In the last week before Christmas break, a teacher and another adolescent student were killed when a teenage student opened fire at a private Christian school in Wisconsin on Monday morning. According to officials, the shooter also passed away.
The alleged shooter, who also injured six other people at Abundant Life Christian School, a K–12 institution with roughly 390 pupils, was not identified by Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes. Police then retracted their earlier claim that five persons had died.
According to Barnes, the suspected shooter most likely committed suicide.
According to the chief, they discovered the guilty party dead.
Barnes reported that two of the injured were critically ill and had potentially fatal injuries. Barnes stated that the injuries to the other four were not life-threatening.
According to Barnes, the injuries of the injured ranged widely from mild to potentially fatal.
Now that Christmas is so close, I’m feeling a little depressed,” he remarked. Everyone in that building, even the children, is a victim and always will be. We must determine what actually transpired and attempt to piece everything together.
Barnes stated that investigators were not immediately aware of the shooting’s motivation.
He stated, “I don’t know why, and I feel like we could stop these things from happening if we did know why.”
According to Barnes, police were putting in a lot of effort to uncover as many answers as possible.
Police were called just before 11 a.m., according to Barnes, and they hurried into the building without firing their firearms.
According to Barnes, a school employee reported an active shooter to 911. According to him, officials responded from the police training center, which is three miles (5 kilometers) from the school.
He claimed that what started out as a training day turned into a real day.
According to a law enforcement officer who spoke to The Associated Press, investigators think the shooter used a 9mm pistol. Since the official was not authorized to discuss the ongoing inquiry, they talked on condition of anonymity.
I don’t know if the school has metal detectors, but I don’t think they should. According to Barnes, it’s a safe place.
Roads surrounding the school were closed by police. To support local law enforcement, federal officers were present at the scene.
As we wait for additional information, we are praying for the children, teachers, and entire Abundant Life school community. We are also thankful for the first responders who are responding swiftly, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers said in a statement.
The White House said in a statement that officials were in contact with local authorities to offer help and that President Joe Biden had been updated on the shooting.
In a short Facebook statement, the nondenominational Abundant Life Christian School urged people to pray.
After learning about the incident, Bethany Highman, a student’s mother, hurried to the school and received word via FaceTime that her daughter was safe.
Your world pauses for a moment after it occurs. Highman stated that nothing else matters. Nobody is in your immediate vicinity. You simply run for the door and make every effort to spend as much time as possible with your children as a parent.
It was the most recent of dozens of school shootings that have occurred in the United States in recent years, including particularly lethal ones in Parkland, Florida; Uvalde, Texas; and Newtown, Connecticut.
In addition to igniting heated discussions about gun control, the shootings have agitated parents whose kids are growing up used to active shooter exercises in the classroom. However, national gun regulations have not changed much as a result of school shootings.
KFF, a nonprofit organization that studies health care concerns, reports that in 2020 and 2021, firearms were the primary cause of death for youngsters.
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This report was written by Josh Funk, Ed White, and Alanna Durkin Richer of the Associated Press.
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