoubtedly be difficult days ahead.”
Evers, a former teacher, said he was “praying and hoping all those injured survive and recover.”
Evers ordered United States and Wisconsin flags to fly at half-staff throughout the state until Dec. 22.
“It is unthinkable that a kid or an educator might wake up and go to school one morning and never come home,” Evers said. “This should never happen, and I will never accept this as a foregone reality or stop working to change it.”
Of the six people injured in the shooting, two were in critical condition with life-threatening injuries Monday afternoon, police Chief Barnes said. The other four people, who Barnes said were students, were in other hospitals with injuries that are not life-threatening.
“Everybody started freaking out,” Breken Ives told the New York Times. The sixth-grader was first alerted to the shooting by an intercom message blaring: “Lockdown. This is not a drill.”
His teacher quickly ordered the students into the corner, where a shooter couldn’t see them from the door. From inside the classroom, Breken could hear bangs and screaming outside.
The suspected shooter, who is dead, was identified as 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow, a student at Abundant Life Christian School, according Barnes. The motive, as of Monday night, remains unclear.
A handgun was recovered from the scene, Barnes said at the news conference. The shooting was confined to one space, Barnes said, but he doesn’t know if it occurred in a classroom or a hallway.
President Joe Biden was briefed Monday on the shooting, according to White House senior deputy press secretary Emilie Simons.
“Senior White House officials are in touch with local counterparts in Madison to provide support as needed,” Simons wrote on X.
Wisconsin State Superintendent Jill Underly wrote in a statement that the community is mourning.
“This tragedy is a stark reminder that we must do more to protect our children and our educators to ensure that such horrors never happen again,” she wrote. “We will not rest until we find solutions that make our schools safe, and so our children feel secure.”
Police briefly reported a higher death toll during a news conference early Monday afternoon, then corrected that number in a statement, putting the toll at three, including the shooter. Of the six people who were injured, Barnes said that two, both students, had suffered life-threatening injuries.