Madison Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin was the scene of a deadly school shooting on December 16, 2024. A second-grade student called 911 during the event.
The school went online to acknowledge that the event took place, asked the community for prayers, and then said that information was being gathered at the time. It was later confirmed that the school shooting resulted in the death of a teacher and a student.
15-year-old Natalie Rupnow, who was the alleged shooter known as Samantha died as well, the victim of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. She was being transported to the hospital when she died.
Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes spoke about the three fatalities that occurred, including Samantha, who attended the school as a student. It was a premeditated attack that occurred because of personal challenges that were being faced. Rupnow had documented those challenges in her writings, and detectives are analyzing them at this time.
When the sound of gunfire was heard at the school, teachers started the lockdown procedures immediately. Many of the students also recognized what was going on and they followed the instructions.
Students from different grades were attending a study hall when the shooting took place. Six injuries occurred during the incident. Two of those students remain in critical condition and three students and the teacher are expected to recover.
Bethany Highman, who had attended the school as a child spoke about how she first learned of the shooting. She has a child who also attends the school and learned about the situation from her mother, who had called to report police in the area.
The mother said: “She had like an inside source kind of tell her and I just bolted down.” When she was unable to enter the school, she went to her mother’s house.
She spoke about how she prayed with her children every morning that it wouldn’t happen but said that it was the ‘world that we live in.’
Siblings Gideon and Ezra were able to recount the experience in an interview after the shooting took place. Gideon said that the principal announced the lockdown. He said: “I didn’t think much of it, but then it got like really serious and it was super sad. […] It kind of freaked everybody out.”
Gideon fled the building when the police instructed the students to do so. He didn’t have his coat and he said that the situation was ‘crazy’. The principal had already said it was not a drill.
His sister said that there were ‘gunshots and screaming’ and described it as being ‘really scary.’ She told the interviewer that she was feeling better.
Their mother, Britt, also spoke during the interview. She said: “I mean, there’s no better feeling than knowing your kids are safe. My heart goes out to the families that aren’t that fortunate right now because we know them and love them.”
Nora Gottschalk is an eight-year-old second-grader who spoke about what she saw and heard during the shooting. She was in the hallway when it started and saw a teacher that she knew was injured.
She said: “She was screaming, ‘Ah! My leg! Help, help!'”
She went on to express her own feelings, saying: “I was really scared, and I was really sad.”
