WI - Madison, school shooting at Abundant Life Christian School 16 Dec 2024

[Betty P]

I have a shirts/hoodies for bands that I like that probably result in some side eye from people. It's a bit odd that a young teenager knows who KMDFM are since they are a band that has been around for decades. However I am not going to read much into it.

Some believe she wore it because one of the Columbine shooters also wore it.

Natalie Rupnow reportedly wore same 'KMFDM' shirt as Colu...

Natalie Lynn Rupnow, the Abundant Life Christian School shooter, has reportedly been pictured wearing the same T-shirt as the Columbine shooters.

www.newsweek.com

Lyrics to KMFDM songs "Son of a Gun," "Stray Bullet" and "Waste" had been posted on the website of Eric Harris, one of the shooters in the Columbine School massacre. The band's album Adios was released on the same date as the mass shooting.

After the shooting, journalists speculated about the connection between Harris and the other shooter, Dylan Klebold. It was thought by some that the two were inspired by violent entertainment and Nazism.

White power sign, t shirt reference to Columbine shooters and possible neo-Nazis.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

Natalie Rupnow's parents switched their custody arrangeme...

The parents of Natalie Rupnow, identified by police as the shooter at a school in Madison, adjusted their custody agreement in 2022.

www.newsweek.com

Newsweek gives some details about the parents’ custodial agreements and their marital history.

The parents divorced in 2014, so I presume when Natalie was around 5. Mother had primary custody.

The parents remarried in 2017 (to each other, not to new partners) and Natalie was the only child from the marriages of her parents to each other.

Divorced again in 2021. First equal custody, then in 2022 the father had primary custody.

The Daily Mail also has a long and detailed article about her parents and their on-off relationship. <modsnip>

Natalie Rupnow's messy family secrets revealed after school shooting

Natalie Rupnow, 15, killed two people, as well as herself, and injured six others after unleashing hell at Abundant Life Christian School on Monday.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[LAborn]

Should be and actually is are very different though. Can’t charge dad with a crime if it’s not actually illegal to have a firearm accessible to a 15 year old.

Dad can be charged if it's learned he didn't properly secure the weapon used for the murders. "Federal law prohibits the possession of a handgun or handgun ammunition by any person under the age of 18."

 

[stg]

Some believe she wore it because one of the Columbine shooters also wore it.

Natalie Rupnow reportedly wore same 'KMFDM' shirt as Colu...

Natalie Lynn Rupnow, the Abundant Life Christian School shooter, has reportedly been pictured wearing the same T-shirt as the Columbine shooters.

www.newsweek.com

White power sign, t shirt reference to Columbine shooters and possible neo-Nazis.

And some key quotes from that article come from KMFDM themselves:

In response to the speculation, KMFDM published a statement that said: "First and foremost, KMFDM would like to express their deep and heartfelt sympathy for the parents, families and friends of the murdered and injured children in Littleton. We are sick and appalled, as is the rest of the nation, by what took place in Colorado yesterday."

"KMFDM are an art form—not a political party. From the beginning, our music has been a statement against war, oppression, fascism and violence against others. While some of the former band members are German as reported in the media, none of us condone any Nazi beliefs whatsoever."

It's crazy, but this article made me remember I was on my way to the store to buy the album "Adios" when I heard the first reports about Columbine on the radio. It was my first year of teaching, and that event really changed how LE are expected to respond to school shootings, taking out the threat ASAP.

 

[Cryptic]

If there are always signs, why didn't someone see/understand the signs?

"Seeing with the eye does not always equate to true understanding with the mind."

And the home made Zen aside.....

Trying to predict which students displaying certain signs are truly dangerous and which are displaying the signs out of boredom, a fleeting interest, seeking negative attention, wanting to belong etc etc can be hard.

For example, on any give day, there are a good number of students displaying the following signs of a potential rampage shooter at our high school:

- Narco gang imagery, viewing and sharing torture / execution videos, street gang imagery, violent / sexually exploitive rap lyrics, weapons, racist imagery, slogans, "jokes" directed at one race in particular, or at certain ethnic groups.

Yet.... a majority of those displaying some, or many of those signs have not committed violent acts, and have no inclination to do so. But, how can staff know who is truly violent and who is just "tossing stuff out" for a variety of motives?

 

[Arkay]

White power sign, t shirt reference to Columbine shooters and possible neo-Nazis

KMFDM are an art form—not a political party. From the beginning, our music has been a statement against war, oppression, fascism and violence against others. While some of the former band members are German as reported in the media, none of us condone any Nazi beliefs whatsoever

I’m receiving quite the education here.

Until I posted the picture of Natalie making what I thought was the “okay” sign, I had no idea it’s been usurped to mean white supremacy. I just interpreted it as she meant “okay, I’m ready, let’s go.”

