Updated December 16, 2024 at 22:55 PM ET
A 15-year-old girl has been identified as the student who opened fire at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wis., on Monday morning, police said.
A teacher and a student were killed, and two students remain in critical condition, Police Chief Shon Barnes said in a Monday night press briefing. The suspect, identified as Natalie Rupnow, who also went by the name Samantha, was pronounced dead while being taken to a hospital. Authorities believe she died of a gunshot wound, he said, though the cause of death has not yet been determined by the medical examiner.
A second-grader called 911 shortly before 11 a.m., alerting police to the shooting at the school, which teaches students from kindergarten through high school, Barnes said.
"Now 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."
Officers arrived at the school minutes later, where it was soon determined that the shooting suspect was already down, he said.
(NPR member station Wisconsin Public Radio is tracking local updates here.)
Officials also said police did not fire their weapons and the campus did not have a police school resource officer.
Three additional students and a teacher suffered non-life threatening injuries from the shooting and were taken to hospitals. As of Monday night, two students had been released and the two others were in stable condition.
"But these are just the physical injuries that we know about," Barnes, who is a former public school teacher, said in a press conference earlier that afternoon. "We know that this was the middle of a school day so there will be other injuries we have to face for a long time."
He said his department would not rush to "interrogate" students, as officers wanted to give the children time to process the incident.
Barnes said police talked to the family of the suspect and searched her home, but have no motive yet.
Barnes also said that he was not aware of any interactions police might have previously had with the suspect.
"But I think we can all agree that enough is enough and we have to come together to do everything we can to support our students. To prevent press conferences like these from happening again, and again and again," Barnes said.
Firearms are the leading cause of death for people ages 1 to 19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — a phenomenon that is unique to youth in the United States.
A 'gut-wrenching tragedy'
Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said earlier that evening that White House officials had been briefed on the shooting and offered their support. She said that for now, her primary focus is on supporting the victims and their families in the coming days and weeks.
"I am on record that I think that we need to do better in our country and our community to prevent gun violence," Rhodes-Conway said. "I hoped this day would never come to Madison."
Rhodes-Conway urged anyone dealing with mental health struggles to seek the help and support they need.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers says there are "no words to describe the devastation and heartbreak we feel today after the school shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison this morning."
Evers, a Democrat, said in a post on X that he's praying for the families and loved ones whose lives were "so senselessly taken" and called it a "gut-wrenching" tragedy.
"As a father, a grandfather, and as a governor, it is unthinkable that a kid or an educator might wake up and go to school one morning and never come home," he wrote. "This should never happen, and I will never accept this as a foregone reality or stop working to change it."
Evers ordered flags across Wisconsin to be lowered to half-staff to honor those who were killed.
In a statement, President Biden called the shooting "shocking and unconscionable."
"From Newtown to Uvalde, Parkland to Madison, to so many other shootings that don't receive attention — it is unacceptable that we are unable to protect our children from this scourge of gun violence," he said. "We cannot continue to accept it as normal. Every child deserves to feel safe in their class room. Students across our country should be learning how to read and write — not having to learn how to duck and cover."
Before Monday's shooting, there had been at least 81 school shootings in the United States in 2024, according to a CNN analysis.
According to the school's website, Abundant Life Christian School focuses on providing a "quality Christian education" to its 420 students.
The small, private Christian academy was set to close this week for Christmas vacation, sending the students off with an Ugly Christmas Sweater Spirit Day on Friday. As the school is an active crime scene, it was not yet clear if students will be expected to return before the holiday break.
Barbara Wiers, Abundant Life's elementary and school relations director, said during an evening press conference that the school does not have guns on the premises — students aren't even allowed to shoot fake finger guns on the playground, she said. "At school, we have no need for guns."
Earlier that evening, she told reporters that the school did not have metal detectors but "there are a number of security protocols in place" such as cameras. She said every student is "visually scanned" as they enter the building each morning.
"We see ourselves as a family, not just a community," Wiers said. "This wasn't a surprise to God, and He's going to do something mighty with it."
In a post on its public Facebook page, the school requested prayers.
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