A teacher and a student were killed at a private school in Wisconsin on Monday after a person authorities identified as a teenage student at Abundant Life Christian School opened fire.
Six people were injured, and the suspected shooter, a 15-year-old female student, was killed, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes told reporters.
Here’s what we know about the shooting:
When did the shooting happen?
Authorities were dispatched to a report of an active shooter at Abundant Life Christian School, east of downtown Madison, at 10:57 a.m., Barnes said.
A second-grade teacher made the 911 call, he said at a news conference Tuesday. Barnes had incorrectly said Monday that a second-grade student made the call. “That was a mistake. That’s my responsibility, and I apologize and I clarify that today,” he said.
At the time of the shooting, Barnes said, officers had been training to respond to similar scenarios.
“So what began as a training day became an actual thing,” he said.
Where did the shooting happen?
The private school, east of downtown Madison, was founded in 1978 and teaches kindergarten through 12th grade to roughly 335 students.
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The shooting happened in a classroom during study hall, Barnes said, adding that students in a variety of grade levels were in the room.
Who are the victims?
A teenage student and a teacher were fatally shot, Barnes said.
The Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the victims Wednesday as 14-year-old Rubi P. Vergara, of Madison; and Erin M. West, 42, of Deforest.
Vergara and West, who were pronounced dead on scene, died of homicidal firearm related trauma, according to the medical examiner's office.
West was a substitute teacher at Abundant Life Christian School before becoming permanent staff as a sub coordinator and in-building substitute teacher, "a role tailor made for her abundant skills and breadth of knowledge," Barbara Wiers, the school's director of communications, said in a statement.
Wiers said the school "is a better school for the work of Erin West," calling her loss "a painful and deep one."
Vergara had been a student at the school since kindergarten, according to Wiers, who called her "blessing to her class and our school."
The three students and one teacher who were taken to the hospital with minor injuries have all been discharged, police said Wednesday night.
Two other students were taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. Police said they both remain in the hospital as of Wednesday night.
Barnes said Tuesday some have asked whether the shooter targeted victims in the shooting.
“Everyone was targeted in this incident,” he said. “And everyone was put in equal danger.”
Who is the shooter?
Barnes identified the suspect as Natalie Rupnow, 15, who went by Samantha, a student at Abundant Life.
She died en route to a hospital of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, Barnes said. The medical examiner's office said she died as a result of firearm-related trauma, and noted additional testing was underway.
The county medical examiner will make an official determination of the cause and manner of death, he said.
Police said a motive was not clear.
Investigators have talked to the shooter’s family and searched the home, Barnes said. Her parents are “fully cooperating,” Barnes said.
A handgun was recovered, said Barnes, who did not provide additional details about it.
How are officials responding?
Hours after the shooting, President Joe Biden pressed Congress to pass gun reform legislation, including universal background checks and a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
"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. "We cannot continue to accept it as normal."
Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., said: "Thoughts and prayers without action means more school shootings, more dead kids. More ACTION is needed by our elected officials." He also provided location details for a reunification site and a phone number for people who need help.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., offered his "condolences and prayers for all the victims of the tragedy at Abundant Life Christian School."
He said he would continue to closely monitor the situation.
