The Madison Police Department responded to a possible shooting at Abundant Life Christian School, according to a statement from Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes. Barnes said there were at least seven injuries and three deaths, including one juvenile, as a result of the shooting. The shooter, one of the dead, was a 17-year-old female student at the school, according to AP news.
Abundant Life Christian School teaches K-12 and is around four miles from the University of Wisconsin campus near Lake Monona.
“This is something we prepared for but hoped that we would never have to do,” Barnes said.
Residents claimed they heard gunshots in the area of the school. Officers discovered multiple injured victims after responding to an active shooter call at the school at 10:57 a.m.
At least seven people were transported to area hospitals for treatment after officers administered lifesaving efforts to anyone they found wounded.
No officers fired their weapons in response to the shooting, Barnes said.
This shooting comes just two days after the 12th anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Today’s shooting follows a previous Dane County shooting that happened in May of this last year at Mount Horeb Middle School.
Wisconsin’s gun laws are ranked #21 in the country for gun law strength, and their gun violence rate of 14 is slightly below the national average of 14.2, according to Everytown.
Wisconsin has failed to pass laws requiring background checks for all gun sales and has not enacted or repealed major gun safety policies in recent years, according to Everytown.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., have released statements regarding the shooting. President Joe Biden has also been briefed on the school shooting, a White House spokesperson said.
UW released a statement on the shooting at around 1 p.m. and pointed students and staff to campus counseling resources.
This is a developing story. Further updates on this story can be found here.
The following information is reported from a 2:30 p.m. press conference at Madison Firehouse 14 in which Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway and Barnes addressed reporters.
The shooter was a teenage student who attended the school. MPD will not be releasing the age, gender or any other identifying remarks of the shooter, according to Barnes.
Other than the shooter, 2 people have died. One was a teacher and the other a teenage student. Of the six students who were injured, two are now in critical condition in the hospital with life-threatening injuries. The four others are at other area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.
MPD Chief Barnes said the shooter used a handgun and the shooting was confined to one space. The shooter’s family has been compliant with the ongoing investigation and their home is being searched by the Madison Police Department, according to Chief Barnes.
“I am on record saying that I think we need to do better in our country and our community to prevent gun violence,” Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said. “I hoped that this day would never come in Madison. 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. I will ask our entire community and our entire country to do whatever we can to make sure that no public official ever has to stand in this position again.”
