A 15-year-old student fatally shot a teacher and another student on Monday at a private Christian school in Wisconsin, in the last week before Christmas break. The assailant also died, as reported by the police.
The shooter also injured other individuals at Abundant Life Christian School, including two students who were hospitalized in critical condition, said Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes.
"I am heartbroken, so close to Christmas," Barnes said. "Every child, every person in that building is a victim and will be a victim forever... We need to find out and try to reconstruct exactly what happened."
The assailant was a 15-year-old student, reported a law enforcement official to The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation.
The assailant apparently had already taken her own life when the officers arrived, the police reported.
Abundant Life is a non-denominational Christian school in Madison, the state capital, with approximately 420 students ranging from Kindergarten to High School. After the shooting, the students were taken to the neighboring church, from where they were transported by buses to another location to reunite with their families.
Meanwhile, nine public schools in Madison remained closed for a few hours as a precautionary measure.
"As difficult as this day has been, that person was someone else's child and today they are no longer here," said the police chief.
The motive for the shooting is currently unknown, he added. "I don't know why, and I feel that if we knew why, we could prevent these kinds of things," Barnes emphasized.
Someone from the school called 911 to report an active shooter, Barnes recounted. Emergency personnel who were in training just 3 miles away from the school rushed to the scene to address the situation, Barnes indicated.
Investigators believe the assailant used a 9mm handgun, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation.
"I am not aware of the school having metal detectors nor should they have them. It is a safe space," Barnes said.
Police blocked the streets around the school. Federal agents arrived at the scene to assist local law enforcement.
The school requested prayers in a brief Facebook post.
Bethany Highman, a mother of a student, went to the school after learning about the shooting and found out via FaceTime that her daughter was safe.
"As soon as it happened, your world stops for a minute. Nothing else matters," Highman said. "There is no one around you. You just run to the door and try to do everything you can as a parent to be with your children."
The White House stated in a release that President Joe Biden has been briefed on the shooting and officials were in contact with local authorities to provide support.
"As a parent, grandparent, and as governor, it is unthinkable that a child or an educator can wake up and go to school one morning and never return home," said Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers. "This should never happen, and I will never accept this as an inevitable reality or stop working to change this."
In recent years, dozens of school shootings have occurred in the United States, including some particularly deadly ones in Newtown, Connecticut; Parkland, Florida; and Uvalde, Texas.
Shootings have sparked heated debates on gun control and have unnerved parents whose children are accustomed to conducting active shooter drills in their classrooms. However, school shootings have done little to change national gun laws.
Firearms were the leading cause of death among children in 2020 and 2021, according to KFF, a nonprofit organization that researches healthcare issues.
Madison Mayor, Satya Rhodes-Conway, stated that the country needs to do more to prevent gun violence.
"I had hoped that this day would never come to Madison," she said.