The girl also wounded six others in Monday's shooting at Abundant Life Christian School, including two students who were in critical condition, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said. A teacher and three students were taken to a hospital with less serious injuries, and two of them were later released.
“Every child, every person in that building is a victim and will be a victim forever. ... We need to figure out and try to piece together what exactly happened," Barnes said.
Police said the shooter, identified as Natalie Rupnow, was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound when officers arrived and died en route to a hospital. Barnes declined to offer additional details about the shooter, partly out of respect for the family.
Abundant Life is a nondenominational Christian school — prekindergarten through high school — with approximately 420 students in Madison, the state capital.
Barbara Wiers, the school's director of elementary and school relations, said when they practice safety routines, leaders always announce that it's a drill. That didn’t happen Monday, just a week before Christmas break.
“When they heard, ‘Lockdown, lockdown,’ they knew it was real,” she said.
Wiers said the school does not have metal detectors but uses other security measures including cameras.
A motive for the shooting was not immediately known, nor was it clear if the victims were targeted, Barnes said.
“I don’t know why, and I feel like if we did know why, we could stop these things from happening,” he told reporters.
Barnes said police were talking with the shooter’s father and other family members, who were cooperating, and searching the shooter's home.
Abundant Life asked for prayers in a brief Facebook post. Wiers said they're still deciding whether they will resume classes this week.
Bethany Highman, the mother of a student, rushed to the school and learned over FaceTime that her daughter was OK.
“As soon as it happened, your world stops for a minute. Nothing else matters,” Highman said. “There’s nobody around you. You just bolt for the door and try to do everything you can as a parent to be with your kids.”
