Wisconsin shooting latest: Natalie Rupnow joined shooting range before school attack as police hunt motive
Natalie Rupnow, a 15-year-old student at Abundant Life Christian School, was photographed shooting skeet in the summer
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Natalie Rupnow joined a shooting range just months before the 15-year-old opened fire on a Christian school in Madison, Wisconsin, shooting dead a teacher and fellow student.
Jeff Rupnow posted a photograph of his teen daughter shooting skeet on Facebook in August. He wrote in a comment that the pair had joined in spring and had been “loving… every second of it”.
Rupnow, who also went by the name “Samantha,” wore a shirt emblazoned with the logo of the venerable German electro-industrial band KMFDM. The top is similar to one worn by teenage mass shooter Harris, who in 1999, with classmate Dylan Klebold, fatally shot 15 students at Littleton, Colorado’s Columbine High School.
It comes as Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said during a press conference on Tuesday that Rupnow’s motive for the attack on Abundant Life Christian School may have included a “combination of factors,” after Rupnow shot two people dead and left six others injured before being found dead with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Police said they are now talking to students to determine whether the shooter had been bullied. The teenager had a “turbulent home life,” according to court documents, the Washington Post reported.
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Women make up resounding minority of school shooters
Natalie Rupnow, 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 database of 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.
Police and ATF look into history of handgun used in attack
Investigators are working alongside the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to track down the origin of the weapon believed to have been used by school shooter, Natalie Rupnow.
Police have said the 15-year-old shooter used a handgun to carry out the attack. Its history is now being traced by the ATF, Madison Police Department Chief Shon Barnes told CNN on Tuesday.
It is not yet clear who the gun belonged to or where it originated.
“We have asked our partners with the ATF to expedite what’s called an ATF trace form to try and determine the origin of that weapon, who purchased it and how it got from a manufacturer all the way to the hands of a 15-year-old girl,” he said.
“These are questions that are going to take some time to answer.”
ICYMI: School shooter had ‘turbulent home life,’ court documents show
The 15-year-old Abundant Life Christian School shooter had a “turbulent home life,” according to court documents seen by the Washington Post.
Natalie Rupnow’s parents, Melissa and Jeff Rupnow, reportedly divorced and remarried multiple times. Their daughter enrolled in therapy to guide her through their custody arrangements, according to the newspaper.
The Post reported that the documents point “to an unsettled childhood for Rupnow, whose parents’ custody agreements sometimes forced her to move between their homes every two or three days.”
They reportedly divorced for the first time in 2014 and agreed to joint legal custody of their daughter. It was agreed that she would primarily live with her mother. They remarried in 2017 and divorced for a second time in 2020. They were to divide custody of Natalie evenly, the court records reportedly show.
After they split up for the second time, they briefly remarried again. By April 2021, they were petitioning for a third divorce, The Post reports.
Slain teacher was ‘very kind and caring,’ former student says
A seventh-grader from Abundant Life Christian School described the slain teacher as a “kind and caring” person.
Angel Brube, who was inside the Madison, Wisconsin, school at the time of the shooting, reflecting on Monday’s horror attack.
“It was very unexpected and also very scary,” Brube told CNN. “We were just chilling in class and it just came.”
The schoolchild said he knew one of the two victims, a teacher, who died in the shooting.
“The teacher, yes I did know her. And she was a really good person,” Brube said. He added that he had been taught by her “many times before”.
“She was always very kind and caring and she was always very friendly and communicative,” he added.
When Natalie Rupnow began pulling the trigger of her handgun, Brube said the first gunshots he heard sounded like really loud footsteps or banging.
He said police came into the school carrying “long rifles”.
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What to know about the victims
A student and a teacher were killed during the deadly shooting that occurred at the Abundant Life Christian School on Monday in Madison, Wisconsin.
Police held a follow-up press conference on Tuesday afternoon, but are still yet to officially name the two.
The shooter – previously identified by police as 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow – also died during the incident from a suspected self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Mike Bedigan has outline what we do know about the victims so far:
What to know about the Wisconsin school shooting victims
Police are yet to officially name the two following a second press conference on Tuesday
Watch: Little girl, 8, reveals horror inside Wisconsin school during shooting
Star Wars actor shares heartbreaking headline in response to Wisconsin school shooting
Star Wars actor Mark Hamill has shared a heartbroken and evergreen headline after the United States was rocked by another school shooting, which has left three people dead.
A 15-year-old girl, who police identified as Natalie Rupnow, killed a teacher and fellow student after opening fire at the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin. Rupnow was also pronounced dead at the scene, Department Chief Shon Barnes said.
Six others have been left injured, including two left in critical condition with life-threatening injuries. At the time of writing, Rupnow’s motives remain unclear.
Greg Evans has the details.
Star Wars actor shares heartbreaking headline in response to Wisconsin shooting
Three people have died and six have been left injured after the shooting
ICYMI: Natalie Rupnow pictured with shotgun at firing range just months before school shooting
The father of school shooter Natalie “Samantha” Rupnow, who killed two people and wounded six others at the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin, encouraged the 15-year-old to practice her weapons-handling skills in the months leading up to Monday’s bloodshed, according to a review of his online activity.
In August, Jeff Rupnow - who was unable to be reached on Tuesday - posted a photograph on Facebook of what appears to be his shotgun-wielding daughter shooting clay pigeons at a local gun club.
“Is that kiddo?” a friend commented.
“Sure is!!!!” Rupnow replied. “We joined NBSC this spring and we have been loving all [sic] every second of it!”
Justin Rohrlich has the story.
School shooter pictured with shotgun at firing range 4 months prior to deadly attack
Natalie Rupnow, 15, shot clay pigeons while wearing a t-shirt similar to one closely associated with Columbine mass shooter Eric Harris
Neighbors of Wisconsin shooter describe the block’s new sadness
Neighbors told The Independent’s Justin Rohrlich of their sadness after learning the teenage shooter’s identity.
Suzy De Wilde said she and her husband moved in about four years ago and that she regularly saw Natalie Rupnow hanging out in the park next to their property.
“Every day, I wash my dishes and I see that house,” she said. “It’s f*****g crazy that that’s where the shooter lived… Every day, I get to look at that front door now. How do you live with these reminders everywhere?”
For more details, read the full report below.
Neighbors of Wisconsin school shooter Natalie Rupnow talk living near killer
Exclusive: “It’s f*****g crazy that that’s where the shooter lived,” Suzy De Wilde told The Independent. “... Every day, I get to look at that front door now.”