MADISON, Wis. – The teenage gunman who killed a student and teacher at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison brought two guns to school. She was also in contact with a man in California who authorities said was planning an attack on a government building, according to government and court documents released Wednesday.
Police are still investigating why the 15-year-old student shot a fellow student and teacher Monday before shooting herself, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said. Two other students who were shot remained in critical condition in a Madison hospital Wednesday.
Abundant Life Christian School, Madison
California connection
Meanwhile, a California judge on Tuesday issued a restraining order against a 20-year-old Carlsbad man under California gun laws. The order requires the man to surrender his weapons and ammunition to police within 48 hours unless an officer requests them sooner because he poses an imminent danger to himself and others.
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According to the warrant, the man told FBI agents that he had sent a message to Wisconsin shooter Natalie Rupnow about attacking a government building with a gun and explosives. The order does not indicate which building he targeted or when he planned to launch his attack. His interactions with Rupnow are also not described in detail, except that the man planned a mass shooting with her.
Victim identified
The student killed in Monday's school shooting was identified in an obituary published Wednesday as Rubi Patricia Vergara, 14, of Madison. She was a freshman at the school and “an avid reader, loved art, sang and played keyboard in the family worship band,” the obituary says. Attempts by the Associated Press to reach the girl's family by phone and email Wednesday evening were unsuccessful.
The Dane County coroner Wednesday night identified the slain teacher as 42-year-old Erin Michelle West after initially identifying her as Michelle E. West. A man who answered the phone at a number listed in public records for West hung up when a reporter reached him Wednesday evening.
Abundant Life Christian School, Madison
The school's communications director, Barbara Wiers, said in a statement Wednesday evening that Vergara had attended the school since kindergarten.
West worked as a substitute teacher for three years before taking a position as the school's substitute coordinator and substitute teacher in the building, Wiers said.
“Our hearts are heavy with these losses,” Wiers wrote in an email to The Associated Press.
Browse online records
Police, with assistance from the FBI, combed through online records and other resources and spoke with the shooter's parents and classmates to determine the motive for the shooting, Barnes said.
Police do not know whether anyone was the target of the attack or whether the attack was planned in advance, the chief said.
Memorial in front of Abundant Life Christian School, Madison
“I don’t know if she planned it that day or if she planned it a week before,” Barnes said. “To me, taking a weapon to school to hurt people is planning. So we don’t know what the intent is.”
While Rupnow had two handguns, Barnes said he didn't know how she got them and he wouldn't say who bought them, citing the ongoing investigation.
The shooter's parents are cooperating
No decisions have been made yet on whether Rupnow's parents could be charged in connection with the shooting, but they have cooperated, Barnes said.
Online court records show no criminal charges against her father, Jeffrey Rupnow, or her mother, Mellissa Rupnow. They are divorced and share custody of their daughter, but she lived primarily with her father, according to court documents. Divorce records indicate that Natalie was in therapy in 2022, but it doesn't say why.
The school shooting was the latest of dozens in recent years across the U.S., including particularly deadly ones in Newtown, Connecticut, Parkland, Florida, and Uvalde, Texas.
But the Wisconsin shooting stands out because school shootings by teenage females are extremely rare in the U.S., and most of them are carried out by men in their teens and 20s, said David Riedman, founder of the K-12 School Shooting Database.
Abundant Life is a nondenominational Christian school offering preschool through high school grades. Around 420 students attend the facility.
