The father of school shooter Natalie “Samantha” Rupnow, who said it killed two people and injured six others at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin, encouraged the 15-year-old to practice his weapons skills in the months leading up to Monday's bloodshedaccording to online reviews of his work.
In August, Jeff Rupnow — who could not be reached Tuesday — posted a photo on Facebook of what appeared to be his daughter with a gun shooting clay pigeons at a local gun club.
“Is that a boy?” commented a friend.
“You're right!!!!” Rupnow replied. “We joined NBSC this spring and loved them all [sic] every second!”
The North Bristol Sportsman's Club, or NBSC, is located in Sun Prairie, a community of 35,000 about 20 miles northeast of Madison. An individual membership costs $75 per year, and a family membership costs $90, plus a $25 rifle/shotgun premium. NBSC's youth program accepts children as young as 9 years old, according to the group's website.
Natalie Rupnow, 15, seen here four months before shooting a teacher and a classmate at a Wisconsin school (Facebook/Jeff Rupnow)
In a photo on her father's Facebook page, Natalie Rupnow is wearing a T-shirt with the logo of the respected German electro-industrial group KMFDM. The top is similar to the one worn by teenage mass shooter Eric Harris, who in 1999, along with classmate Dylan Klebold, shot and killed 15 students at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado.
After the Columbine massacre, members of the KMFDM – that is Kein Mehrecht für die Mitleidwhich translates as “No Pity for the Majority” — condemned the bloodshed, calling itself “sick and shocked” by what had happened.
“From the beginning, our music has been a statement against war, oppression, fascism and violence against others,” the band announced, before referring to the fact that the Columbine shooting took place on April 20, the same day as the band's latest album. was released – which also happened to commemorate Adolf Hitler's birthday.
“[N]one of us condones any Nazi beliefs,” the announcement said.
Police still don't have a motive, but Madison Police Chief Sean Barnes told reporters Tuesday that investigators are looking into a “combination of factors,” including the possibility that Rupnow was abused. Jeff and Melissa Rupnow, who has also not been located, are reported to be cooperating with police.
The T-shirt worn by Natalie Rupnow is very similar to the one worn by one of the Columbine school shooters (Facebook/Jeff Rupnow)
After the unimaginable events of Monday, the police raided the Rupnow home in Madison's Sherman Village neighborhood, they drove up to a three-bedroom house in an armored vehicle and forced their way in using explosive devices.
Adam De Wilde, who lives directly across the street and watched everything that happened, initially thought he was seeing a drug bust. He later learned that his teenage neighbor, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound before police responded to Abundant Life, had been on the loose at Midwestern College.
“I have talked to a few [other] neighbors, and it's just sad,” said De Wilde The Independent. “It's just sad to think that a child woke up in the morning and took a gun to school and he's your neighbor.”
His wife, Suzy De Wilde, said she had no choice but to keep an eye on the Rupnow residence.
“Every day, I wash my dishes and I see that house,” she said. “It's crazy that that's where the shooter lives… Every day, I start looking at that front door now. How do you live with these reminders everywhere?”
President Joe Biden, who is less than a month into his one term in office, called Monday's shooting “shocking and senseless.”
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