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Police in Madison, Wisconsin, on Tuesday continued to investigate what motivated a 15-year-old student of a Christian school to open fire in a study hall, killing a teacher and a fellow student the day before.
Other students were injured, including two who remained in critical condition Tuesday, police said.
“Identifying a motive is our top priority. But at this time, it appears that the motive was a combination of factors,” Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said at a news conference.
The shooter has been identified as Natalie Rupnow, 15, who went by Samantha and was a student at the school.
She opened fire with a handgun at a study hall, police said, and later died of what police believe was a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Barnes said investigators are looking at the suspect’s social media accounts. He asked that anyone who knew her or who may have insights into her feelings or what she may have been going through before the shooting to contact the Madison-area Crime Stoppers.
Authorities have not released the names of those who were killed. They are a student and a staff member at the school.
Barnes said the shooter’s family has been fully cooperative in the investigation.
Barnes said some have asked whether the shooter targeted victims.
“Everyone was targeted in this incident,” he said. “And everyone was put in equal danger.”
A day after school shooting, some parents keep kids home
Amy Rolack kept her 13-year-old daughter home today instead of sending her to school.
And her school in McFarland, a city 7 miles southeast of Madison, was “swatted” and put under lockdown after a threat, she said.
“I’m scared,” Rolack said at a vigil in Madison tonight for victims of yesterday’s shooting.
“The safest place besides her home should be school,” Rolack said. “It’s not anymore.”
Her eighth grade daughter, Lillian Smith, also said she did not want to go to school after yesterday’s violence.
“I’m just scared,” Lillian said. “What if it just keeps happening to all the schools in Wisconsin?”
Lillian has two friends who attend Abundant Life Christian School. Rolack described calling of those friends' mother and sobbing with her over the frightening situation.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Rolack said.
A number of false threats were made to Madison Metropolitan School District schools today, which is also known as “swatting,” Barnes said today.
11-year-old leaves flowers for victims at vigil: ‘They deserve respect'
Dressed against the Wisconsin cold, 11-year-old Sofia Cuahutepitzei and her sister dropped off flowers at crosses today at a vigil for yesterday’s deadly school shooting.
Sofia, who is in the sixth grade, attends a different public school from Abundant Life Christian School, but two close cousins go there.
“I just felt scared for them after I heard what was happening,” she said.
Sofia attended school today, because she wanted to be close to her friends. But she said many of her classmates were not sent to school.
She and her sister left the flowers to show they cared.
“They deserve respect, because teachers are everything to kids’ education. And the kid that was killed, in the shooting, they also had a future, a bright future ahead of them,” she said.
“They don’t deserve that, I think, to lose their life at such a young age,” she said.”
Vigil held for victims of shooting
Hundreds of people are gathered in front of the State Capitol in Madison for a vigil honoring the victims.
Community members signed wooden crosses with messages for the victims of the shooting, whose names have not been made public. Organizers intend to try to deliver them to families through the school.
Multiple volunteer organizations with therapy dogs came in from around Wisconsin, as well as some from Illinois.
The vigil started with a moment of silence. Several people were crying as music played ahead of the night's speeches.
Wisconsin’s laws make it too easy for children to get guns, county official says
Dane County Executive Melissa Agard today criticized Wisconsin’s gun laws after the deadly shooting.
“Our laws in Wisconsin are far too lax when it comes to access of 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,” Agard said.
“We should be providing adequate support for everyone in our community when it comes to behavioral health,” she said. “People should not be waiting when they raise their hand and ask for help.”
Agard previously served five terms as a Democratic member of the Wisconsin Legislature.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is working on tracing the handgun that was used in the shooting, police have said.
Rep. Mark Pocan: 'We have to accept with a problem with guns in this country'
Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., called on Congress this afternoon to act on gun reform after the shooting in his district yesterday. He called it a "uniquely American problem" and said the past 24 hours have been an "obviously tough moment."
"First, we have to accept we have a problem with guns in this country, and we do. No other country has the same problems with mass shootings like we do. Until we accept that, we’re going to work around the edges," he said.
After yesterday's shooting, Pocan wrote in a post yesterday that "thoughts and prayers without action means more school shootings, more dead kids."
Sandy Hook Promise co-CEO says her heart is 'shattered'
Just two days before the shooting in Wisconsin, a co-founder and co-CEO of Sandy Hook Promise, Nicole Hockley, remembered the loss of her child in the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012. She said in a statement today that "my heart is shattered."
"I deeply feel for the surviving loved ones who now carry this unbearable pain, and for the community of Madison as it begins to grapple with this trauma during a season meant for joy and togetherness. No family or community should ever endure such unspeakable heartbreak," she wrote.
Hockley lost her son Dylan when he was 6 years old. Since then, she has been running her nonprofit group, which works to prevent acts of violence and end school shootings.
Madison mayor tells reporters it's 'none of y’all’s business who was harmed,' says, 'Have some human decency'
Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway declined to share information about the victims and lashed out at reporters who expressed frustration over the lack of details.
“I don’t know how many times I have to say this: We will share good, factual information when we can. None of you is obliged to stay here, you’re free to leave, you don’t have to be sitting in this room if you don’t want to,” she said at a news conference. “We will share information when we can.
“I’m going to say this, and then we’re done,” she continued. “It is absolutely none of y’all’s business who was harmed in this incident. Please have some human decency and respect for the people who have lost loved ones or were injured themselves or whose children were injured. Just have some human decency, folks."
"Leave them alone," she said. "Let them grieve. Let them recover. Let them heal. Don’t feed off their pain. We’ll share what we can when we can and not before that.”
Rhodes-Conway said her first priority is respecting the victims’ privacy.
“These are folks have been deeply impacted by trauma and are grieving, and frankly, I think it should be up to them whether and if they want to share any personal identifying information with anyone at all,” she said. “But it’s not up to me, it’s a law enforcement decision, and so when law enforcement feels like that’s appropriate, they will share that information.”
Second grade teacher made 911 call, not student, police clarify
Barnes clarified that a second grade teacher called 911 during the shooting, not a student, as police said initially.
"That was a mistake. That's my responsibility, and I apologize and I clarify that today," he said at a news conference.
Madison schools targeted by swatting day after shooting
Numerous schools in the Madison Metropolitan School District were targeted by false threats, otherwise known as swatting, the day after the shooting, Barnes told reporters today.
"We do not believe that there are any current threats to any Madison area schools, and we will continue to investigate these calls and any threats of violence as they come in," he said.
Swatting occurs when false reports of violence are reported, leading to police responses when no crimes have occurred. He said police are working with the district attorney’s office to investigate the origin of the calls and take legal action as necessary.
Motive appears to have been 'a combination of factors,' police chief says
Barnes said that the motive behind the shooting appears to have been "a combination of factors."
Barnes said at an afternoon news conference that "identifying a motive is our top priority" but declined to provide further details, citing the ongoing investigation. He said, however, that investigators are speaking with students about reports of bullying.
"On the question of bullying, we’re talking to students to understand whether bullying was one of those multiple factors that I mentioned earlier," he said.
Barnes also addressed questions about whether the shooter was targeting a specific person. "Everyone was targeted in this incident, and everyone was put in equal danger," he said.
He said the shooting has left the community with "a flurry of emotion, sadness, anger, disappointment, grief."
"We are brought together by a tragedy,” he said.