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Shop NowMotive is still unclear but it was a 15-year-old girl who opened fire. She killed one teacher and one student. Six others were wounded, two remain listed in critical condition. Suspect Natalie Rupnow is also dead. Apparently, she left behind a “manifesto” but authorities aren’t releasing any details of what was in it.
Teen girl with handgun
Evidence suggests that the teen girl “died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.” On Monday, December 16, 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow, who preferred to be called Samantha, “opened fire inside the Christian school she attended in Madison, Wisconsin.”
The shooting occurred during study hall. That’s significant because students from several grades in the K-12 private academy were in the same classroom.
Initial reports that it was a second grade student who called 911 have been corrected. It was the second grade teacher who called. From a classroom down the hall. It’s not clear how the teen girl got possession of the handgun she used in her killing spree.
Both parents are reportedly cooperating with police. They’re doing it separately, though. Mom is apparently “out of town.” Police relate that they don’t see any reason to charge the parents, at this time.
According to Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes, “a motive is not clear.” It is also unclear if the girl “specifically targeted” any of the victims. On Monday, as the press conference aired, the suspect’s father was “speaking with police at one of their facilities.”
They were still “trying to determine what he knew or may have not known about what happened today.” There aren’t any updates to that as of Tuesday. Chief Barns made a point of noting that the girl’s father “lost someone as well.”
No metal detectors
Abundant Life Christian School took no precautions, like installing metal detectors or hiring a a school resource officer, but they were well prepared for the aftermath. The girl who acted out in such a deadly extreme way was well versed in the action plan for such events.
“Prior to the start of the school year, we had a retraining,” Barbara Wiers, the director of elementary and school relations, explains.
“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.” They weren’t planning on any of their students actually putting them to the test. Especially, not a girl.
“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.” It probably put some ideas into Samantha’s head, as well. That’s something they’ll have to consider seriously for the future.
While the drills freshened up the faculty, they weren’t fresh enough to prevent mass mayhem and death. When the real deal happened, all the students thought it was another pesky drill.
“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.” Officers took the “active shooter” report around 10:57 a.m. and they found the girl dead on their arrival. “no officers fired their weapons.“
