Police were alerted to a mass shooting at a private school in Wisconsin on Monday because a second grade teacher called 911 while it was in progress, not a second grade student, which authorities had incorrectly said previously.
A teacher and a teen student died after authorities said a 15-year-old female student opened fire with a handgun on Dec. 16 at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin. The suspected shooter died en route to the hospital after an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.
In a press conference on Dec. 17, Madison Chief of Police Shon Barnes corrected a previous statement and said a second grade teacher called police for help amid the shooting. Barnes, who apologized for the error, had previously said in a press conference on Dec. 16 that it was a second grade student at the school who called for help, at 10:57 a.m.
The small school has less than 400 total students from kindergarten through 12th grade.
Authorities arrived just minutes after receiving the call, and officers alerted people that the shooter was down and the gun was recovered by 11:05 a.m., Barnes said Dec. 16.
Six others were injured, including two students Barnes said were in critical condition. Police did not disclose the names of those who were killed or injured.
“This has been a sad day,” Barnes said. “This is going to be a day that will be etched in the collective minds and memories of all those from Madison.”
The shooting occurred inside a classroom that was a study hall of students from different grades, Barnes said.
“If your kids are at school, they are not OK. If they are at church, they are not OK. If they are outside, they are not OK. Where are they going to be safe?” parent Mireille Jean-Charles told a group of reporters outside the school on Dec. 16.
Police identified the suspected shooter as Abundant Life Christian School student Natalie Rupnow, 15, who went by Samantha. Investigators are combing through the suspect’s social media, and they searched her home on Dec. 16 as they try to determine a motive.
Authorities interviewed the suspected shooter’s father for hours and are investigating how she obtained a firearm. Barnes said the alleged shooter’s parents have been “fully cooperating” in the investigation.
The shooting came less than two weeks after a pair of kindergarten students were shot at a Seventh-day Adventist school in Northern California.
The Wisconsin shooting also occurred two days after the anniversary of 20 first grade students and six educators being killed in 2012 in a mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. The survivors of the shooting graduated from high school in June.