Wisconsin police remain silent on school shooting as search for answers continues

Wisconsin police are not planning any public update Wednesday on the religious school shooting in which a teacher and a student were killed and six others were injured, a day after the city’s mayor scolded journalists to leave the victims alone.

Police have been tight-lipped about why a 15-year-old student at Abundant Life Christian School shot and killed a fellow student and a teacher on Monday before killing herself. Two other students who were shot remained in critical condition Wednesday.

Madison’s police chief released the name of the shooter, Natalie “Samantha” Rupnow, hours after the shooting on Monday. However, police have not yet released the names of the two people he killed.

A UW Health hospital spokeswoman said she had no updates on the three patients who were transferred there on Monday. A spokesman for the Dane County Coroner’s Office declined to release any information about the number of autopsies being performed or the identity of the victims.

Tension over the lack of information boiled over at a news conference Tuesday, where Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes walked away without answering questions. Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway became increasingly curt in her responses as reporters asked questions she could not answer.

“It is none of your business who was injured in this incident,” Rhodes-Conway said. “Please have some human decency and respect for people who lost loved ones or who were injured themselves or whose children were injured. Just have some human decency, people. Leave them alone. Let them cry. Let them recover. Let them heal. Don’t take advantage of their pain. We will share what we can when we can and not before.”

The media has unrealistic expectations about how quickly officials should provide information when serious incidents occur, said Paul Bucher, a former Waukesha County prosecutor who was involved in several high-profile cases, including the football player’s indictment. American Mark Chmura of sexual assault in 2000.

Bucher was also part of the team that dealt with the aftermath of a mass shooting at a church meeting in Brookfield in 2005 that left seven people dead.

“The government is fed up with the media,” he said. “They have no obligation to disclose anything at all. The mayor’s statement, ‘this is none of your business,’ is pretty indicative that they’ve had enough,” he said.

Bucher said errors in the release of information have caused stress for victims’ families and made officials reluctant to say anything while the investigation is still ongoing.

Initially, officials said five people had died and that a second-grade student made the initial 911 call when in fact it was a second-grade teacher who made the call.

But Bill Lueders, who chairs the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council and has worked as a journalist in Madison for many years, said Wednesday that authorities should be more transparent with the facts.

“It is a problem that so little information has been disclosed. “I do not accept that this is necessary to protect the integrity of the investigation,” he said. “The public has the right to know.”

Lueders said a state constitutional amendment that protects the rights of crime victims, including their privacy, is likely contributing to the delay in releasing victims’ identities. He said the law does not prohibit the disclosure of information but recommends prior notification to family members.

Community members have been struggling with grief since the shooting that occurred in the last week of school before Christmas break.

Several hundred people gathered outside the Wisconsin Capitol to hold a vigil Tuesday night to honor the dead, with some passing candles to each other and staying close to each other to protect themselves from the winter cold. It was one of several vigils held since the shooting.

The school shooting was the most recent in the United States. Several have occurred in recent years, including some especially deadly ones in Newtown, Connecticut; Parkland, Florida; and Uvalde, Texas.

But this one was different because school shootings committed by teenage females have been extremely rare in the United States, said David Riedman, founder of the K-12 School Shooting Database.

Emily Salisbury, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Utah who specializes in criminology and gender, said women typically direct their anger toward themselves because American culture has taught them that women don’t hurt people, which is in eating disorders, self-harm and depression.

It’s difficult to speculate without knowing all the facts in Rupnow’s case, Salisbury said, but a girl resorting to the level of violence she displayed at school suggests she experienced severe trauma or suffered violence herself at home.

“It takes more provocation, more instigation for girls and women to become violent,” Salisbury said. “It is very likely that you have experienced some type of violence in your life that can lead to serious mental illness.”

Online court records show no criminal cases against his father, Jeffrey Rupnow, or his mother, Mellissa Rupnow. Her parents are divorced and shared custody of their daughter, but she lived primarily with her father, according to court documents. Divorce records indicate that Natalie was in therapy in 2022, but do not say why.

Abundant Life is a nondenominational Christian school—preschool through high school—with approximately 420 students.

Salisbury said the public should not assume that the school’s religious teachings mean its students are not capable of bullying and excluding others.

“They’re kids,” Salisbury said. “As much as those (religious) values ​​may be taught or discussed in the classroom as part of the culture of that school, kids are online all the time. “Children create their own culture through social networks.”

Connect with the Voice of America! Subscribe to our channels YouTube, WhatsApp and to newsletter. Turn on notifications and follow us on Facebook, x and instagram.