MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A teenage student opened fire at a private Christian school Monday morning in Wisconsin, killing a teacher and another teenage student in the final week before Christmas break. The shooter also died, police said.
Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes did not give details about the age or gender of the suspected shooter who also wounded six others at Abundant Life Christian School, a K-12 school with about 390 students. Police previously said a total of five people had died but corrected the statement.
Barnes said the suspected shooter likely died by suicide.
“They found the person responsible who was down, deceased,” the chief said.
Of those wounded, Barnes said two of them were in critical condition with life-threatening injuries. The other four had non-life-threatening injuries, Barnes said.
The wounded had injuries ranging broadly from minor to life-threatening, Barnes said.
“I’m feeling a little dismayed now, so close to Christmas,” he said. “Every child, every person in that building is a victim and will be a victim forever. … We need to figure out and try to piece together what exactly happened.”
Investigators did not immediately know a motive for the shooting, Barnes said.
“I don’t know why, and I feel like if we did know why, we could stop these things from happening,” he said.
Barnes said detectives were, “working hard to find as many answers as we can.”
Barnes said police were alerted shortly before 11 a.m. and did not fire their weapons when they rushed into the building.
Someone from the school called 911 to report an active shooter, Barnes said. He said the police training center is 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the school and staff responded from there.
“What began as a training day became an actual day,” he said.
Investigators believe the shooter used a 9mm pistol, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.
“I’m not aware that the school had metal detectors nor should schools have metal detectors. It’s a safe space,” Barnes said.
Police blocked off roads around the school. Federal agents were at the scene to assist local law enforcement.
“We are praying for the kids, educators, and entire Abundant Life school community as we await more information and are grateful for the first responders who are working quickly to respond,” Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said in a statement.
In a statement, the White House said President Joe Biden has been briefed on the shooting and officials were in touch with local authorities to provide support.
Abundant Life Christian School, which is nondenominational, asked for prayers in a brief Facebook post.
Bethany Highman, the mother of a student, rushed to the school after hearing about the shooting and learned over FaceTime that her daughter was OK.
“As soon as it happened, your world stops for a minute. Nothing else matters,” Highman said. “There’s nobody around you. You just bolt for the door and try to do everything you can as a parent to be with your kids.”
It was the the latest among dozens of school shootings across the U.S. in recent years, including especially deadly ones in Newtown, Connecticut; Parkland, Florida; and Uvalde, Texas.
The shootings have set off fervent debates about gun control and frayed the nerves of parents whose children are growing up accustomed to doing active shooter drills in their classrooms. But school shootings have done little to move the needle on national gun laws.
Firearms were the leading cause of death among children in 2020 and 2021, according to KFF, a nonprofit that researches health care issues.
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Associated Press writers Alanna Durkin Richer, Ed White and Josh Funk contributed to this report.
