Who is Natalie ‘Samantha’ Rupnow? Wisconsin school shooter, 15, was ‘dealing with problems’ before rampage

Natalie “Samantha” Rupnow arrived at Abundant Life Christian School Monday morning — and just hours later, she opened fire on a study hall, killing two and wounding six others before turning the gun on herself.

Police identified 15-year-old Rupnow as the shooter at the private school in Madison, Wisconsin, and claimed the attack had been premeditated.

A law enforcement source told CNN that Rupnow ‘had dealt with problems and expressed some of them in writings, which they are now revising.’ A manifesto, which police have not confirmed is linked to the teenager, was published on social media.

The gunman, who went by the name Samantha, was present from the start of the school day and eventually opened fire on a room full of students from several grades, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said.

Police confirmed that shooter Rupnow was not on their radar and had had no previous interaction with her before today, although they said an investigation would confirm that.

It was not immediately clear to Barnes and investigators which grade Rupnow attended at the school, which serves students from age three through high school.

When authorities arrived, Rupnow was found injured from a self-inflicted gunshot after the disaster, 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.

It has not yet been confirmed whether Rupnow’s family – who are cooperating with the investigation – were gun owners.

Police raided her Delaware Boulevard home Monday night to find anything she may have left behind. It turned out that a door had been smashed and was left on the ground CNN reported that officers had thrown stun grenades into the home.

Barnes said they are currently talking to the shooter’s father at one of their facilities and he is being cooperative.

“The parents are fully cooperating, we have no reason to believe at this time that they have committed a crime,” Barnes said, before expressing empathy for her father.

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

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

Police say they are aware of a manifesto allegedly written by the 15-year-old gunman that is circulating on social media.

However, police said they have not been able to verify that it is authentic.

Chief Barnes said at Monday night’s press conference, “There is a document currently circulating on social media regarding this shooting, but we have not verified its authenticity.”

‘We have not been able to verify that it is authentic. We are certainly aware that it was posted and that the person who posted it may have some connection to the victim,” Barnes said.

The chief also waded into online speculation about the gunman’s gender or possible transgender status.

Barnes denounced speculation about Rupnow’s gender on social media after he was asked about it.

‘I don’t know if Natalie was transgender or not. And honestly, I don’t think that’s important at all,” he said.

“I don’t think what happened today has anything to do with how she or he or they want to identify themselves.” He added that it didn’t matter much for now and that it “just didn’t help.”

“For what we’re doing right now, today, literally eight hours after a mass shooting at a school in Madison, it is of no importance at this point (what gender the shooter was),” he said.

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

Police received a 911 call at 10:57 a.m. Monday morning and within three minutes, county sheriff’s deputies had arrived at Abundant Life Christian School, which serves about 420 students. Local police arrived seconds later.

At 11:05 a.m., they said they found the gunman injured and recovered the weapon. Rupnow was pronounced dead en route to the hospital.

At the same time, firefighters arrived on the scene and began caring for the victims. Two students are currently in hospital with life-threatening injuries and are said to be in critical condition.

A teacher and three other students were also hospitalized with less serious injuries. Two of them were released Monday evening.

The victims have yet to be identified pending notification of family.

Governor Tony Evers said on X, “I am closely following the incident at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison.”

“We are praying for the children, teachers and the entire Abundant Life school community as we wait for more information and are grateful for the first responders who are working quickly to respond.”

Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said on I will continue to monitor the situation closely.’

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.

Abundant Life Christian School posted a prayer request on Facebook in the aftermath of the shooting.

“Today we had an active shooter incident at ALCS. We are working on the follow-up. We will share information as we can,” the school said.

President Joe Biden was briefed on the school shooting. Senior White House officials said they are in contact with local counterparts in Madison to provide support.