New updates about the school shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin reveals that police have identified the shooter as 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow and that a second grader was the person who initially called 911 to report the fatal shooting on Monday (December 16), just before 11 a.m.
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During a news conference on Monday evening, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes reported that the Madison school shooter has been identified as a 15-year-old female student, Natalie Rupnow, who police say went by the name “Samantha.”
They also reported that she was among those deceased, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Barnes also said that a teacher and another student were pronounced dead at the scene. Police say the teenage suspect used a handgun and investigators are now trying to find the origin of the firearm, searching her home in the north side of the city. A motive remains unclear and it’s also unclear if the shooter intentionally targeted any of the victims.
However, Natalie Rupnow’s father reportedly spoke with police at one of their precincts. Barnes told the press, “[Police are] trying to determine what he knew or may have not known about what happened today, but again, he lost someone as well.”
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He also said, “I don’t know whether [the shooter] was transgender or not. I don’t think that whatever happened today has anything to do with how she or he or they may have wanted to identify.” Barnes also said that police currently do not plan on charging Natalie Rupnow’s parents in connection with the fatal shooting. He said, “The parents are fully cooperating, we have no reason to believe that they have committed a crime at this time.”
Barnes also told the press that the initial 911 call to report the fatal shooting was made by a second grader. He continued, “I’m going to let that soak in for a minute. A second-grade student called 911 at 10:57 a.m. to report a shooting at school.”
Currently, two students are in critical condition with life-threatening injuries, and another three students and a teacher suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Two of the four injured have since been discharged from SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital as of Monday evening. The shooter and a teacher have been pronounced dead.
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It’s reported that the school does not have metal detectors or a school resource officer, but does have other security protocols in place, like surveillance cameras. Barbara Wiers, the Director of Elementary and School Relations for Abundant Life Christian School, 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.”
She continued, “Our students are versed in that. Our faculty are well versed in that. 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.”
Wiers added, “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. But they handled themselves brilliantly.”
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