A shooting this morning at east side Madison’s Abundant Life Christian School, a private K-12 institution, has resulted in the deaths of three people, including the shooter — 15-year old female student Natalie Rupnow, who went by the name Samantha, according to the Associated Press. At least six people were injured as well. A handgun was recovered, and the incident was reportedly confined to one area of the school.
Roads have been blocked off along 4900 Buckeye Road, and community members are asked to avoid the area to allow for law enforcement to proceed with the ongoing investigation. Families are being reunified at the SSM Health on Stoughton and Buckeye roads.
Police Chief Shon Barnes said the shooting occurred just before 11 a.m. and made the following statement at roughly 2:40 p.m.:
“Today truly is a sad day for Madison and for our country. It is a day that I believe will live in our collective minds for a very, very long time.
“Here are the details. Today, at 10:57 a.m., our team was called to the Abundant Life Christian School in reference to an active shooter.
“We know that three people are dead, including the suspect shooter. We know that the suspect shooter was a teenage student who attended the school. At this time, we’re not releasing the age or gender of the student, or any other identifying remarks about the student.
“The two other people that died are a teacher and a teenage student.
“Six other people were injured, two students are now in critical condition in the hospital, and these injuries are considered life-threatening injuries.
“Four students are also at other area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries. But these are just the physical injuries that we know about.
“We know that this was the middle of the day, of a school day, and so there will be other injuries that they will have to face for a very long time, and we’re going to do everything we can, as a community, to heal those injuries as well.
“Many of you have asked me about the why of this. 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 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.
“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.
“The school building itself is clear. We have cleared the school. There are no other threats or danger to the community.
“We’re in the process now of what we call reunification, and what that simply means is making sure that every student that was in the school is present and accounted for and returned to their loved ones.
“This usually takes a while but we have practice, unfortunately, and practice and practice and that’s why we’re able to reunify student with their parents within hours of a school shooting.
“The reunification has taken place at the Dean Clinic on Stoughton Road and I certainly thank them for their help.
“Again, we need our public to find an alternate route if that is your normal way home. As we get closer to the end of the day, please be patient or find another route home.
“We’re currently processing the scene. We’re interviewing those who may have been witnesses, and we’re obtaining search warrants to get additional information.
“And lastly, I want to just say thank you to everyone who is standing behind me, the organizations and agencies that they represent, the men and women of the Madison Police Department and the Dane County Sheriff’s Office who selflessly ran into a building not knowing what they were going to encounter.
“Many of you know this about me but I started my professional career as a public school teacher back in 1997, and I taught public school for four years. It was one of the greatest joys of my life before becoming a police officer, and I can tell you what a special place our schools are.
“With that being said, we owe it to our community to do everything possible to ensure that it’s not only a special place, but a safe place as well, and we’re going to continue to do that.
“So, we ask for your patience as information is coming in. We will do the best that we can to bring you accurate and timely information, but we want to make sure that our public knows that we are working extremely hard on this particular incident. There are a lot of people involved, and we will certainly come together as a community.”
Madison Fire Chief Chris Carbon gave the following statement:
“Before I start, the only thing I can say is that this is not a place that any fire chief or any one of us would like to ever want to be, and I can’t believe I’m standing here today talking about this incident.
“The Fire Department is a part of this community, much like all the folks standing up here with me today. Our hearts are with, and our arms are around, everybody impacted today and everyone within our community.
“With that, I won’t repeat the details shared by Chief Barnes, but I will share with you the Fire Department activity for today. Much like Chief Barnes mentioned, at 10:57 a.m., we were also dispatched along with Engine and Medic 5 to the same location to the incident. We responded with five engine companies, four ladder companies, and 15 ambulances. I would like to take a moment and share our gratitude for our county partners throughout a multitude of police and fire agencies that joined us in the response today.
“We also had 11 off-duty chief officers that came in on this response. It was a tremendous response from the fire department.
“We transported four patients to St. Mary’s. We transported three patients to the University of Wisconsin Hospitals.
