Police arrest father of 15-year-old who killed 2 at Wisconsin religious school

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The father of a Wisconsin teenage girl who killed a teacher and fellow student in a school shooting was arrested Thursday in connection with the case, an official told The Associated Press.

The shooting occurred at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison last December, and police planned a press conference Thursday to discuss the investigation.

A Madison city official briefed on the case but not authorized to speak ahead of the press conference confirmed the arrest of Jeffrey Rupnow was related to the shooting.

Rupnow’s daughter, 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow, opened fire at Abundant Life Christian School, killing a teacher and a 14-year-old student before killing herself. Two other students were critically injured.

Jeffrey Rupnow did not immediately respond to a message The Associated Press left on his Facebook page. No one immediately returned voicemails left at possible telephone listings for him and his ex-wife, Melissa Rupnow. Online court records indicate he represented himself in the couple’s 2022 divorce and do not list an attorney for him in that case.

Police had said they were investigating how Natalie Rupnow obtained two guns she had the day of the attack. Police have not discussed a clear motive in the attack. Former Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said shortly after the shooting that a “combination of factors” motivated the shooting, but he declined to specify what they were.

Jeffrey Rupnow is the latest parent of a school shooter to face charges associated with an attack.

Last year, the mother and father of a school shooter in Michigan who killed four students in 2021 were each convicted of involuntary manslaughter. The mother was the first parent in the U.S. to be held responsible for a child carrying out a mass school attack.

The father of a 14-year-old boy accused of fatally shooting four people at a Georgia high school was arrested in September and faces charges including second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter for letting his son possess a weapon.

In 2023, the father of a man charged in a deadly Fourth of July parade shooting in suburban Chicago pleaded guilty to seven misdemeanors related to how his son obtained a gun license.

Killed in the shooting were Abundant Life teacher Erin Michelle West, 42, and student Rubi Patricia Vergara, 14.

Abundant Life is a nondenominational Christian school that offers prekindergarten classes through high school. About 420 students attend the institution.