Father of Girl Who Killed 2 at Wisconsin School Is Charged


The father of a teenage girl who fatally shot a teacher and a fellow student at a Christian school in Madison, Wis., in December was arrested on Thursday and charged in connection with the case, the authorities said.

Jeffrey Rupnow, 42, of Madison was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a child and two counts of providing a dangerous weapon to a person under 18 resulting in death, police records showed.

Mr. Rupnow is the father of Natalie Rupnow, a 15-year-old student at Abundant Life Christian School who was known as Samantha. She died after the attack from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the police said.

The shooter opened fire in a study hall for students from several grades at Abundant Life Christian School on Dec. 16, the authorities said at the time.

The two people who were killed were identified as Rubi P. Vergara, 14, a student, and Erin M. West, 42, who was listed in a staff directory as the substitute coordinator at Abundant Life.

Two other students were critically injured in the attack and have since recovered, officials said. Four others — three students and a teacher — were hospitalized with less serious injuries.

The shooter had two handguns with her, the authorities said in December, though the police said that they believed she used only one of them in the attack.

The investigation has centered on how the teenage girl got the guns, the police said. They said that they would announce more details from the investigation at a news conference on Thursday afternoon.

Mr. Rupnow faces up to 18 years in prison if he is found guilty on all counts. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer.

He is the latest parent to face charges associated with a school shooting. James and Jennifer Crumbley were each sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison in April 2024. They had been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for failing to prevent their teenage son from killing four fellow students at a Michigan high school in November 2021.

The Crumbleys were the first parents to be directly charged for the deaths caused by a child in a mass shooting at a school. Their son Ethan, who was 15 at the time of the shooting, pleaded guilty to 24 charges, including first-degree murder, and was sentenced in 2023 to life in prison without the possibility of parole.



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