“On the arrival, our crews, and I can say my gratitude to our membership for what they did and their selfless actions today. It’s hard for me to place into words what they ran into as well. They did that immediately. They did that selflessly, and within the course of 15 minutes, from the first transport to the last transport, all the patients were on their way to the hospital.
“So, to our membership within the Madison Fire Department, and within all the emergency services, my gratitude, my recognition of the work that goes into this, the training that went into this, that again we hoped we would never have to put into practice.
“One more time, on behalf of the Madison Fire Department, our hearts are with you, our arms are around you, and we will be with you throughout the duration of this.”
Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway stated:
“This is an incredibly sad day for our community. As you’ve heard, there is no danger to the community at this time, but our entire community has been impacted by this tragic incident.
“On behalf of the Common Council and the city of Madison staff, I want to offer our heartfelt condolences to victims and families and to the whole Abundant Life community.
“Our focus now is on supporting them, and supporting the victims and their families, and we will continue to do that through the coming days and weeks.
“I also want to thank our first responders — the police, fire, the medical staff — for their quick action and their lifesaving efforts.
“As you’ve heard already, this is a whole-of-government response. It is not just police and fire, it is not just city of Madison.
“We have folks from all around the county. We have folks from multiple agencies engaged in both the initial, immediate response and the ongoing support, and [they] will be engaged for days and weeks to come.
“I also want to thank the White House and the governor and others in the federal government and state government for reaching out to offer their support and help, and we will be drawing on resources as needed going forward.
“But the most important thing right now is to make sure that we are centering the victims and their families and that we are doing whatever we can to support them, and to help them heal, and to lift our entire community up through this difficult incident.
“I am on record that I think we need to do better in our country and our community to prevent gun violence.
“I hoped that this day would never come in Madison. It is not something that any mayor, any fire chief, any police chief, any person in public office every wants to have to deal with.
“And so, I will ask our entire community and our entire country to do whatever we can to make sure that no public official ever has to stand in this position again.”
Dane County Executive Melissa Agard stated the following:
“Good afternoon, everyone. Today, our community is reeling from the heartbreaking and senseless tragedies at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison. As a mom who received a text from her son at a high school here in the city of Madison, wondering if he was safe, I can tell you, this hits you in the gut.
“Our community is better than this. Our country is better than this. It cannot continue. My heart goes out to the victims and their families, the students, and the educators, and the list goes on and on.
“Everyone of us is affected by this unimaginable and unacceptable violence that has hit our community today.
“Dane County stands united in grief with the Abundant Life Christian School community. The Sheriff’s Department, the Department of Emergency Management, and the Department of Human Services have all been on the frontlines.
“My phone has been ringing from people across our state and our nation asking what it is that they can do to help our community.
“And right now, it is our time to be committed to supporting this school, these students, and these families, and our first responders who went into that building during this devastating time.
“We must work closely with our law enforcement officers and first responders, mental health professionals, community leaders, and policymakers to ensure that we are taking care of one another.
“No community should ever have to endure such a tragedy. My administration is going to do everything that it can to provide assistance to those who have experienced this devastating loss, and also do everything that we can to prevent such tragedy from occurring.
“To all of those who are grieving in our community, please know that you’re not alone. Dane County stands with you. We’re here to support you in any way possible. Please reach out and ask for help.
“The governor’s office as well as the mayor’s office and I will continue to update the public as we learn more, but please understand, there are many things that we can’t share with you right now. This is an active investigation. This is an active case.
“The SSM Health Clinic near the intersection of Buckeye Road and Stoughton Road is the reunification center. I know that that has been out, but we need to make sure that folks know where it is that they can go to be reunited with their children.
“Again, in the coming days, we are going to make sure that we are supporting those that have been most impacted by this, but folks, reach out, ask for help. This does not need to be the reality of our community. Thank you.”
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story has been updated to incorporate additional information about the suspect shooter and the statements of Madison Fire Chief Chris Carbon, Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway, and Dane County Executive Melissa Agard.
