Wisconsin school shooting latest: Student and teacher killed by Natalie Rupnow are named
Erin Michelle West, 42, and Rubi Patricia Vergara, 14, have been named as the victims of the shooting at Abundant Life Christian School after Natalie ‘Samantha’ Rupnow opened fire
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The student and teacher who were killed in the school shooting in Madison, Wisconsin, have both been named.
Teacher Erin Michelle West, 42, and Rubi Patricia Vergara, 14, were named for the first time on Wednesday evening as the victims of the shooting at Abundant Life Christian School on Monday after Natalie “Samantha” Rupnow, 15, opened fire.
Vergara was a freshman at the school and “an avid reader, loved art, singing and playing keyboard in the family worship band,” according to the obituary.
Police had previously refused to reveal the identities of the victims.
When pressed about the victims’ identities at a Tuesday press conference, Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway told reporters that it was “absolutely none of y’all’s business who was harmed in this incident.”
Multiple vigils were held Tuesday night for the victims as neighbors continue to reel from the tragedy.
Police are continuing to investigate the possible motive behind Rupnow’s shooting. Facebook posts reveal that she joined a shooting range just months before Monday’s mass shooting.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
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California man ‘had been texting Natalie Rupnow’ - reports
According to a gun violence restraining order issued Tuesday and obtained by CBS 8 in San Diego, FBI agents detained Alexander Paffendorf after discovering that Paffendorf had been texting 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow around the time of the shooting when she opened fire at the Abundant Life Christian School on Monday, killing a student and a teacher.
Paffendorf was allegedly attempting to coordinate an attack at a government building in San Diego during the shooting. The building was not immediately identified.
“During an FBI interview, Paffendorf admitted to the FBI agents that he told Rupnow that he would arm himself with explosives and a gun and that he would target a government building,” reads the two-page restraining orde, CBS 8 reported.
Paffendorf was seized Tuesday night after a San Diego Superior Court Judge approved the restraining order against him
Neigbors told CBS 8 that some 12 police cars descended on the housing complex where Paffendorf lives.
“They had their full guns out all over the street,” neighbor Alex Gallegos told CBS 8. “There were cop cars. I’d say about 15 cops here.”
Both the Madison Police Department and FBI San Diego declined to comment when approached by The Independent.
Madison police share statement following identification of victims
The Madison Police Department has shared a statement following the identification of the two victims of the shooting.
Rubi Vergara, 14, was named in an obituary on Wednesday evening and Erin West, 42, was named by the Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office.
“Our department is committed to transparency and will continue to release information that can be used to improve public safety,” the statement said.
“This must be balanced, however, with our commitment to the victims and survivors of the shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison. Two people died and six others were injured during this shooting. Additionally, evidence suggests the shooter died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
“This incident has now entered the investigation phase, and the information we can release is limited. This phase takes time. We recognize people have questions, and we will answer them in due time. Until then we ask you keep the victims and survivors in mind and respect their right to privacy.”
BREAKING: Man, 20, detained in California ‘in connection to Madison school shooting' - reports
A 20-year-old man in California has been detained “in connection to the Madison school shooting”, according to a report by CBS 8.
According to the report, the man from Carlsbad, near San Diego, was in contact with Natalie Rupnow and “coordinating an attack at a local government building.”
Madison Police Department directed The Independent to the FBI when contacted for further information.
The Independent has contacted the FBI in San Diego.
Only a few school shooters are women
The 15-year-old, who died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound on Monday morning, is one of the few female perpetrators of school shootings in recent decades after a teacher and student were gunned down in the attack on the Madison school.
Gunmen commit the overwhelming majority of such attacks and, including the Madison shooting, just nine female students have carried out a school shooting since 1999, according to a Washington Post database.
Data from advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety finds that women constitute less than five percent of assailants across 544 school shooting incidents over the past 11 years.
Of the 197 shooting incidents in the Violence Prevention Project databaseof mass shootings since 1966, 192 of the shooters were male, four were female, and one was transgender. White men made up the majority of perpetrators, according to the database.
Read the full story.
Wisconsin teen Natalie Rupnow joins a rare subset of school shooters: women
Less than five percent of recent school shootings in recent decades were committed by females, data suggests
School will remain closed until after the Christmas break
Charles Moore, the leader of Madison Christian schools, confirmed that the school would remain closed until after the Christmas break.
Moore told the Journal Sentinel at a vigil on Tuesday night that the community was in complete shock.
“It’s hard to comprehend the shock,” Moore said. “There are still some very, very injured children in the hospital. It doesn’t end on the first day, in the first couple of minutes. Lives have been torn apart.”
Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office release further information about deaths
West and Vergara were both pronounced dead at the scene, the Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office said.
The office confirmed to The Independent that West and Vergara died due to homicidal firearm-related trauma.
Their deaths remain under investigation by the Madison Police Department and the Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office.
BREAKING: Teacher killed in shooting named as Erin Michelle West
The teacher who was killed in the Wisconsin school shooting has been named as Erin Michelle West, the Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed to The Independent on Wednesday night.
Vergara’s aunt pays tribute to teen victim
Rubi Vergara’s aunt, Stacy Remus, paid tribute to the student on Facebook.
“Friends and family... here it is. This is our beautiful Rubi Vergara, our niece who was killed in Monday’s school shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison,” Remus wrote.
“We are grateful for our friends, family and Bluff View Church family for your support during this hard time. And by the way .... Jesus is Still on the Throne and God is Good. Rubi, there are very few words to express how our hearts are broken, we love you and miss you.”
The student’s funeral will take place this Saturday, according to the obituary.
Pictured: Student who was killed named as Rubi Vergara
BREAKING: Student who was killed in shooting named
The student who was killed in the school shooting in Madison, Wisconsin, has been identified as Rubi Patricia Vergara.
An obituary released on Wednesday named the 14-year-old as one of the victims of the shooting at Abundant Life Christian School on Monday, the Associated Press reported.
The name of the teacher who also died has not been released.
Vergara was a freshman at the school and “an avid reader, loved art, singing and playing keyboard in the family worship band,” according to the obituary.