Of
Viviana Mazza
The killer has been identified: Natalie Rupnow, she called herself Samantha. Five students and another teacher were injured (two of them in critical condition). An elementary school student raised the alarm
From our correspondent
New York – The police in Madison, a Wisconsin city hit by yet another devastating shooting in an American school, have identified the person responsible: Fifteen-year-old Natalie Rupnow, who called herself Samantha. The girl killed a classmate (or companion) and a teacher, before taking her own life. It is not clear whether he was aiming at them. Six other people – five students and another teacher (two of whom are in critical condition) – were injured in the “Abundant Life” Christian school attended by the killer.
A 7-8 year old boy called the police. The phone call came at around 11.57am, the officers arrived three minutes later, but the massacre was already complete. Rupnow shot herself before police arrived and died in the ambulance as they took her to the hospital.
The shooting occurred in a room where students from different classes studied together. The weapon: a 9mm pistol; it is not yet clear how he got it. Several boys ran out without jackets when the first shots rang out.
An eleven year old student, Breken Ives raised the alarm over the intercom: «Lockdown! It’s not an exercise.”. His teacher immediately ordered the students to take refuge in a corner, where Rupnow was unable to see them from the door.
In another class, the teacher armed herself with a pair of scissors to defend the 9-year-old students.
The killer’s parents are cooperating. It is rarer for the perpetrator to be a woman in school shootings: only nine females compared to 249 males were recorded in the «K-12 School Shooting Database», an independent research project.
Abundant Life Christian Schoolaccording to the New York Times, has become a sort of refuge for children and teenagers who have been victims of bullying or who have had difficulties in other schools. A 50-year-old mother told the newspaper she believed Rupnow was new, having arrived this year. A source told CNN that the killer had planned the massacre, “had had problems that she expressed by writing about them, and now they are examining her writings.” An alleged angry poster has been shared on social media and some say it belongs to Rupnow, but the police were unable to verify this. In a possible photo of him released onlinethe girl appears to be wearing the same T-shirt from German metal band KMFDM that Columbine killer Eric Harris wore.
Police Chief Shon Barnes also responded to the rumors spread online that the killer was transgender. Barnes replied that gender identity isn’t important right now. “I don’t know if Natalie was transgender or not, that’s something that might come up later but for what we do now, literally eight hours after a mass shooting at a school in Madison, it doesn’t matter.”
December 17, 2024 (changed December 17, 2024 | 3:33 pm)
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