Natalie ‘Samantha’ Rupnow identified as shooter who opened fire at Wisconsin school, killing 2, wounding 6

CNN
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A group of Wisconsin police officers had planned to spend Monday training to deal with victims of mass trauma incidents when a second-grader called 911 late in the morning to report an active shooter at a nearby east Madison school.

“They left the training center right away and came down here — and did in real time what they were actually practicing,” Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said outside Abundant Life Christian School, where the shooting took place.

When they arrived, officers administered CPR to several people with gunshot wounds and found the shooter, 15-year-old student Natalie Rupnow, dead at the scene. According to police, evidence indicates that Rupnow, who went by the name “Samantha,” killed herself.

A teacher and another student were killed, police said, while six were injured, including two students who have been hospitalized in critical condition.

The attack, which comes just days before the Christmas holidays, has thrown the small, close-knit community into mourning. Students had a week full of festivities to look forward to, including a holiday concert and an Ugly Christmas Sweater Day, according to the school’s website.

The tragedy marks the 83rd school shooting across the United States this year — surpassing 2023 for the most school shootings in a single year since CNN began tracking such incidents in 2008.

In interviews with CNN affiliate WISCsurvivors of the attack — some as young as 7 or 8 years old — recalled screaming in the hallways of the school, saying they were “really scared” and “really sad.” Parents notified of the shooting described anxiously waiting to hear about their children’s whereabouts.

“Thank God they were safe. But the trauma – it’s a lot, because I’m sure they lost friends and teachers, which is not right,” said Mireille Jean-Charles, a mother who has three children at the school . “And I don’t think they’ll be okay for a long time.”

As detectives continue to comb the crime scene and a north Madison home, they are also seeking additional search warrants. A motive behind the shooting is still unknown. Rupnow’s parents have been cooperating with investigators so far, Barnes said, and will not face charges in connection with the shooting “at this time.”

“We don’t want to question students,” Barnes said. “We want to give them an opportunity to come in and talk about what they may have seen when they feel ready, and so some of these questions can’t be answered.”

Like all K-12 students, Rupnow entered Abundant Life at the beginning of the school day. Shortly before 11 a.m., while inside a classroom under a study hall with students from mixed classes, she pulled out a gun and opened fire on her peers, police said.

Students at the school, who were well-trained in shooting drills, quickly sensed the attack was real and “handled themselves brilliantly” even though they were “obviously scared,” said Barbara Wiers, director of school and school relations for Abundant Life.

As law enforcement officials wait for witnesses to come forward with new information, they are pursuing other leads to gain clarity on a timeline of events, clues that could determine Rupnow’s motive and details about the firearm she used.

Authorities are aware of writings that have been posted by someone with alleged ties to Rupnow, Barnes said, but have not been able to confirm its authenticity. He said authorities have not found the person who made the post, but are seeking help from the FBI.

A north Madison residential property said to be the suspect’s home was cordoned off and searched Monday — with video from CNN affiliate WTMJ shows the home’s front door removed and windows detonated with stun grenades, according to several neighbors interviewed.

“I heard the news this afternoon and thought, well, we’re just driving past the main drag and there it was,” a neighbor told WTMJ. “The front door was taken off and nobody was around and the detectives are in there cleaning up the mess.”

Earlier Monday, Barnes said the suspect’s home had been searched and police are seeking additional search warrants. Rupnow’s father, he said, had spoken with police at one of their facilities. “We have no reason to believe they have committed a crime at this time,” Barnes said, referring to Rupnow’s parents.

In recent years, law enforcement has charged parents of children who carried out school shootings — such as the father of 14-year-old Colt Gray, who carried out a mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Georgia, was indicted on 29 counts earlier this year.

Police have asked the community to refrain from holding vigils at the school, which they say remains an active crime scene and was monitored overnight.

A candlelight vigil is planned for Tuesday evening, with the city’s mayor and education officials expected to attend.

Madison police are also expected to hold a briefing at 1 p.m. Tuesday, where they could release the names and ages of the victims, including those who have been hospitalized. Police had previously said they wanted to ensure all family members were notified before the victims’ identities were made public.

In one declaration announced Monday, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers announced that all flags over federal installations and facilities across the country would be lowered to half-staff until December 22 in honor of the victims.

“As a father, grandfather and governor, it is 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.”

A safe hold on several district schools was lifted and schools in the Madison Metropolitan School District will resume classes on Tuesday.

The fall semester is heading into its Christmas break as it began – with a mass shooting.

Rice University in Houston, Texas, witnessed an apparent murder-suicide on the first day of classes on August 26. The following week, a 14-year-old shooter killed four victims at a high school in Winder, Georgia – making it the deadliest school shooting of the year.

The shooting at Abundant Life also marks the latest shooting to take place at a small, private Christian school — and among 56 to take place on K-12 grounds.

Last year, a shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, left three 9-year-olds and three adults dead.

Earlier this month, two boys, ages 5 and 6, were in critical condition after a shooting at a Christian school north of Sacramento in Oroville, California. The private school, Feather River Adventist School, is affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, part of the Protestant Christian denomination whose followers believe the Bible is the inerrant word of God and in the second coming of Christ.

CNN’s Jessie Yeung, Jennifer Feldman, Steve Almsay, Taylor Romine and Michelle Watson contributed to this report.