Police ID 15-year-old girl as Abundant Life Christian School shooter in Wisconsin
The suspected shooter, 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow, is also dead, police said.
A 15-year-old girl opened fire in the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin, on Monday, killing a teacher and a student and wounding six others at the school she had attended, police said.
The suspect, Natalie Rupnow, is also dead, police said. Evidence suggests that the teen, who went by Samantha, died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.
The teenage suspect used a handgun, police said. Authorities are investigating the origin of the firearm and searching Rupnow's home in the north side of the city, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said.
A motive is not clear, Barnes said at a news conference.
It is also unclear if any of the victims was specifically targeted, officials said on Monday.
The suspect's father was reportedly speaking with police at one of their facilities.
Police are "trying to determine what he knew or may have not known about what happened today, but again, he lost someone as well," Barnes said.
Barnes also said police are not currently looking to charge Rupnow's parents in connection with the deadly shooting.
"The parents are fully cooperating, we have no reason to believe that they have committed a crime at this time," Barnes said.
"This has obviously rocked our school community," said Barbara Wiers, the director of elementary and school relations for Abundant Life Christian School. "But we know it affects not just our school community, but Madison and the greater area and all schools."
The shooting took place just before 11 a.m. in a study hall comprising mixed ages and grades.
A second grade teacher made the 911 call, according to police on Tuesday, who had previously started it was a student who alerted authorities to the situation.
The school does not have metal detectors or a school resource officer, but has other security protocols in place, including cameras, Wiers said.
"Prior to the start of the school year, we had a retraining. We train on this. We do lockdown drills, we do evacuation drills as part of our standard drill protocols. Our students are versed in that. Our faculty are well versed in that," she explained. "The training that we did with [Madison Police Department] at the very beginning of the year, prior to the students returning to campus, had some new updates, and so we had looked at some of those things. So I think everything was very fresh for our faculty."
"I cannot, cannot tell you how well our students did in that process. They were clearly scared when they realized -- when we practice, we always say, 'This is a drill, it is just a drill.' When they heard, 'Lockdown, lockdown,' and nothing else, they knew it was real," Wiers said, adding: "But they handled themselves brilliantly."
Two students are in critical condition with life-threatening injuries, Barnes said, while another three students and a teacher suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Two of the four injured were discharged from SSM Health St. Mary's Hospital - Madison on Monday evening.
Officers responded to the active shooter report around 10:57 a.m. No officers fired their weapons, Barnes said.
Police believe that the suspect was already in the school and that there wasn't any breach.
"I never saw so many police cars in my life -- just blue and red lights lining the school, lining the streets. Fire department, paramedics, everybody was there," swarming the usually quiet neighborhood, John Diaz De Leon told ABC News Live.
He said he saw officers with long guns at the scene and older students run from the school across the parking lot.
"Later on, very slowly in a more orderly fashion, the younger students holding hands were let out to go across the parking lot," he said.
'I never saw so many police cars': Eyewitness to Madison school shooting
The school has been cleared, Barnes said. There's no danger to the community, he said.
The suspect's family is cooperating, the police chief said.
Detectives are investigating whether there were any potential warning signs, Barnes said.
All students had been reunited with their parents by Monday evening, Barnes said. About 390 students from kindergarten through 12th grade attend the private school.
"Our hope is that there will be some good that comes out of this as we can learn and grow and continue to support other schools," Wiers said.
She thanked first responders for their support and said that the school community is leaning on their faith at this time.
President Joe Biden called the incident "shocking and unconscionable" in a statement Monday evening that called on Congress to act, "now."
He insisted that they pass "commonsense" gun safety laws including universal background checks, a national red flag law and a ban on both assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
"It is unacceptable that we are unable to protect our children from this scourge of gun violence," the statement said, adding, "We cannot continue to accept it as normal."
Biden also mentioned his administration's efforts to combat the gun violence epidemic in the United States, including the implementation of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, while stating that more needed to be done and offering his prayers to those affected in Madison.
The Madison police chief said he began his career as a teacher.
"We owe it to our community to do everything possible to ensure [schools are] not only a special place, but a safe place," he said.
"I hoped that this day would never come in Madison," Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said.
She stressed the need for gun violence prevention and said she wants the community and country to make sure "no public official ever has to stand in this position again."
Jill Underly, Wisconsin's superintendent of public instruction, also emphasized the need for change, saying in a statement, "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. We will not rest until we find solutions that make our schools safe."
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said in a statement, "There are no words to describe the devastation and heartbreak we feel," calling the shooting a "gut-wrenching 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 the entire Abundant Life school community."
"It is unthinkable that a kid or an educator might wake up and go to school one morning and never come home," he said. "This should never happen, and I will never accept this as a foregone reality or stop working to change it."
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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