Abundant Life Christian School parent reacts to deadly shooting
Mireille Jen-Charles talks about hearing of the shooting and fearing for her three children at Abundant Life Christian School.
Wisconsin authorities said that a second-grade student called 911 to report the shooting at a private religious school that left two people dead and six others injured.
“I’m going to let that soak in for a minute,” Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said at a news conference Monday night after the deadly attack at Abundant Life Christian School. “A second-grade student called 911 at 10:57 a.m. to report a shooting at school.”
“It makes my heart skip a beat to think about that,” Barnes said. The police chief added that 911 dispatchers are trained to talk children through difficult situations, including parents choking, CPR, and even giving birth.
Barnes said he believed the second grader was not in the room where the shooting happened “but obviously the sound of a firearm is usually unmistakeable.”
He later applauded teachers and students for quickly reacting to the shooter, from teachers calling for a lockdown to the second-grade student calling for help.
“We teach our kids if something’s wrong call what? 911,” Barnes. “The child was able to do that.”
Authorities arrived on the scene within minutes of the call and found a teenage student and teacher killed, Barnes said. The shooter had already shot herself and died on the way to the hospital, Barnes added.
Five students and one teacher were injured in the shooting. Two of the students were rushed to the hospital in critical condition but have stabilized. The others had non-life-threatening injuries, according to Barnes.
The shooting happened inside a study hall period with students from multiple grades, Barnes confirmed. Abundant Life is a K-12 school with around 390 students, according to the school website.
The shooter was identified as Natalie Rupnow, who also went by the name Samantha, Barnes said.
(This story was updated to add new information.)