Three killed in Wisconsin school shooting, including shooter, police say

A shooting at a Christian K-12 school in Madison, Wisconsin, left three people dead on Monday, including the suspected shooter, and at least six others injured, authorities said.

The shooting took place at Abundant Life Christian School, a private institution that teaches some 400 students from kindergarten through 12th grade, the Madison Police Department said on social media.

Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said during a press conference that at least five people were killed in the incident, including the suspected shooter, who he identified as a juvenile found dead by police when officers arrived at the school.

According to police, two of the injured students are in critical condition with life-threatening injuries.

“Today truly is a sad day for Madison and for our country. It is a day that I believe will live in our collective minds for a very, very long time,” Barnes said during a news conference.

There have been 322 school shootings this year in the US, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database website. 

“Please pray for our Challenger Family,” Abundant Life posted on its social media.

“I hoped that this day would never come in Madison,” Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said Monday at a news conference. “It is not something that any mayor, any fire chief, any police chief, any person in public office ever wants to have to deal with.”

Governor Tony Evers

According to NBC, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers has ordered that US and Wisconsin flags statewide be lowered to half-mast until Sunday.

“As a father, a grandfather, and as governor, it is unthinkable that a kid or an educator might wake up and go to school one morning and never come home,” he said.

“This should never happen, and I will never accept this as a foregone reality or stop working to change it."

Police have made contact with the suspected shooter’s parents, who Barnes later confirmed was a 15-year-old girl named Natalie Rupnow, who also went by the name Samantha

"As difficult as today is, that's still someone's child that's gone that's still someone that has to deal with what happened today," Barnes said. "And so we want to make sure that we can ensure as much cooperation as we can."