Students at a private Christian school in Wisconsin shared disturbing accounts of the moment a shooter opened fire in a deadly attack on Monday.
Police say 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow, who also went by Samantha, was responsible for the shooting which left a student and a teacher dead at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison. Six others were wounded, while Rupnow also died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Second-grader Nora Gottschalk, 8, was in a hallway at the school getting ready for lunch when the shooting started, she told WISC-TV on Monday. The little girl, recounting what she saw while eating a Spongebob popsicle, said she heard cries from a teacher. “She was screaming: ‘Ah, my leg, help, help!’” Nora said.
“I was really scared and I was really sad.”
Sixth-grade student Adler Jean-Charles was in an English class at around 11am Monday morning when he heard two gunshots ring out.
“Some people started crying, and then we just waited until the police came and they escorted us out,” he told WISC-TV. “I was scared. Why did they do that?”
Students were taken to their parents at a unification point.
Jean-Charles’ mother, Mireille Jean-Charles, said she feared the children involved in the lockdown will suffer mental trauma.
“It’s sad, you know, to be home and then somebody calls you and says, ‘Your kids’ school is in lockdown and a shooting,’ and you don’t know where they are,” she told the station, fighting back tears.
“Thank God, they were safe. But the trauma—it’s a lot, because I’m sure they lost friends and teachers, which is not OK. And I don’t think they’ll be OK for a long time.”
Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said the attack took place “inside a classroom in a study hall of students from mixed grades.”
A second-grader at the school called 911 to report the shooting, he added.
Two of the six people injured in the attack were in critical condition on Monday, Barnes said. The other four—a teacher and three students—were hospitalized with less serious injuries and at least two have since been discharged.
