A 15-year-old girl who killed a teacher and a student and injured six others at her Madison, Wisconsin, school before committing suicide reportedly left behind a manifesto that investigators are currently reviewing, police said. It is said that there is
Police late Monday identified Natalie Rapnow, also known as Samantha, as the shooter. A law enforcement official told CNN that Rapnow is “addressing the issues, some of which he has expressed in writing, and we are currently reviewing them.”
Rapnow was a student at Abundant Life, a private Christian school. Her motives remain unclear. The manifesto has not been confirmed as authentic by authorities but was published on social media.
“At this time, documentation regarding this shooting is circulating on social media, but we have not confirmed its authenticity,” Madison Police Chief Shon Burns said at a news conference.
Burns said police are still working to determine the cause of the shooting. “At this time, we are still investigating the motive and trying to figure out why this happened,” he said.
Police said Rapnow’s family is cooperating with the investigation into the murder at Abundant Life, which occurred around 11 a.m. local time on Monday.
Burns said the first 911 call reporting the gunman came in shortly before 11 a.m. from a second-grade teacher, but not the second-grade student who initially went public.
Burns said a handgun was recovered at the scene, but police have not yet traced the source of the weapon. “How does a 15-year-old get a gun?” he said.
According to police, the shooting occurred in a classroom during a study hall lesson.
Two of the six injured remain in critical condition, while the others are in stable condition or have been released from hospital.
Burns spoke at a news conference Tuesday but left without taking questions from reporters, leaving Madison’s mayor and Dane County executives to confront the media. They refused to release the victim’s name.
“Leave them alone,” Mayor Satya Rose Conway declared flatly.
Surveillance cameras were installed at the school, and staff and students were trained in lockdown procedures. There were no metal detectors in place.
Barbara Weirs, the school’s director of elementary and school relations, said the students understood that the unfolding situation was not a drill and “managed it admirably.”
“When they heard just ‘lockdown, lockdown,’ they understood it was real and they handled it brilliantly,” Weiers said.
Mackenzie Truitt, 24, placed a red poinsettia plant at the school in memory of the victims. She said her brother is a graduate and several of his friends were injured.
“My heart sank because I know how great a lot of the kids are,” Truitt said. “I know how scared everyone was. I couldn’t reach certain people. It’s really scary having to deal with that.”
Young women are far less likely to be suspects in school shootings than young men. As of Tuesday, there were 249 male mass shooting suspects this year, compared to nine female suspects, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database.
The database tracks all instances in which a gun is brandished, fired or a bullet hits school property for any reason, regardless of the number of victims, time of day or day of the week.
The New York Times reported that the school Lupnow attended, where the shooting occurred, is often attended by children who have been bullied or had a hard time at other schools.
Rebecca Smith, whose teenage daughter attended a physics class just down the street from the hallway where the shooting occurred, said the department’s staff is trained to quickly stop atrocities among students. he said.
Smith said school officials believe the shooter entered the school for the first time this year.
“I feel for any parent who says, ‘This might help my child,'” Smith told the newspaper. “I can’t even imagine what they’re feeling.”
The police chief was asked about online comments suggesting the shooter may be transgender.
“We don’t know if Natalie was transgender,” Burns said.
“I don’t think whatever happened today had anything to do with her or him or how they wanted to be identified,” he added. “And I hope people take their personal biases out of this issue.”
The high rate of school shootings in the United States has prompted calls from some quarters for stronger federal gun control laws. But Congress is largely unable or unwilling to pass such measures.
Carolyn Gries, 70, of Monona, had no connection to the school but said she was moved to drive there Tuesday. She wept as she placed flowers on the sidewalk.
“When I was a kid, we were worried about the atomic bomb,” she said. “And now they’re actually practicing active shooter scenarios. And you think, how could that be? They’re kids. Innocent kids.”
Gries’ daughter is a vice principal at another school. The shooting made her think more deeply about her grandchildren and the loss of family members as Christmas approached.
“It’s terrifying,” she said. “That’s terrible.”
This article was amended on Dec. 17, 2024, to correct the name of the shooting suspect.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
