15-year-old boy identified as shooter at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin

The Madison Police Chief was asked about online comments suggesting the shooter may be transgender.

“We don’t know if[the shooter]was transgender,” Burns said at a press conference tonight.

“I don’t think whatever happened today has anything to do with her or him or how they wanted to identify,” he said. “And I hope people take their personal biases out of this issue.”

Burns said the motive was under investigation.

He said he had seen things on social media that were “frankly wrong and not true.”

“So whether she was trans, whether he was trans, whether they were trans, we may find out in the future, but the Madison school shooting happened. As far as what we’re doing today, literally eight hours later, there’s no impact at this point,” Burns said.

“So I would encourage people to be responsible with social media,” he says.

A second-grade student called 911 at 10:57 a.m. to report a shooting, the police chief said.

“Let’s think about it for a second,” Burns said at a press conference this evening. “At 10:57 a.m., a second grade student called 911 to report a shooting at the school.”

A teacher and a teenage student were killed, and the 15-year-old gunman died from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, he said.

Six other students and a teacher were also injured, Burns said. Two injured students remained in critical condition tonight, he said.

A 15-year-old female student opened fire at a school in Madison, Wisconsin today, the police chief announced tonight.

Burns said the motive is still under investigation.

The gunman died on the way to the hospital from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Burns said. The county coroner will officially determine the cause and manner of death, he said.

Burns said investigators spoke with the shooter’s family and searched the home. The parents are “fully cooperating,” Burns said.

Late this afternoon, Madison’s police chief urged the public to report problematic behavior that could lead to violence like today’s school shooting.

“We believe that premeditated or premeditated shootings are preventable,” Burns said at a late afternoon news conference. “If you see warning behavior from someone who is planning an attack, say something and take action.”

The motive for the shooting that left two people dead is under investigation. The gunman, identified as a teenage boy, was also killed.

“Targeted violence is preventable,” said Trish Kilpin, director of the Wisconsin Department of Justice School Safety Division. “If someone commits a school shooting, they don’t snap. They don’t just decide one day to commit this terrible act.

“Instead, they make a decision and begin investigating and planning for an act of violence,” she said. “And when they’re on the path to violence, they often exhibit observable behaviors that others notice.”

Kilpin said that in 82% of cases, someone knows about the shooter’s plan to attack the school.

The police chief confirmed during a press conference this evening that the police operation at a residence on Madison’s north side is related to the investigation into this morning’s school shooting.

Tonight, officers at a residence on Delaware Boulevard announced that a search warrant was executed there.

Neighbors confirmed there was police activity at the home, which as of tonight had no front door.

Neighbors told Milwaukee’s NBC affiliate WTMJ that police threw two flashbang devices at the home, one through the door and one through the window.

John Diaz de Leon II was watching TV at home around 11 a.m. when he suddenly heard police and ambulance sirens in his previously quiet neighborhood.

Mr. de Leon and his wife live about a block away from Abundant Life Christian School, which their children attended when they were young. They decided to build a home near the school in the late 1980s after meeting with school officials and determining Abundant Life was the best fit for their growing family.

But today, when “not one, not two, but three and more” sirens approached his neighborhood, he knew something was wrong.

When De Leon came outside, he said he saw dozens of students evacuating the school. Older students trotted across the parking lot toward the church, while younger students held hands as school staff led them outside.

He also saw two police officers carrying what he called “long guns” approach the school with a dog by their side.

“This is the last school in Madison where you would have thought something like this would happen,” he said. “The threat has passed, but it’s not over yet.”

Students ordered into lockdown following today’s shootings understood the situation was not a drill and “responded admirably,” school officials said.

“They were obviously scared. … When we practice, we always say, ‘This is a drill, this is just a drill,'” said Barbara, the school’s director of elementary and school relations.・Mr. Weiers spoke at an evening press conference.

“When they heard just ‘lockdown, lockdown’ they understood it was real and they coped brilliantly,” she said.

Weirs, who was a teacher at the time, said she worked after the alarm to secure doors and move children to safety in their rooms.

Burns said in an update this evening that police are investigating the motive for today’s shooting.

“At this point, we’re still investigating the motive and trying to figure out why this happened,” Burns said.

The shooter’s age, gender and name have not been released. Another update regarding the police is expected later.

“We don’t want to compromise any part of the investigation,” Burns said.

Mr Barnes said this evening that all surviving students have been reunited with their families and loved ones.

Burns said the two students remained in critical condition at the hospital and their injuries were considered life-threatening.

Four people, one teacher and three students, were also injured. These injuries are not life-threatening and two of the injured have been released from the hospital, he said.

President Joe Biden said in a statement that today’s school shooting was “shocking and unconscionable” and called on Congress to “act now” on gun control.

Some of the changes Biden described as “common sense” gun control include universal background checks, national red flag laws, and bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

“From Newtown to Uvalde, Parkland to Madison, to the countless high-profile mass shootings, it is unacceptable that we cannot protect our children from this scourge of gun violence,” Biden said in a statement. . “We cannot accept this as normal.”

He also expressed his condolences to the families of the victims and thanked the first responders at Abundant Life Christian School.

Emotional support animals were taken to an area where students were waiting for buses to the Unification Center.

NBC affiliate WMTV in Madison showed therapy dogs walking into the area while students sat in church and authorities loaded them onto city buses and took them to family clinics. It was done.

Some young students have already been taken to the Unification Center, WMTV reported.

In a new statement, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers thanked law enforcement and first responders for their response to today’s shooting. He also ordered flags in Wisconsin and the United States to be lowered to half-staff until Sunday.

“As a father, as a grandfather, and as a governor, I cannot imagine a child or an educator waking up one morning, going to school, and not coming home. This should never happen, and I am committed to “We are not going to accept this as a natural reality or stop trying to change it.”

Evers also said there are “no words to describe the devastation and heartbreak” he feels.

Law enforcement officials are in contact with the parents of the suspected shooter, police said.

Authorities have not identified or released any details about the suspect, other than that he was a teenage student at the school. Police found the suspected gunman dead at the scene, but he did not fire his weapon.

“Today is a difficult day, but the person who died is still someone’s child and they are the ones who have to deal with what happened today,” Burns said. “So we want to ensure as much cooperation as possible.”

Burns declined to comment on whether the cause of death was suicide, saying the cause of death would be determined by the medical examiner. A motive has not been determined.

This morning, a group of police officers were training for that type of scenario just five miles away when they received a 911 call about a shooting.

Barnes said the Madison Police Department’s Special Events Team Medic is working with the fire department to prepare for emergencies. Officers left the training center and rushed to Abundant Life Christian School, where they found multiple people suffering from gunshot wounds.

“So what started as a training day turned into a real thing, which is why we got this call in the first place,” Burns said.