Police said Natalie Rupnow, a 15-year-old girl, was the shooter who killed at least two people Monday at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin, the New York Times reported.

Police added that Rupnow died from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Times said. Police said the suspect — who was a student at the school — used a 9mm gun, and police were working to trace the gun, WBBM-TV reported.

'But the trauma — it's a lot, because I'm sure they lost friends and a teacher, which is not OK. And I don't think they will be OK for a long time ...'

Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said the the shooter, who went by “Samantha,” opened fire in a study hall that included students from several grades, the paper said. The school serves students from grades K through 12.

A teacher and a teenage student were killed, and five students and another teacher were injured, authorities told the paper.

Two of the students with life-threatening injuries were in critical condition at a hospital, Barnes told the Times. Three students and a teacher were hospitalized with less serious injuries, and two of them have been discharged, he added to the paper.

Barnes said a second-grade student called 911 just before 11 a.m. to report the shooting, WBBM reported.

Barnes told the Times it appears there was only one shooter and that investigators searched the suspect’s home in Madison and spoke to her family members, who were cooperating. The chief didn't describe a motive, the paper said, adding that he noted that investigators were still trying to find out more information.

More from the Times:

Young women are much less likely to be suspects in school shootings. This year, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database, nine shooting suspects were female compared to 249 who were male when gender was identified.

Abundant Life often served as a kind of refuge for children who had been bullied or struggled at other schools, because the staff were quick to put a stop to cruelty, said Rebekah Smith, 50, whose teenage daughter was in a physics class down the hall from where the shooting occurred.

Ms. Smith said that members of the school community believed that the shooter was new to the private school this year and was among those who came in need of a life change. The school’s student population has grown dramatically since the pandemic, she said.

All surviving students were reunited with their loved ones in the hours after the shooting, officials told WBBM.

Students are escorted from a church next to the Abundant Life Christian School, Dec. 16, 2024, in Madison, Wisconsin.Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

The station said Mireille Jean-Charles — a mother of three boys who attend Abundant Life Christian School — spoke to WISC-TV in Madison: "It's sad, you know, to be home and then somebody calls you and says your kids' school [is] in lockdown — and you don't know where they are. And I was there since 11. I finally got them, and thank God they were safe. But the trauma — it's a lot, because I'm sure they lost friends and a teacher, which is not OK. And I don't think they will be OK for a long time, and I'm not."

You can view a video report here about the shooting.

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