Madison shooting victims: A loving, devoted teacher and a student filled with artistic ambitions are victims of the Wisconsin school shooting

CNN
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Rubi Patricia Vergara was an “avid reader” and full of artistic promise, according to her obituary. She sang and played keyboards in a family band and “shared a special bond with her beloved pets”, Ginger the cat and Coco the dog.

Erin Michelle West was “kind and caring” and “really loved her kids” at Abundant Life Christian School, according to students there. The school’s substitute instructional coordinator, West was also a proud and loving mother, they said.

Vergara and West were killed in a shooting Monday morning at the school in Madison, Wis., the Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office said.

Six others were injured, two of whom remained hospitalized on Wednesday, police said. Their names have not been released.

Here’s what we know about the victims:

West, 42, lived in DeForest, Wis., and was a teacher at Abundant Life, officials said.

She worked as a substitute teacher for three years before taking a position as the school’s substitute coordinator, Abundant Life’s communications director told Associated Press.

Angel Brube, a seventh-grader who was present during the shooting, told CNN he knew West well, describing her as “kind and caring” and a good communicator.

Abundant Life sophomore Mackynzie Wilson, who also knew West and saw her just hours before the shooting, told CNN that her teacher “really loved her kids.”

“She was so excited to see her daughters grow up and what they were going to be and do with their lives,” Wilson said.

West’s love for her children extended to “everyone at our school,” Wilson added. “She would have done anything for them … I just wish I could have gone back and given her a hug.”

The second student described returning to school as difficult because of the “fear and trauma that has built up.”

Vergara, a freshman at Abundant Life, comes from a large family.

The 14-year-old “loved art, singing and playing the keyboard” in her family law band, according to her obituary. She had a particular soft spot for animals.

Her funeral will take place Saturday in Madison. Her burial will be in Roselawn Memorial Park, her obituary reads.

Correction: A caption in this story misidentified Erin Michelle West and Rubi Vergara. It has been corrected.

CNN’s Taylor Romine and Michelle Watson contributed to this report.