Madison, Wisconsin, school shooting: What led to the tragic event?

A shooting at a Christian school in Madison, Wisconsin, on Monday, left a teenage student and a teacher dead and several others injured, casting the small religious community into mourning just days before the school was going to close for Christmas.

Emergency response officials work the scene of a reported shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin, on December 16, 2024.

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Police rushed to Abundant Life Christian School just before 11 a.m. Monday in response to reports of an active shooter, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said.

In addition to the two people killed, another six are injured, according to police, including two students with life-threatening injuries in critical condition and four other students with non-life-threatening injuries, according to Barnes.

The shooting suspect, a teenage student, was also found dead at the scene, according to the police chief.

“Today truly is a sad day for Madison and for our country. It is a day that I believe will live in our collective minds for a very, very long time,” Barnes said during a news conference.

Now, federal and local law enforcement are combing over the crime scene, working to uncover the suspect’s motive and preparing to support the heartbroken school community as they find themselves at the center of a distinctly American tragedy.

The attack at Abundant Life is at least the 83rd school shooting of 2024, surpassing 2023 for the most school shootings in a single year since CNN began tracking such shootings in 2008.

Abundant Life posted on its social media to ask that the public, “please pray for our Challenger Family” as they grapple with the attack.

“I hoped that this day would never come in Madison,” Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said Monday at a news conference. “It is not something that any mayor, any fire chief, any police chief, any person in public office ever wants to have to deal with.”

How the shooting and response unfolded

Just hours before the shooting began, students from kindergarten to high school filed onto the school’s 28-acre campus to sit through the last week of classes before Christmas vacation. They had a week of festivities to look forward to, including a holiday concert and an Ugly Christmas Sweater Day, according to the school’s website.

But as the school day got underway, investigators believe the shooter pulled out a handgun and opened fire on their peers, Barnes said. The shooting was “confined to one space,” the chief said, though he did not clarify whether the space was a classroom, hallway or other room.

At 10:57 a.m., the Madison Police Department received a 911 call from inside the school, Barnes said.

Medics with the police department were conducting training about three miles away and raced to respond to the shooting, Barnes said.

“They left the training center immediately and came down here — and doing in real time what they were actually practicing for,” Barnes said at a news conference.

“When officers arrived, they found multiple victims suffering from gunshot wounds,” Barnes said.

Police also found the body of a teenage student whom they believe to be the shooter, the police chief said. He declined to provide the gender or age of the suspect. A law enforcement official briefed on the shooting told CNN the suspect is female.

Officers were still clearing the school and vehicles in the area Monday afternoon, “making certain that there is no other threat to this community, which we believe there are none,” Barnes said. Nearby roads were closed and police urged people to avoid the area.

The K-12 school serves approximately 390 students, according to its website. The site boasts “smaller class sizes” catering to students from about 200 families in the Dane County area.

Though there have been no other threats to schools in the Madison area, police placed other schools in the district on lockdown as a precaution, according to the police chief.

“There is no threat to MMSD schools at this time,” Barnes said Monday afternoon, referring to the Madison Metropolitan School District.

Investigators execute search warrants

Federal and local investigators are still working to determine the timeline of events, the suspect’s motive and details about the firearm used in the shooting.

Officers are processing the scene and interviewing witnesses, Barnes said. The department is working to obtain search warrants to collect additional evidence, he said.

The suspect’s family has been notified and is cooperating with investigators, according to Barnes.

It is unclear whether the suspected shooter had any prior contact with law enforcement, Barnes said.

“I did do a check of the school,” the police chief said. “There were some calls, but they were like 911 hang-ups, things of that nature. There was nothing that suggested that the school was a place that violence would occur.”

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is at the scene and will be doing a trace on the firearm to determine its origin, according to CNN correspondent Josh Campbell.

President Joe Biden has been briefed on the shooting, a White House spokesperson said.

“Senior White House officials are in touch with local counterparts in Madison to provide support as needed,” senior deputy press secretary Emilie Simons said.

The Abundant Life Christian School shooting in Madison, Wisconsin, marks at least the 83rd school shooting of 2024, surpassing 2023 for the most school shootings in a single year since CNN began tracking such shootings in 2008. The total number of school shootings CNN counted in 2023 was at least 82.

Of the 83 school shootings this year, 56 have been reported on K-12 campuses and 27 on university and college campuses. The deadliest school shooting of the year was in Winder, Georgia, where four victims were left dead at Apalachee High School.

“Many of you have asked me about the ‘why’ of this. ‘Why did this happen? What do we know? What was the motivation?’” Barnes told reporters Monday. “I do not know, but I will tell you this: Our detectives are working hard in the investigative process to find out as many answers as we can so that we can further prevent these things from happening, not only in this community, but in other communities around our country.”

“I think we can all agree that enough is enough. We have to come together to do everything we can to support our students, to prevent press conferences like these from happening again and again and again,” Barnes said.

From CNN