Two people were killed and others were injured on Monday shooting at a private Christian school in Madison, Wisconsin. the police said a student who opened fireidentified as a 15-year-old girl, was also dead.
The girl also injured six others in the shooting at Abundant Life Christian School, including two students who were in critical condition, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said.
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“Kathy and I join the people of Wisconsin in praying for the families and loved ones of those whose lives were so senselessly taken and for the faculty, staff and entire school community of Abundant Life as they grapple with the grief, trauma and loss . of this heartbreaking tragedy,” Evers said in a statement. “We also pray and hope that all the injured survive and recover.”
The governor’s order began Monday and ends Sunday at sundown.
The website of the anti-violence organization Everytown for Gun Safety shows that there have been at least 202 gunfire incidents on school grounds in 2024, resulting in 56 deaths and 147 injuries. That data does not include the latest shooting in Madison.
The deadliest school shooting of 2024 occurred in September at Apalachee High School in Georgia.
Last year, 45 people were killed in 158 school shootings, according to the Everytown for Gun Safety website. Sixty-seven people were killed in 181 school shootings in 2022, according to the data.
Firearms were the main cause of death among children in 2020 and 2021, according to KFF, a nonprofit organization that researches health care issues.
The shooting comes less than two weeks after a gunman was seriously injured two toddlers at a small religious school in Northern California and subsequently committed suicide. Butte County Sheriff Kory L. Honea said the gunman was mentally ill and believed that by targeting children on Dec. 4, he was conducting “countermeasures” in response to U.S. involvement in violence in the Middle East.
Litton, 56, gained admission to the Feather River School of Seventh-Day Adventists in Oroville, California, by pretending to enroll a fictional grandson, Honea said. He used a gun to shoot and seriously injure two toddler boys, ages 5 and 6. Authorities said Litton was then found dead just yards from the school’s playground.
It was unclear why Feather River School was targeted.
Abundant Life Christian School is non-denominational and has approximately 420 students from kindergarten through high school, according to Barbara Wiers, director of elementary and school relations for Abundant Life Christian School.
She said during a news briefing Monday afternoon that the school does not have metal detectors but uses other security measures, including cameras. She also said that weapons are not allowed on campus and that the school has regular safety routines.
“When they heard ‘lockdown, lockdown’ they knew it was real,” she said.
Wiers said they had retrained with the Madison Police Department just before the school year, so it was “very new to the faculty.”
The school asked for prayers in a post on its Facebook page on Monday.