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A 15-year-old student fatally shot a teacher and a student at a private school in Madison, Wisconsin, on Monday morning.
Six others were injured and taken to area hospitals, according to Madison police.
The shooting occurred at the Abundant Life Christian School around 11 a.m. in a mixed-grade study hall room.
Police identified 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow, a student at the school, as the shooter. Rupnow was found dead at the scene, with evidence of self-inflicted gunshot wounds. An official cause of death has not been determined.
By Monday evening, two victims remained in critical condition, and two of those with non-life-threatening injuries were later released from the hospital.
At an early afternoon press conference on Monday, Chief Shon Barnes of the Madison PD called the incident a “sad, sad day” for the city.“I’m asking everyone to send your heartfelt wishes and prayers, and thoughts, yet again, to a community — but this time it’s my community,” he told reporters.
A handgun was recovered at the scene of the shooting.
A second grader was the one who initially called police to the scene, Barnes said.
“Let that soak in for a minute, a second grade student called 911 at 10:57am to report a shooting at school,” he said during a press conference.
Police do not know whether the shooting had a specific target or motive.
“Whether they were targeted or not would speak to motivation and we don’t know that answer just yet,” Barnes told reporters Monday evening. Barnes added that the contents of a document circulating online purportedly related to the shooter had not been verified.
Rupnow’s family is cooperating with police, Madison officials said on Monday night.
The 15-year-old’s father was speaking with police Monday evening, in what Barnes called a “long conversation.”
“We have no reason to believe they have committed a crime at this time,” Barnes said on Monday of the family.
Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said after the shooting that “the focus now is on supporting the victims and their families.” Dane County Executive Melissa Agard called today’s violence “unacceptable.”
It appeared the shooter was at the school the morning of the shooting, rather than breaking in.
“We believe the shooter was at school,” Barnes said. “We have no information that there was some kind of breach at the school.”
The school did not have a school resource officer or metal detectors.
Madison police urged the public to disregard fast-moving, unverified online speculation the shooter was transgender.
“I dont think that whatever happened today has anything to do with how she, or he, or they may have wanted to identify,” Chief Barnes said. “I wish people would kind of leave their own personal biases out of this. We have people who have yet another school shooting in Madison. That’s where my focus will be for the very near future.”
The school, which is located on Madison’s east side and has roughly 400 students in all, was founded in 1978 “as a community Christian school with the vision of providing academic excellence in a Christ-centered environment for families in the greater Dane County area,” the school’s website tells visitors.
The shooting hit a community that’s already seen mass gun violence this year, after a dozen people were wounded over the summer in a shooting at a rooftop party in Madison.
