Latest Wisconsin school shooting: Attack happened in classroom, police say

More details are emerging about the course of the school shooting in Madison, Wisconsin, that left three people – among them the 15-year-old female shooter – dead and several others injured on Monday.

Police said Natalie Rupnow, who went by Samantha, used a gun to kill a teacher and a fellow student in the shooting.

Rupnow died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound before officers reached the school, police said. The officers did not fire their weapons.

Two students sustained life-threatening injuries and are in critical condition, while a teacher and two other students were treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

Police said in a briefing Monday that the shooting was contained in “a classroom in a study hall full of students from multiple grade levels.”

Police have not yet suggested a motive for the attack or said whether they believe the victims were specifically targeted.

Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said Monday, “I don’t know if (the shooter) was transgender or not,” adding that speculation about Rupnow’s background was irrelevant to authorities at the time.

“I don’t think whatever happened today has anything to do with how she or he or they may have wanted to identify,” Barnes added.

The suspect’s father reportedly spoke with police at one of their facilities shortly after the incident. Police are “trying to determine what he may or may not have known about what happened today, but again, he also lost someone,” Barnes said.

“The parents are fully cooperating, we have no reason to believe they have committed a crime at this time,” Barnes said.

A second-grader called 911, Barnes said. “Let it sit for a minute,” Barnes added. “A second grade student called 911 at 10:57 a.m. to report a shooting at the school.”

President Joe Biden called the incident “shocking and unconscionable” in a statement Monday night, urging Congress to act “now.”

He insisted 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 business as usual.”

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 saying more needs to be done and offering his prayers to those affected in Madison.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said in a statement, “There are no words to describe the devastation and heartache 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 taken so senselessly, and for the educators, staff and entire school community of Abundant Life.”

“It’s unthinkable that a child or an educator could 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 given or stop working to change it.”