Natalie Rupnow joined a shooting range just months before the 15-year-old opened fire on a school in Madison, Wisconsin, and shot 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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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.
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.
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.
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Parents praise ‘tightknit’ school for its ‘welcoming’ environment
As they reel from Monday’s shooting, parents whose children are enrolled at the Abundant Life Christian School have praised it for fostering a “tightknit” environment.
“We’re all a family, and we all know each other, whether they’re in the same grade or not,” Karl Gottschalk, who has three children enrolled at the school, told the New York Times. “It’s never been a concern that something like this would happen since this is such a small, religious school.”
“It’s a very tightknit community with not only excellent academics, but our love for Jesus and trust in God is the foundation,” Hannah Lease, whose two sons attend the school, told the outlet. “That’s what keeps us going during this time.”
Nick Cardarella, whose wife works at the school, added: “It’s come as you are. There is that religious element, but they’re not pushy in any kind of way.”
“It’s starting to be a big school, but we feel very connected,” Michelet Jean-Charles, who moved to Wisconsin from Haiti, said. “We feel that we can trust everyone at the school — the kids, their parents. We give hugs, we shake hands.”
Natalie Rupnow joins a rare subset of school shooters – 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.
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.
Josh Marcus and James Liddell report.
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Shooting in Madison is the latest carnage at a US school or college over the past 25 years
Hundreds of people in the U.S. have died in shootings over the past 25 years in places like offices, stores and theaters, but the carnage perhaps hits hardest when it happens in schools and colleges.
In those cases, the victims are children who still have some of their baby teeth, newly adult students with career and family dreams, and teachers who often become role models and mentors to their young students.
Monday’s shooting at the Christian school in Madison, Wisconsin, was the latest in a long list of those taking place at American schools and colleges since the 1999 Columbine High School Massacre in Colorado.
Read more below.
Neighbor who has known teen shooter since she was young shares his shock
Another neighbor who said he has known Natalie Rupnow since she was young said the news “shocked the living hell” out of him.
“Well, I haven’t seen her a lot close up in the last year, but she was always nice. She was always talkative, and I always thought she was a great little kid,” Art Zogbaum told Fox6 News.
When asked if she ever seemed like the kind of person who would do something like this, he replied: “No. Shocked the living hell out of me.”
Source: independent.co.uk