Following Monday’s school shooting in Madison, Wisc., in which two people were killed and six were hurt, the process has begun of looking into what exactly went wrong.
On Wednesday, the Washington Post published a reporting deep dive into the home life of 15-year-old Natalie “Samantha” Rupnow, which it described as “troubled.” Rupnow was found dead at the scene, and authorities have said that she shot herself after committing the shooting. Rupnow is both a rare female mass shooter and also younger than most.
According to the Post, among other things, Rupnow’s mother and father divorced and remarried multiple times. They married in 2011, after Natalie was born, divorced in 2014, married again in 2017, divorced in 2020, remarried again, and petitioned for a third divorce in 2021. During the various separations, Natalie lived at different times with each parent.
Neither parent agreed to speak with the newspaper.
Natalie Rupnow died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound after police say she opened fire in a study hall classroom at Abundant Life Christian School. The 15-year-old had a turbulent home life, according to court records. https://t.co/EQrBKa3mDf
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) December 18, 2024
Stay up-to-date with the latest news!
Subscribe and start recieving our daily emails.
The Post story also looked into a photo noted on Rupnow’s father’s Facebook page of Rupnow on a shooting range while wearing a shirt of the German band KMFDM. That band’s apparel had also been favored by Eric Harris, one of the Columbine shooters in 1999, although it’s not clear if the connection was intentional; Rupnow was born a decade later than the Columbine massacre. Earlier reporting had not confirmed whether the girl in the shooting range photo was the shooter or her sister, but the Post story identifies her as Natalie Rupnow.
“There are always signs of a school shooting before it occurred,” Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said at a press briefing earlier this week. However, it remains unclear how the shooter acquired the gun that was used in the shooting.
Per CNN, authories’ “top priority” is figuring out the shooter’s motive.
15 year old female school shooter, with a pistol, at Madison, WI:
Natalie Rupnow: What we know about the Madison school shooter | CNN https://t.co/WA6JkzSsoU— Christopher Shaker (@cjshaker) December 18, 2024
“But at this time, it appears that the motive was a combination of factors,” Barnes said Tuesday. He added that he wasn’t sure about the authenticity of a “manifesto,” attributed to the shooter, that has circulated on social media.
Barnes has also discounted theories that the shooter was transgender.
Could the parents be charged with a crime, in connection with the shooting? That’s uncertain.
“We have no reason to believe that they have committed a crime at this time,” Chief Barnes said on Monday.
According to CNN, Wisconsin is among the states, along with the federal government, where laws forbid children under 18 from possessing guns, with some exceptions for hunting and target practice. If it can be established that the parents. or another adult, furnished Rupnow with the gun, that could lead to legal jeopardy for those adults, but it’s unclear so far whether this happened.
Some mass shooting cases committed by minors in recent years, including one in Georgia, have led to criminal charges for the parents.
“I do not believe that 15-year-olds should have access to weapons that they can bring to school and potentially hurt someone,” Barnes said Monday, per CNN. “We really have to do a better job not only in our communities but in our country with making sure that our young folks don’t have access to weapons and firearms and certainly making sure that we’re paying attention to the mental health of our children.”
Photo courtesy of Political Tribune media library.
