Small, tight-knit community in Madison, Wisconsin, reeling from school shooting as authorities continue to seek answers

By Karina Tsui, Jessie Yeung, Amanda Jackson and Michelle Watson, CNN

(CNN) — Hundreds gathered outside the Wisconsin State Capitol on Tuesday night despite the freezing temperatures to remember victims of a private school shooting that left one teacher and a student dead and wounded six others.

A Christmas tree decorated for the holiday season was twinkling as mourners gathered to grieve, holding candles and hugging therapy dogs.

Investigators are still trying to piece together how and why 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow, who went by the name “Samantha,” pulled out a gun and opened fire on her peers and teachers at the Abundant Life Christian School on Monday.

Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said Tuesday identifying Rupnow’s motive is a top priority and that it appears to be a “combination of factors,” but declined to give more details.

Police are talking to students to determine if bullying was one of the factors, he said, and investigators are looking through the online presence of the shooter to try to learn new information.

Here’s what we’ve learned so far:

• Victims: Police have not yet publicly disclosed the names of the shooting victims. Barnes revealed the teacher who was fatally shot was a full-time staff member. In an interview with CNN, Angel Brube, a seventh grader at Abundant Life Christian School, said he knew the teacher well and described her as “kind and caring” and “a really good person.” Two people who were injured in the shooting are in critical condition with “life-threatening injuries,” while two are stable and remain in the hospital and two others were discharged, according to city officials.
• Weapon: Police said Rupnow used a handgun to carry out the attack. The US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is tracing the weapon, which will help answer questions like “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,” Barnes said.
• Family of shooter: Court records obtained by The Washington Post show that Rupnow had “a turbulent home life” and that she had been enrolled in therapy. The documents reveal that her parents “divorced and remarried multiple times” and that their custody agreements “sometimes forced her to move between their homes every two to three days.” Rupnow’s parents – Jeff and Mellissa Rupnow – have not responded to repeated requests for comment by the Washington Post or CNN.
• Possibility of criminal charges: The mayor of Madison said it is too early to comment on if the parents of the shooter will face criminal charges. Barnes said previously investigators are looking at “if the parents may have been negligent.” He also said the parents are cooperating and as of Monday night, investigators “have no reason to believe that they have committed a crime at this time.”
• Links to shooting club: Jeff Rupnow, Natalie’s father, had posted a photo on Facebook of his daughter at a shooting range in August. In the photo, the teenager can be seen wearing a black shirt with the name of the band KMFDM, whose song lyrics have also been cited by the students who carried out the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado, where 13 victims were killed, CNN has reported. KMFDM issued a statement condemning the 1999 attack and expressed sympathy for the victims, adding that their music was intended to stand against violence, according to Reuters.
• Documents: Authorities are aware of writings that have been posted by someone who claimed to be a friend of the shooter, but those documents have not been verified. Barnes asked people not to share the documents online because they “cannot verify its authenticity,” adding detectives are working on figuring out where it came from.

Residents and officials call for action

Madison local Justin Myers brought his two young children to the Tuesday vigil, telling CNN that he had “told them the truth” about what happened at Abundant Life.

Although his kids do not attend the Christian private school, he said they were ordered to go through a secure protocol at their nearby public school on Monday, what the father of two described as a shooting drill.

“It’s an epidemic, and I’m not a big believer in the thoughts and prayers crap –– I don’t think it works,” he added. “We need action, legislation and laws to make sure that guns don’t get into the hands of people who don’t have them.”

Nicole Hockley, the co-founder and co-CEO of Sandy Hook Promise, whose child was killed in the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012, said in a statement following the shooting at Abundant Life that “we must work together to protect our families and communities from gun violence.”

President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Wisconsin Democratic Rep. Mark Pocan called for more action from Congress to address gun violence.

“From Newtown to Uvalde, Parkland to Madison, to so many other shootings that don’t receive attention – it is unacceptable that we are unable to protect our children from this scourge of gun violence,” Biden said in a statement Monday.

In an interview with CNN, Pocan said: “I’ve sat through so many moments of silence on the floors of Congress that are followed by zero moments of action.”

Both federal and Wisconsin law generally make it illegal for someone younger than 18 to possess a firearm. State law similarly makes it illegal for any person to intentionally sell, loan or give a dangerous weapon to someone younger than 18 –– but there are exceptions such as allowing minors to possess a firearm for target practice under adult supervision, for use in the armed forces or for hunting.

Wisconsin also has a child access firearm law that makes it illegal to recklessly store a loaded firearm within reach or easy access of a child younger than 14.

Prosecutors in recent years have taken steps to hold parents accountable for providing their children with firearms they would go on to use in school shootings. Two such cases include school shootings at an Oxford, Michigan high school in 2021 and a Winder, Georgia high school in September.

CNN’s Taylor Romine, Sarah Dewberry, Elise Hammond, Holly Yan, Steve Almasy, Jillian Sykes, Caroll Alvarado and Taylor Galgano contributed to this report.

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