15-Year-Old Girl Named As Wisconsin School Shooting Suspect
On Monday, two people were killed and six were injured during a shooting at the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin. Police quickly identified the suspect as a 15-year-old female student, Natalie Rupnow, who reportedly went by Samantha.
Madison police chief Shon F. Barnes told reporters that Rupnow opened fire in a study-hall classroom Monday morning, killing a teacher and a teenage student. Five other students and another teacher were injured with two of them in critical condition in a nearby hospital. Rupnow, police say, appears to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. A handgun was recovered at the scene.
Barnes added that Rupnow’s motive is still unclear, but authorities have searched her home and are working to track down the gun’s origin, and her family members are cooperating with the investigation. One parent claimed Rupnow was a new student at the school this year.
Rupnow is one of the rare female school shooters — according to the New York Times, of the 258 school shooting suspects whose gender was identified this year, only nine were female. Per Reuters, 3 percent of all U.S. mass shootings are committed by women.
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