[WATCH] Tragedy at Madison’s Abundant Life Christian School Leaves 4 Dead

A 15-year-old girl opened fire inside the Christian school she attended in Madison, Wisconsin, on Monday, killing a teacher and a student and wounding six others, ABC News reported. The suspect, Natalie Rupnow, is also dead, police said.

Evidence suggests that the teen, who went by Samantha, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The teenage suspect used a handgun, police said. Authorities are investigating the origin of the firearm, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said.

A motive is not clear, Barnes said at a news conference. It is also unclear if any of the victims was specifically targeted, officials said on Monday.

 The suspect’s father is speaking with police at one of their facilities. Police are “trying to determine what he knew or may have not known about what happened today, but again, he lost someone as well,” Barnes said. “This has obviously rocked our school community,” said Barbara Wiers, the director of elementary and school relations for Abundant Life Christian School.

“But we know it affects not just our school community, but Madison and the greater area and all schools.” The shooting took place just before 11 a.m. in a study hall comprising mixed ages and grades. A second-grader made the 911 call. “Let that soak in for a minute,” Barnes said. “A second-grade student called 911 at 10:57 a.m. to report a shooting at school.”

The school does not have metal detectors or a school resource officer, but has other security protocols in place, including cameras, she said. “Prior To the start of the school year, we had a retraining. We train on this. We do lockdown drills, we do evacuation drills as part of our standard drill protocols. Our students are versed in that. Our faculty are well versed in that,” she explained. “The training that we did with [Madison Police Department] at the very beginning of the year, prior to the students returning to campus, had some new updates, and so we had looked at some of those things. So I think everything was very fresh for our faculty.” 

“I cannot, cannot tell you how well our students did in that process. They were clearly scared when they realized — when we practice, we always say, ‘This is a drill, it is just a drill.’ When they heard, ‘Lockdown, lockdown,’ and nothing else, they knew it was real,” Wiers said, adding: “But they handled themselves brilliantly.”

Two students are in critical condition with life-threatening injuries, Barnes said, while another three students and a teacher suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Emergency vehicles are parked outside the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wis., following a shooting, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024. Two of the four injured were discharged from SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital – Madison on Monday evening. Officers responded to the active shooter report around 10:57 a.m. The suspect was dead upon police arrival and no officers fired their weapons, Barnes said. The shooting was “confined to one space,” but it’s not clear if it was a classroom or hallway, the chief said. Police believe that the suspect was already in the school and that there wasn’t any breach.

First responders acted swiftly to secure the scene and are now focused on reuniting students with their families, a process expected to take some time given the scale of the community impacted.