Natalie Rupnow: What we know about the Madison school shooter

CNN
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Police have identified the shooter in Monday’s attack at a private Christian school in Madison, Wis., as a 15-year-old female student as they investigate the latest school shooting to devastate an American community and claim the lives of a staff member and another student. .

Natalie Rupnow — who went by the name “Samantha,” said Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes — was found dead when officers responded to Abundant Life Christian School. Evidence suggests the shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Barnes said at a news conference late Monday.

Six others were injured in the shooting, police said, including two students hospitalized in critical condition.

As the victims recover, authorities investigate Rupnow’s background, examine writings allegedly connected to her, and trace the history of the gun she used.

Here’s what we know.

Investigators’ “top priority” is to determine the shooter’s motive, Barnes said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.

“But at this point, it appears that the motive was a combination of factors,” he said, though he declined to provide more details.

Authorities are aware, the chief said, of a “document” that had “been widely shared on social media.”

“At this time, we cannot confirm its authenticity,” the chief said. “We have detectives working today to determine where this document originated and who actually shared it online.”

Police are also investigating the shooter’s online activity, Barnes told reporters. Officials are not releasing “specific information about those social media accounts,” but he encouraged anyone who knew the shooter or had insight into her feelings prior to the shooting to contact investigators.

Police have said the shooter used a handgun to carry out the attack — a weapon whose history is now being tracked by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Barnes said.

“We’ve asked our partners with the ATF to expedite what’s called an ATF tracing form to try to determine the origin of that gun, who bought it and how it got from a manufacturer all the way to the hands of a 15- year-old girl,” Barnes told CNN’s “News Central” on Tuesday. “These are questions that will take some time to answer.”

Rupnow’s family is cooperating with police, Barnes said Monday, acknowledging that a heavy police presence at a home on the north side of Madison was related to the shooting.

It is unclear whether the shooter’s parents owned or possessed the gun used in the shooting, Barnes told CNN. Police, along with prosecutors, “will want to look at whether the parents may have been negligent,” he said.

“However, at this time, that does not appear to be the case.”

Both federal and Wisconsin law generally make it illegal for a person younger than 18 years of age possess a firearm. State law similarly makes it illegal for any person to knowingly sell, lend or give a dangerous weapon to someone under 18. there are exceptions which allows a minor to possess a firearm for target practice under adult supervision, for use in the armed forces or for hunting.

Wisconsin also has one Act on Access to Firearms for Children which makes it illegal to keep a loaded firearm within reach or easy access of a child under 14 years of age.

Prosecutors in recent years have taken steps to hold accountable parents who gave their children the firearms they would go on to use in school shootings, testing the limits of who could be held responsible.

Two such cases followed school shootings at a high school in Oxford, Michigan, in 2021 and a high school in Winder, Georgia in September.

CNN’s Michelle Watson, Eric Levenson and Holly Yan contributed to this report.