Police arrived at Abundant Life Christian School within minutes of the second grader’s call, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said
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A second grader called 911 to report the school shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wis., on Monday, Dec. 16, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said at an evening press conference. The shooter, a teacher and a student are dead. Six others were injured and two remain in critical condition.
“Let that soak in for a minute,” Barnes told reporters. “A second-grade student called 911 at 10:57 a.m. to report a shooting at the school.”
Police arrived about four minutes later, Barnes said, explaining that the shooting happened in a study hall of the K-12 school, per the Associated Press.
The shooter was identified as 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow, who went by the name Samantha, Barnes said. She was pronounced dead on the way to the hospital. Evidence suggests she died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Barnes said, per CNN.
Police will release the names of the victims after all family members are notified, Barnes added, suggesting that the names could be released during the next press briefing at 1 p.m. CT on Tuesday, Dec. 17.
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Police responded to an active shooter call at the school just before 11 a.m. Monday, Barnes said at an earlier press conference. “No officers fired their weapons,” he said.
The students handled themselves “magnificently” after realizing it was not a drill, Barbara Wiers, director of elementary and school relations for the school, said, per CNN.
“I cannot tell you how well our students did in that process,” Wiers added. “They were clearly scared … When they heard ‘lockdown, lockdown’ and nothing else – they knew it was real, but they handled themselves brilliantly.”
The school has 420 students. There are no metal detectors, but Wiers said the school has other security measures, including cameras.
The shooter’s family is cooperating with authorities, added Barnes, who said his department is now tasked with finding out about a possible motive. On Monday evening, Barnes said the shooter’s father was speaking with police at one of their facilities. They are not considering charging the parents at this time as they are “fully cooperating,” he explained.
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“Many of you have asked me about the why of this,” Barnes said during the earlier press conference. “Why did this happen? What do we know? What was the motivation? I do not know. But I will tell you this, our detectives are working hard in the investigative process to find out as many answers as we can so that we can further prevent these things from happening not only in this community but in other communities around our country.”
Two students are in critical condition with “life-threatening injuries,” said Barnes. Three other students and a teacher suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Two of those four have been discharged from SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital – Madison Monday evening, per ABC News.
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Madison schools were placed on lockdown following the shooting.
“I think we can all agree that enough is enough,” Barnes said earlier Monday. “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.”
