The 15-year-old Wisconsin student who carried out a school shooting, killing two and injuring six others, had been enrolled at the Christian academy for just four months before launching an attack that lasted only eight minutes, according to school officials.
Natalie “Samantha” Rupnow, the shooter who killed 14-year-old student Rubi Patricia Vergara and teacher Erin West, 42, at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, was in her first semester at the school. While she appeared to be adjusting, educators noted she had issues with attendance. Rupnow’s attack lasted eight minutes, which is shorter than the school’s typical snack break, Barbara Wiers, the school’s director of elementary education and communications, said.
Eight-Minute Rampage
Officials in Madison said that a second-grade teacher dialed 911 at 10:57 a.m. to report the mass shooting, with the first police officer arriving at the school just four minutes later. “Are we broken right now? Yes. Are we bruised and battered? Yes,” Wiers said. “But we will laugh again, and He will turn our mourning into joy again. And we will go on.”
“I pray for [her] family because right now they’ve lost a daughter and they are wounded,” Wiers added. “And they’re dealing with the fact that their daughter did this terrible thing and hurt these other people. It has to be one of the loneliest, bitterest places to be.”
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Rupnow was armed with two handguns when she carried out the shooting at the K-12 school before turning the weapon on herself, police reported. She later died at a nearby hospital.
Police said that her motive for the attack is still unclear.
According to court records, Rupnow had developed an obsession with Columbine shooter Eric Harris. She was undergoing therapy to address issues stemming from a tumultuous home life, as her parents had divorced and remarried multiple times.
School Still in Shock
As of Thursday, two of the six injured victims were still hospitalized in critical condition. Erin West was a substitute teacher at the school for three years before taking on a staff role as the substitute coordinator and in-house substitute teacher.
“”ALCS is a better school for the work of Erin West,” the school said in a statement.
West was also a mother of three who enjoyed camping trips with her family, as noted in her obituary.
“She served our teachers and students with grace, humor, wisdom, and — most importantly — with the love of Jesus,” the school said. “Her loss is a painful and deep one and she will be greatly missed not just among our staff, but our entire ALCS family.”
Rubi Patricia Vergara, a freshman at the school, was described in her obituary as “an enthusiastic reader” who had a passion for art, loved singing, and enjoyed playing the keyboard in her family’s worship band.
“Rubi was a blessing to her class and our school,” the school said in a statement. “She was not only a good friend, but a great big sister.”