Latest on Madison school shooting shows 15-year-old suspect was well versed with guns leading up to incident

In the days since the shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, more has been learned about the suspect, 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow.

Rupnow opened fire Monday at the K-12 school in Madison, killing a classmate and a teacher and injuring six others.

Court documents show that the teenage Abundant Life Christian School shooter had a “turbulent home life,” according to the Washington Post.

Rupnow’s parents, Melissa and Jeff Rupnow, reportedly divorced and remarried multiple times. Their daughter enrolled in therapy to guide her through their custody arrangements, according to the newspaper. The paper reported that the documents point “to an unsettled childhood for Rupnow, whose parents’ custody agreements sometimes forced her to move between their homes every two or three days.”

They reportedly divorced for the first time in 2014 and agreed to joint legal custody of their daughter. It was agreed that she would primarily live with her mother. They remarried in 2017 and divorced for a second time in 2020. They were to divide custody of Natalie evenly, the court records reportedly show. After they split up for the second time, they briefly remarried again. By April 2021, they were petitioning for a third divorce, the Post reports.

Facebook photos surfaced Tuesday of Rupnow at a firing range pointing a gun and wearing a t-shirt similar to one worn by the Columbine killer Eric Harris. Harris and classmate Dylan Klebold fatally shot 12 students and a teacher and wounded 24 others at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado in 1999.

Rupnow was reportedly a competitive shooter who entered competitions with her father and the guns used in the shooting were either given to her for that purpose or stolen from him, something investigators are still working to determine.

After making a final social media post from the school’s bathroom, the suspect went into the study hall, where it is believed she targeted a specific student with whom she reportedly had a non-reciprocal crush with.

Once she started shooting, the study hall teacher rushed Rupnow and tried to stop her by grabbing her hair and wrestling her to the ground. Rupnow shot the teacher, who was found deceased with a handful of the Rupnow’s hair.

The teacher delayed Rupnow enough that a second grade teacher in a nearby classroom was able to call 911 and get police officers to the school within a few moments. Sources say Rupnow intended to shoot students in other classrooms but didn’t have enough time.

Because of the teacher’s heroism in stopping her for a few valuable seconds, Rupnow turned the gun on herself instead of emptying her magazines into more of her classmates. Law enforcement sources call the teacher a hero who undoubtedly saved lives.