A shooting at a small Christian school in Madison Wisconsin on Monday took the lives of a kills teenage student and a teacher and left several others wounded, putting the small spiritually oriented community in mourning as the school was set to close for Christmas soon.
Officers arrived at Abundant Life Christian School, just before 11 a.m. Monday, in response to such a shooting, according to the Madison Police Chief, Shon Barnes.
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In addition to the two people killed another six are injured, according to the police; two students are critical, with life-threatening injuries. Another student, a teacher, and another student … sustained some injuries and kills that were not life-threatening, according to Barnes. The alleged shooter, a teenage student, was also found kills at the scene, says the police chief .archer kills and several others were injured, casting the small religious community into mourning just days before the school was going to close for Christmas.
Police rushed to Abundant Life Christian School just before 11 a.m. Monday in response to reports of an active shooter, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said.
In addition to the two people kills, another six are injured, according to police, including two students with life-threatening injuries in critical condition. A teacher and two other students received non-life-threatening kills, according to Barnes.
The shooting suspect, a teenage student, was also found dead at the scene, according to the police chief.
Cops said Natalie Rupnow, 15, who went by the name of “Samantha,” was fingered by the city’s police chief as the shooter was kills. Police say that, based on the investigation, it appears that the shooter was kills by a self-inflicted gunshot, Barnes said at a Monday night press briefing.
For these reasons and many more, I believe today is a sad day for Madison and our country.” It is a day that I think will live in our collective minds for a very, very long time,” said Barnes in a news conference earlier Monday.
Now, federal and local law enforcement agencies are studying the crime scene and searching for enigmatic inspiration and planning to help the heartbroken school community, which has found itself amid one of the most typical American tragedies.
Massacre at Abundant Life is at least the 83rd mass shooting at a school in the United States in 2024 and the most in any given year since started to record similar incidences in 2008 than in the year 2023.
With this attack, Abundant Life took to social media to urge the public to pray for the Challenger Family.
“I hoped that this day would never come in Madison,” Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said Monday at a news conference. “It is not something that any mayor, any fire chief, any police chief, any person in public office ever wants to have to deal with.”
How the shooting and response unfolded kills
Most of the children were in kindergarten to high school and arrived at the school’s 28-acre facility for the last week of lessons before the Christmas holidays. They expected a week of celebrations, with the holiday concert to be conducted and an ugly Xmas sweater day according to the school website.
Police said the man who allegedly shot up the building was in school early in the morning with everyone else.
However, according to the investigators, as the school day progressed, the suspect allegedly brandished a gun and started shooting at their classmates, still in the Chapman store, said Barnes. The shooting was “contained to one place,” the chief said, later describing it as a “learning area” of the school.
At 10:At 57 a.m., a 911 call was made from inside the school to the Madison Police Department, according to Barnes.
Police claimed that some medics with the police department were nearby undergoing training about three miles away and immediately responded to the shooting Barnes reported.
“They gave themselves up for dead and came directly from the training to here — and that’s acting out in real time what they were in training for,” Barnes said at a news briefing.
The first officers got to the school at 11 a.m., and, without further ado, went inside the building, according to Barnes.
“When officers attended the scene, there were several people who had been shot,” said Barnes.
Police also recovered the body of a teenage student whom they suspect could have been the shooter, according to the police chief. He was reluctant to reveal the gender, age, or identity of the suspect.
After that, the police evacuated the school building, and all children were checked for and nobody was left alone; everybody was taken by their families, Barnes said.
“They were scared,” Chemewa Wiers, director of elementary and school relations for Abundant Life said the students when they realized it was not a drill. ‘When they heard the word lockdown, lockdown and nothing beyond that – they knew it was real, but the students and the staff dealt with it extremely well.’
The K-12 school currently has about 420 students as per the officials of the school. The school’s website even proclaims, a “smaller class sizes” learning center for students from approximately 200 families in Dane County.
Wiers added the attack has “rocked” the men who consider the community of Abundant Life as a part of the big family.
“We know it impacts not only our school community, but the Madison and the greater area, and all schools,” Wiers said to the reporters. “All in all, there has to be some positives that can be taken from this where people can develop and further help schools.”
He talked to parents who were at the reunification center, and they are mothers and fathers who were incredibly patient and gentle, she said, noting that everybody was touched even if their child escaped the shooting.
“Because what is going to happen to one part of the body will happen to all of it — as the scripture tells us,” she said. She said the school family entrusts that God had not been caught off-guard by the shooting and will be “going to do something mighty with it.”
Investigators execute search warrants
Federal and local police are seeking to know the sequence of the incidents, the reason why Houser went on the shooting spree, and more details about the gun he used.
Offices of law enforcement are now engaged in seeking out witnesses and the students are being urged to go ahead and talk when and if they are ready to do so according to the police chief.
We will not be questioning students.” We are going to let them come in and address what they might say they saw when they are ready, which is why some of these questions cannot be answered, said Barnes.
The suspect’s home was searched Monday and police are seeking other search warrants, Barnes said. For now, the suspect’s family has not been unresponsive to the police presence.
There was a reported sighting of a police cruiser at a home in northern Madison Monday night. The sheriff, Barnes, said that it was associated with the shooting probe but did not elaborate on the facts.
Police know of no prior run-ins the suspect may have had with the law, according to Barnes, the press secretary.
“I did do a check of the school,” the police chief said. Oh well, there were some responses, but they were like the 911 hang-up kind of things and stuff like that. The author also experienced the same feeling that nothing pointed towards the school being a theatre of violence.
ATF will have to follow the gun used in the attack to kills and establish where it hails from, the police stated.
The White House confirmed a shooting incident has been reported to President Joe Biden, by a White House spokesperson.
Senior White House officials are in communication with local representatives in Madison to help out if required, said senior deputy press secretary Emilie Simons.
As it was noted at the very beginning of this report, there were 83 shootings in schools this year: 56 of them in K-12 schools and 27 in schools for universities, and colleges. The most lethal shooting in a school this year took place in Winder, Georgia, when four people were kills in Apalachee High School. That nature. There was nothing that suggested that the school was a place where violence would occur.”
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will trace the gun used in the attack to determine its origin, according to police.
President Joe Biden has been briefed on the shooting, a White House spokesperson said.
“Senior White House officials are in touch with local counterparts in Madison to provide support as needed,” senior deputy press secretary Emilie Simons said.
Of the 83 school shootings this year, 56 have been reported on K-12 campuses and 27 on university and college campuses. The deadliest school shooting of the year was in Winder, Georgia, where four victims were left dead at Apalachee High School.
‘Why’ of this has so many of you come and consult me! ‘Why did this happen? What do we know? What was the motivation?’” Barnes told reporters Monday. “I do not know, but I will tell you this: Our detectives are Continue doing their best in the investigative process to look for as many answers as possible so that it can be prevented from happening once again not just to this community, but also to other communities in our country.
I believe all of us shall be happy with the realization that ‘Enough is Enough.’ There is so much more, we have put so much input and trying our best to do everything possible to ensure that support of our students not to have more and more press conferences like we are having now,” Barnes said.
FAQs
1. Who were the victims in the shooting?
The victims included a teacher and a fellow student. Their identities have not been publicly disclosed as authorities continue the investigation and notify families.
2. Where did the shooting take place?
The shooting occurred at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin. It was carried out by a 15-year-old female student who later died by suicide.