Teacher, student among 3 dead in shooting at private Christian school in Wisconsin
Shooting suspect believed to be 17-year-old female student; authorities did not initially disclose shooter’s age, gender
Updated at 5 p.m. ET on Dec. 16, 2024: The shooting suspect was a 17-year-old female student, a law enforcement official reportedly told The Associated Press after the second press conference of the day. Two of the injured students are in critical, life-threatening condition, and four others wounded have sustained injuries that are non-life threatening.
A teen student shot and killed at least two people — a teacher and a student — and wounded at least six others Monday at a private Christian school in Wisconsin, just days before Christmas break.
Police say the student — whose age and gender were not identified — opened fire just before 11 a.m. local time at Abundant Life Christian School located at 4901 E. Buckeye Road in the city of Madison.
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Upon officers’ arrival on scene, police found multiple shooting victims and a “teenage student” was identified as the suspect, according to Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes.
The shooter was a student at the school and is deceased, Barnes added. A handgun was recovered at the scene.
At least three people were killed (including the shooter), while another six were hospitalized, he said. Among the victims were a teacher and a teenage student, according to Barnes.
The shooting was confined to a single space inside the school but no other details were provided.
No officers fired their weapons, according to Barnes, who said the shooter likely died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
There was no additional information on a motive, but Barnes added investigators were “working hard to find as many answers as we can.”
Barnes said the shooter’s family was cooperating with investigators.
At another media briefing earlier Monday, Barnes declined to identify whether the shooter was male or female, saying, “I don’t know if it’s a male or a female but the police department did not fire their weapons.”
“Every child, every person in that building is a victim and will be a victim forever,” he said. “ ... We need to figure out and try to piece together what exactly happened.”
Founded in 1978, Abundant Life Christian School (ALCS) offers classes to students from kindergarten through the 12th grade “in a Christ-focused context,” according to the school’s website.
In a Facebook post just after 12:30 p.m., ALCS wrote: “Prayers Requested! Today, we had an active shooter incident at ALCS. We are in the midst of following up. We will share information as we are able. Please pray for our Challenger Family.”
CP reached out Monday morning for comment from ALCS.
