Sean Barnes

The shooter has now been identified as 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow who went by the name Samantha. She was a student at the school and evidence suggests she died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. At this time, we believe there was only one shooter involved. We are still working to determine a motive.

Detectives have talked to her family members this evening as well as conduct a search of the shooter's home here in Madison.

Police say a 15-year-old female student at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison opened fire during a study hall session, killing another student and a teacher. The shooter, who we are not naming due to a company policy, then turned the gun on herself. In a press conference on Tuesday, Chief Sean Barnes said that it appears the shooter's motivation was, quote, a combination of factors.

We cannot share that information at this time because we do not want to jeopardize the investigation and those who are currently cooperating with us.

He also clarified that a second grade teacher, not a second grade student, as he previously stated, made the first 911 call. Barnes also reiterated that police are aware of a document spreading on social media that some are claiming is the shooter's manifesto, but that document's authenticity has not been verified. Barnes did not take any questions in the Tuesday afternoon press conference.

Police say the alleged shooter was believed to be a student at Abundant Life Christian School and is among the deceased. Five additional victims were transported to a local hospital with injuries ranging from minor to life-threatening. Police have refused to release the age, gender, or any other identifying marks of the student accused of being the shooter.

Police Chief Sean Barnes described the incident as devastating, urging residents to avoid the area as the investigation continues. Barnes gave the following remarks about those who were killed.

The Catholic Church has just been drug into so much stuff, whether it be telling the U.N. what to do, telling countries whether they need an open border or closed border. Certainly that's an issue here in America. and just so many issues and just seem to get away from the message of salvation and what the church teaches. And so I hope he's not as political as Francis, I guess.

I think that's probably what a lot of people in their living rooms are saying because we've just had so much of that. And I think we need to give him a chance. I think he can read the room. He came out in the traditional garb. He didn't make a swipe at that. So I'm optimistic, but I think for most Catholics, honestly, they're just worried. Basically, it's not Leo XIV's fault.

It's just the last 12 years have been chaos after John Paul and Benedict. He is not rash. This is an emotional guy. He's very stable. He does listen. He's a clear thinker. I think one of the things that's cool aside for I can see other countries just going nuts right now because there's an American pope. So that part's kind of cool.

Speaking plainly, I think that this was probably like for the liberal side, a compromise guy of like, look, we can't do Francis all over again.

Over the last two and a half years, there have been 85 near misses or close calls. And that is close calls that are within 200 feet of vertical separation and 1500 feet of lateral separation. Incredibly close. for aircraft, 85 of them. I think the question is, when this data comes in, how did the FAA not know? How did they not study the data to say, hey, this is a hotspot.

We're having near misses. And if we don't change our way, we're going to lose lives. That wasn't done. Maybe there was a focus on something other than safety. But in this administration, we are focusing on safety. And so what the FAA has deployed is AI tools. Our AI tools will help us take corrective actions preemptively as opposed to retroactively.

So that we can further prevent these things from happening, not only in this community, but in other communities around our country.

Tariffs aren't the total solution. Tariffs are a tool in the toolbox to get these companies to do the right thing.

I've had companies tell us point blank that they're going to have to bring product back here if those tariffs are implemented.

I think we can all agree that enough is enough. And we have to come together to do everything we can to support our students, to prevent press conferences like these from happening again and again and again.

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He doesn't want to take this problem and pass it to the next administration, to the next secretary.