She was found dead by a gunshot wound. Natalie “Samantha” Rupnow, a 15-year-old girl, is suspected of opening fire Monday morning at her school in Madison, Wisconsin. The teenager died from a “self-inflicted gunshot wound”.
The suspect attended Abundant Life Christian School where she killed two people and injured six others, two of whom remain in critical condition. While the Madison police chief on Monday evening dismissed the idea that Natalie, who also goes by the name Samantha online, may have suffered from gender identity issues, American media are beginning to paint a portrait of a tortured young woman, driven by hatred of men and whose father encouraged the practice of firearms.
According to several American media, including Dailydot, Natalie Rupnow moved on Discord forums and regularly discussed her fascination with mass shootings in schools, notably that of Columbine in 1999. According to the media, the young woman’s accounts were deactivated but his last publication on X (formerly Twitter) was found. The account @postalbrained would have posted before the shooting the photo of a hand forming the “ok” sign with its fingers. The person in this image appears to be wearing military rangers.
“I will be a pioneer”
There is also this “manifesto” that the shooter wrote and posted on X a few minutes before the killing. According to an extract from the “last” of the “few pages” of this text attributed to Natalie Rupnow, “women are the only hope for this miserable world”. Men must be “exterminated”. “All men must be destroyed, from babies to the oldest,” it is written. According to this extract, “only then will women be free to create a new world.” The author of these lines predicts: “I will be a pioneer”.
The police, however, tempered this discovery. Investigators were in fact unable to authenticate the document which would have been published by a person “linked to” Natalie Rupnow, according to Shon Barnes, the Madison police chief, cited by Newsweek.
The suspect’s father’s Facebook account was also identified by Newsweek. Jeff Rupnow posted a photo last August showing Natalie wearing earmuffs handling a gun. According to one reviewer, the Rupnows joined the North Britol Sportsman’s club, a local shooting range, in the spring and “we loved every second of it!” » Over the years, the father has published on this account numerous photos of his daughter, smiling, posing with their dogs or during a karate competition.
“The parents are fully cooperating”
Natalie Rupnow’s home was searched by investigators who also interviewed the teenager’s parents. Police Chief Barnes explained in particular that it was a question of “determining what the father knew or did not know” about his daughter’s plans. According to the officer, “the parents are fully cooperating, we have no reason to believe that they have committed a crime at this stage”.
Natalie Rupnow reportedly committed suicide after the shooting. If her involvement in this massacre is confirmed, she would be the ninth woman to commit a school massacre since 1999, according to figures from the Washington Post.
