Update: 15-year-old girl identified as shooter at Wisconsin school

Press conference following the shooting. Credit / Getty Images

The shooter who killed at least two at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin on Monday has been identified as Natalie Rupnow, a 15-year-old student.

Harrowing reports detail how a second-grade student called 911 to report the shooting at 10:57 a.m. on Monday, December 16. Rupnow, who went by “Samantha” later died from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Shon F. Barnes, Madison police chief, revealed that the 15-year-old had opened fire in a study hall classroom, resulting in the deaths of a teacher and a teenage student. As of the latest reports, authorities said that six students and another teacher were injured.

Barnes said yesterday that a motive is yet unclear, while investigators are in the process of talking to the shooter’s family and searching her home.

“Pre-planned or planned shootings, we believe, are preventable,” Barnes said at a late afternoon news conference yesterday. “If you see warning behaviors from someone that is planning an attack, say something, do something.”

According to ABC News, students at Abundant Life Christian School were told to lock down following the shooting. They knew the situation was not a drill, but a school official said they had “handled themselves magnificently.”

“They were clearly scared. … When we practice we always say, ‘This a drill, this is just a drill,’” Barbara Wiers, the school’s director of elementary and school relations, said.

“When they heard ‘lockdown, lockdown’ and nothing else, they knew it was real, and they handled themselves brilliantly.”

Shooter manifesto

Elsewhere, a supposed manifesto penned by Rupnow is currently circulating on social media.

Police Chief Barnes said that the authorities are aware of the document, but have been unable to verify its authenticity. “We haven’t been able to verify that it’s authentic. We’re certainly aware that it’s been posted and the person who posted it alleged to have a connection with the victim.”

The manifesto was originally posted on X by a user who claimed to have received the document from the shooter’s boyfriend. The document’s title is rumored to be “War Against Humanity”, while the author writes within its pages that they have “grown to hate people, and society”.