People attend a vigil on the grounds of the Wisconsin State Capitol building to mourn the victims of the shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wis.
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The community at a small Christian school in Madison, Wis., is reeling in the aftermath of the school shooting that took place there Monday. The incident at Abundant Life Christian School left two people dead. Six people were hospitalized – two of them in critical condition. The shooter, identified by authorities as 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow, is also dead. Police have described her death as an apparent suicide. Here’s the latest in the investigation.
Authorities say the shooter was messaging with a California man ahead of the attack
According to court records from the San Diego Superior Court, Rupnow was in contact with a 20-year-old man in California who on Tuesday was issued a gun violence emergency protective order, which requires a person to surrender any firearms they have.
“FBI agents stopped and detained Alexander Paffendorf after he was discovered plotting a mass shooting with the Madison Wisconsin shooter, Natalie ‘Samantha’ Rupnow. 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. FBI agents saw the messages from Paffendorf to Rupnow,” the order reads.
The order, filed by police in Carlsbad, Calif., notes a court hearing in early January. It is unclear whether Paffendorf, who lives in Carlsbad, has been charged with any crimes or is in custody. The FBI declined to comment on an ongoing investigation, but the San Diego field office of the bureau said in a statement that they are “not aware of any ongoing threats associated with this matter in Wisconsin or California.” They said the Madison Police Department is leading the investigation.
As far as a motive, police still don’t know why Rupnow committed the shooting, though they have said it appears to be a combination of factors. They said most school shooters display warning signs ahead of time. Authorities are urging anyone who knew Rupnow to contact them.
Those who commit mass shootings are rarely female, so data is limited on whether female shooters have any unique commonalities. However, there are trends among school shooters in general, says Jillian Peterson, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at Hamline University who studies mass shootings.
“Perpetrators of school shootings tend to come from childhoods with a lot of violence or trauma. They tend to be in crisis, isolated, angry. They study other shooters. They’re actively suicidal,” Peterson told NPR this week. “We know that perpetrators tend to tell other people they’re thinking about doing this.”
Two weapons were found at the scene
Two firearms were recovered at the school, though authorities say only one was used during the shooting. Madison police say the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives traced those guns, but authorities have not released that information.
Wisconsin law prohibits anyone under 18 from possessing a firearm, and requires guns be securely stored around children. However, the state defines a child as under 14 years old.
“Our laws in Wisconsin are far too lax when it comes to access to guns by children. And I do believe that we should have safe storage laws. We should have background checks. We should have red flag bills,” Dane County Executive Melissa Agard said at a press conference on the incident earlier this week.
Chris Dolson, a longtime pastor in Madison, echoed Agard’s sentiments at a vigil for the victims.
“No one lives in a place that’s absolutely safe because it can happen anywhere. Anybody can get a hold of a gun if they want to. That’s enough. We live in a gun country,” Dolson told NPR. “Prayer’s important, but there’s a frustration in our community that we don’t want to be the community that just says, ‘Well, let’s pray.’ So let’s talk about justice, too. Both those things go together.”
The two victims are named
The Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office released the names of the two people killed in the shooting. Those two victims were both pronounced dead at the scene.
One of the victims was a student, 14-year-old Rubi Vergara. She was a freshman at the school. An obituary for her describes her as an avid reader who loved art, singing and playing the keyboard. She had a brother, and is described as having a special bond with her cat Ginger and her dog Coco.
The other victim was a teacher, 42-year-old Erin West. She was listed on the school’s website as the substitute coordinator. According to her obituary, she was the mother of three daughters. She is described as enjoying camping with her family, going to sports games at the school and serving at her church.
The community is coming together to grieve
Julie Bolos is a mother of three children at the school. She told NPR she felt a sense of community among parents while they waited at a reunification center on Monday to hear if their kids were okay. Her children were physically unharmed, but her two daughters were in a nearby classroom and heard gunshots and screaming.
“I don’t know if you can be a parent in America and not fear that you might get that call,” she said.
Bolos already has some personal experience with school shootings. She attended high school in Colorado near where the Columbine shooting happened in 1999. One of her close friends was shot in the library there and survived.
She says she always told herself it would be very unlikely that her children would be exposed to gun violence at school even though she had this experience in her own life. Now, she has to work through that fear all over again.
According to a database maintained by the Washington Post, more than 390,000 students have experienced gun violence at school since Columbine.
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