Natalie ‘Samantha’ Rupnow, 15, is named as Wisconsin shooter after killing two and turning gun on herself

Police identified the Madison, Wisconsin, school shooter who killed a teacher and a student before turning the gun on herself as 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow, who went by the name Samantha.

Rupnow, a student attending Abundant Life Christian School, opened fire in a study hall Monday, killing two people and wounding six others, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes confirmed.

The shooter was there from the start of the school day. She was found by police injured from a self-inflicted gunshot and was pronounced dead on the way to a local hospital.

Barnes said a second-grader was the one who called 911 to the school. At the time, there were members of several classes in the study hall.

It has not yet been confirmed whether Rupnow’s family – who are cooperating with the investigation – were gun owners. They are currently investigating what she may have left behind.

Barnes said they are currently talking to the shooter’s father at one of their facilities and he is being cooperative. He said they had no reason to believe they would be charged with a crime.

‘He also lost someone. And so we’re not going to rush the information, we’re going to take our time and certainly do our due diligence,” Barnes said.

He added that he had no knowledge of previous interactions with Rupnow: “I think if there had been, we would certainly have had some sort of intervention, but I’m not aware of that.”

The massacre resulted in three casualties – a student, a teacher and the shooter – and six others, including children, transported to area hospitals just days before the Christmas holidays.

Two survivors have now been discharged, while two students are in critical condition with ‘life-threatening’ injuries.

“We know the suspected shooter was a teenage student attending school,” Barnes said.

“Again, no matter how hard today is, that’s still someone’s child that’s gone, that’s still someone dealing with what happened today. And so we want to make sure that we can ensure as much cooperation as possible,” he added.

‘Why did this happen? What do we know? What was the motivation?’ Barnes said. ‘Don’t know.’

Barnes noted that the suspected shooter’s family is cooperating with the investigation.

It is not known whether the suspect had contact with police prior to the fatal shooting.

‘We don’t know if the shooter has had previous contact with the police. But I did check the school,” Barnes said.

“There were some calls, but they were like 911 hang-ups, that kind of thing. There was no indication that the school was a place where violence would take place.”

Barnes said, “We believe the shooter was at the school. “We have no information that there has been a breach at the school.”

“Six other people were injured, two students are now in critical condition in the hospital and these injuries are considered life-threatening injuries,” Barnes said.

“Four students are also in other hospitals in the region with non-life-threatening injuries.”

A gun was discovered by officers at Abundant Life Christian School and students are being interviewed by police.

Barnes said officers responded to calls of an active shooter around 10:57 a.m.

“When officers arrived, they found multiple victims suffering from gunshot wounds,” he said.

Barnes added that officers did not fire any shots at the school when they responded to the incident.

The police chief said the two victims of Monday’s school shooting were a teacher and a student.

The third person to die was the shooter, who appears to have committed suicide before police arrived at the school.

Police are not releasing any other information about those who lost their lives until next of kin have been notified.

“I’m not going to give out any information about who the victims are, whether they’re students, staff or parents, because we need to make sure we can notify people,” Barnes said.

Police sources report this Associated press they believe the shooter used a 9mm pistol.

Abundant Life Christian School has approximately 420 students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

The school was only a few days away from closing for the Christmas holidays and the students were getting ready for Monday night’s basketball game. Officials were unclear when the school would reopen and whether it would happen before the holidays.