The teenage girl behind the Wisconsin school shooting: A case with few precedents

Natalie Rupnow, a 15-year-old who preferred to be called Samantha, opened fire Monday in a common area at Abundant Life High School in the Madison, Wisconsin, area, where students from several grades were enrolled. She killed a teacher and a student and wounded six others with the 9mm pistol she had brought into the private religious school where she studied. The school, unlike many others in a nation grappling with an epidemic of gun violence, did not have metal detectors.

Initial reports described the shooter as a teenager. Only at the end of the day did the authorities confirm that they were dealing with a case with few precedents, in which the alleged killer was female. Nearly 48 hours after the tragic events, much remains unknown. The police are still looking for what could have motivated the girl to shoot herself before being arrested. At the moment, they are talking about “a combination of factors.” It is also unclear how she obtained the weapon.

Rupnow appears to have left “a manifesto, if you want to call it that” or “some type of letter,” Police Chief Shon F. Barnes told CNN on Tuesday. Rupnow’s friend allegedly posted the letter online, but its authenticity has not been verified, nor have the contents of the letter or the identity of the person who shared it been disclosed. The names of the victims also remain unknown. Among the injured are a teacher and five students, two of whom have already been released from the hospital. Two others are in critical condition and fighting for their lives.

Barnes added that they were combing Rupnow’s social media accounts and trying to determine if she was being bullied in class. He also confirmed that there is no evidence she targeted specific individuals. “Everyone [students and teachers] was targeted,” he said. “Everyone was put in equal danger.”

Experts say it is unusual that a teenage girl was the shooter. Only nine women (compared with 249 men) have been involved in school shootings this year, according to the K-12 database, which tracks school shootings in the United States. The database is named after the educational category that includes schools serving students from kindergarten through 12th grade, a group that includes Abundant Life, the Christian school attended by Rupnow, which has 390 students.

The other big question is how Rupnow was able to get hold of the gun. This raises another critical issue: could her parents be held negligently liable for Monday’s tragedy? “That’s a question that we’ll have to answer with our district attorney’s office,” Barnes said. “But at this time, that does not appear to be the case.” Barnes added that the parents are cooperating fully with authorities. “We have no reason to believe that they have committed a crime,” he added.

The case recalls the highly publicized trial of James and Jennifer Crumbley, the parents of 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley. Earlier this year, the couple was sentenced to 15 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter after their son carried out a massacre at his high school in Oxford, Michigan. Ethan used a 9mm pistol his parents had given him as a Christmas gift, despite clear warning signs of his instability. The Crumbleys also ignored their son’s calls for help and failed to act after being summoned to the school, where they were informed he had been searching for ammunition online during class.

That precedent led to the indictment last September of Colin Gray, whose 14-year-old son, Colt, killed two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia. Authorities allege that Gray “knowingly allowed” his son access to the firearm used in the attack.

The Georgia shooting, which claimed four lives, was the deadliest of the 83 school shootings recorded in the United States this year, according to CNN. The network’s data, which dates back to 2008, shows that 2024 has already set an all-time high, with two weeks remaining in the year. Of those incidents, 56 occurred in primary and secondary schools, while 27 took place on college campuses.

Both federal and Wisconsin laws prohibit individuals under 18 from possessing firearms. State law also bans anyone from knowingly selling, lending, or delivering a dangerous weapon to a minor. Exceptions exist for target practice under adult supervision, military use, or hunting.

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