I also know nothing at all about KMFDM. From what @stg (hi, fellow teacher) and others have posted here, it is absolutely not my type of music at all, but I take the point that all sorts of benign people enjoy their music.

I think though, as @Betty P put together, that the shirt, in concert with what I now understand could be a white power symbol, is not just an innocuous reference to a favored band. Furthermore, if the alleged manifest turns out to be real then we will know this was Natalie’s belief system.

It appears to my eyes that she is not celebrating a band that she likes, but instead celebrating the Columbine killers.

It’s dreadful to me that signifiers of Columbine are favored by school shooters, but IMO they are the touchstone for so many school shooters who came after them.

JMO

 

[Arkay]

Narco gang imagery, viewing and sharing torture / execution videos, street gang imagery, violent / sexually exploitive rap lyrics, weapons, racist imagery, slogans, "jokes" directed at one race in particular, or at certain ethnic groups.

Yet.... a majority of those displaying some, or many of those signs have not committed violent acts, and have no inclination to do so. But, how can staff know who is truly violent and who is just "tossing stuff out" for a variety of motives?

This is true.

In my school we received training on what to look for regarding gang symbols and insignia.
If we saw anything in their notebooks or elsewhere, for example wearing certain colors and some particular beaded necklaces, we informed the parents and those kids were sent to the guidance counselor. It’s the guidance counselor’s job to plumb the depths of the child’s thinking and either dismiss it or take further steps.

Same thing if I saw anything disturbing in their essays.

Certainly that isn’t foolproof. I recall the Columbine killers were able to convince their counselors that they were harmless.

I saw my career as not only giving instruction but also trying to give positive attention to the lonely and disaffected. At prom I used to sit with the loners instead of at the teachers’ tables, and I tried to give those kids extra attention all year.

When I was a new teacher I did something extremely stupid. I had a very bizarre 14-year old male student who seemed to be a potential powder keg. For some reason he liked me and asked me to go roller-blading with him. I took my daughter’s roller blades and did skate with him outside in a public shopping center. When I told my assistant principal the next day, he went ballistic. He told me in no uncertain terms that while he knew I was trying to form a bond, that I absolutely could NEVER hang out with a student, particularly a boy, outside of school.

We really do try. I started teaching before the Internet but once that and cell phones emerged, there was so much to which we had no access. Sometimes other kids would tell us about something troubling they saw online and then we could do the follow up…but none of what we try is 100% guaranteed against a determined, seething and wily child.

JMO and experience.

 

[daybreaking]

Are there any screenshots of any of her tumblr or X posts available?

It appears that they've been archived (multiple times) on the archiving sites Archive.ph and archive.org.

Unfortunately, those screenshots don't show the details of the hundreds of 'likes' that those posts have received in the past several days - even more importantly, the 'likes' that those posts received months ago when they were first posted and her peers had the opportunity to stop this.

Her WPD account with comments is still up, however, with the June 2023 creation date.

 

[daybreaking]

It looks like MSM finally picked up on her social media accounts:

School shooter Natalie ‘Samantha’ Rupnow linked to sick website showing beheadings, burnings and gruesome deaths

Police don’t yet have a motive for the shooting but Rupnow was apparently also an aficionado of a morbid site that includes graphic and upsetting images of people getting shot to death, run o…

nypost.com

 

[daybreaking]

As mentioned earlier in the thread, the Tumblr was deactivated but was archived several places.

Unknown

Follow @crossixir and get more of the good stuff by joining Tumblr today. Dive in!

www.tumblr.com

Her Spotify account should help answer some of the back and forth as to whether she was just a fan of the band, or a fan of who was also a fan of the group.

Also, these playlists have dates when songs were added / when they were created.

Crossixir

User · Crossixir

open.spotify.com

Crossixir's top songs – volt.fm

volt.fm

 

[vls12345]

Is that the sign for white supremacy? Sure looks like it. Appalling.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/26/us/adl-new-hate-symbols/index.html

What to know about the 15-year-old suspected school shooter in Wisconsin

A 15-year-old student accused in Monday's deadly shooting at the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin appears to have shown interest in online content venerating neo-Nazi violence and school shooters, according to information provided to law enforcement. Natalie Rupnow, who went...

currently.att.yahoo.com

The portrait that is beginning to emerge from these social media accounts of a young person showing interest in neo-Nazi ideology and neo-Nazi violence, as well as demonstrating interest and engagement in online forums venerating mass shooters, according to information provided to law enforcement.

 

[loreet]

A PSA:
THANK YOU!! To those of you who are teaching our children. At this moment in time, your work is challenging and changing and often thankless. But your work is equally as important as it is difficult. Our children are the future of our world. I am so thankful for you.

 

[lonetraveler]

Try living and and going to school in Miami during the Cuban missile crisis!

It was during the Cuban missile crisis, LOL. I just didn't live in Miami.

 

[Dotta]

This case seems to me a déjà vu of another one also discussed here on WB.

Also a private Christian school,
the perp was a female and there was a manifesto never disclosed.

But I completely forgot where in the USA it happened.

RIP to the poor victims.
Of this attack and the other one.

Condolences to families

 

[al66pine]

A previous female school shooter.

This case seems to me a déjà vu of another one also discussed here on WB.

Also a private Christian school,
the perp was a female and there was a manifesto never disclosed.

But I completely forgot where in the USA it happened.

RIP to the poor victims.
Of this attack and the other one.

Condolences to families

@Dotta Maybe this case?
Mar. 2023. Nashville TN. Shooter = Audrey Hale, 28yo.

Thread #2 here on WS.

Thread 'TN - Shooting at private Christian Covenant School, Nashville, suspect dead, multiple victims, 27 Mar 2023 #2'

Mar 27, 2023

A suspect is dead following a shooting at a private school in Nashville, Tennessee, on Monday, according to police.

The Nashville Fire Department reported that there were multiple patients at the Covenant School, a Christian school for students in preschool through sixth grade.

The number of victims was not immediately clear. At least one person has been hospitalized, according to a spokesman at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Police said officers "engaged" with the suspect who was then declared dead...

• imstilla.grandma
• Replies: 839
• Forum: Rampage Killings and Terrorist Attacks

• 

From wiki summary:
"2023 Covenant School shooting: A shooting occurred at Covenant School in the Green Hills neighborhood. Six people were killed, consisting of three students and three staff members, and a police officer was injured by shattered glass. The shooter was killed by two responding Metropolitan Nashville Police Department officers.[656]"

List of school shootings in the United States (2000–present) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[airportwoman]

Natalie Rupnow's parents switched their custody arrangeme...

The parents of Natalie Rupnow, identified by police as the shooter at a school in Madison, adjusted their custody agreement in 2022.

www.newsweek.com

Newsweek gives some details about the parents’ custodial agreements and their marital history.

The parents divorced in 2014, so around when Natalie was 5. Mother had primary custody.

The parents remarried in 2017 (to each other, not to new partners) and Natalie was the only child from the marriages of her parents to each other.

Divorced again in 2021. First equal custody, then in 2022 the father had primary custody.

This is true.

In my school we received training on what to look for regarding gang symbols and insignia.
If we saw anything in their notebooks or elsewhere, for example wearing certain colors and some particular beaded necklaces, we informed the parents and those kids were sent to the guidance counselor. It’s the guidance counselor’s job to plumb the depths of the child’s thinking and either dismiss it or take further steps.

Same thing if I saw anything disturbing in their essays.

Certainly that isn’t foolproof. I recall the Columbine killers were able to convince their counselors that they were harmless.

I saw my career as not only giving instruction but also trying to give positive attention to the lonely and disaffected. At prom I used to sit with the loners instead of at the teachers’ tables, and I tried to give those kids extra attention all year.

When I was a new teacher I did something extremely stupid. I had a very bizarre 14-year old male student who seemed to be a potential powder keg. For some reason he liked me and asked me to go roller-blading with him. I took my daughter’s roller blades and did skate with him outside in a public shopping center. When I told my assistant principal the next day, he went ballistic. He told me in no uncertain terms that while he knew I was trying to form a bond, that I absolutely could NEVER hang out with a student, particularly a boy, outside of school.

We really do try. I started teaching before the Internet but once that and cell phones emerged, there was so much to which we had no access. Sometimes other kids would tell us about something troubling they saw online and then we could do the follow up…but none of what we try is 100% guaranteed against a determined, seething and wily child.

JMO and experience.

Professional boundaries exist for a reason!

 

[sds71]

A 14-year-old student, Ruby Vergara, was identified as one of the victims in the shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison.

Rubi Patricia Vergara, a freshman at the school, was born March 17, 2010, in Madison to Vicente and Jennifer Vergara. She was involved in music, playing keyboard in her family's worship band and enjoyed reading and art.

First victim identified in Madison school shooting: Rubi Vergara

Rubi Vergara, a freshman at Abundant Life Christian School, was among those tragically killed in the Madison school shooting

www.wisn.com

 

[Chimera]

Rest in gentle peace, Rubi.
Also rest eternally to the other victim.

Hopeful the wounded will continue to recover.

 

[Bounceycat]

Was hopeful the survivors would make it.
Rest in gentle peace, Rubi.
Also rest eternally to the other two victims.

If I'm reading it right, she was one of the original two victims, but it's just now her name and details have been made public.

 

[Chimera]

If I'm reading it right, she was one of the original two victims, but it's just now her name and details have been made public.

Yes, thanks.
I went back and edited my comment.