A 15-year-old female student has been identified as the gunman in a deadly shooting at a school in Madison, Wisconsin, on Monday, which left two dead and several others injured.
Police confirmed that the shooter, who was also a student at the school, was found dead at the scene, likely from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Shon Barnes, the police chief of Madison, reported in a press briefing that the tragic incident occurred at Abundant Life Christian School, a private institution with around 400 students. The victims included a teacher and a fellow student, with the assailant’s identity revealed as that of a 15-year-old girl. Authorities have not disclosed her name, as she is a minor.
Barnes said that emergency services were alerted to the shooting by a second-grade student, who called 911 shortly before 11:00 a.m. local time. In total, seven people were injured in the attack, with two students in critical condition and four others in stable condition. Two victims have already been discharged from the hospital.
A handgun was recovered from the scene, and authorities are working with the suspect’s family as part of their ongoing investigation. The police chief emphasized that the motive behind the shooting remains unclear.
Witnesses reported hearing gunshots during the attack, with one student describing the chaotic scene. “We heard two gunshots, then people started crying. We just waited until the police arrived, and they escorted us out to the church,” said the unidentified student.
This shooting is the latest in a long series of school shootings in the United States, a country grappling with the widespread issue of gun violence. Police Chief Barnes noted that some of the medical personnel responding to the scene had just completed training for such an event, underlining the frequency of mass shootings in the U.S.
“We have to come together to do everything we can to support our students and prevent press conferences like these from happening again,” Barnes said.
U.S. President Joe Biden condemned the shooting, calling it “shocking and unconscionable.” He reiterated his call for stricter gun control laws, saying, “It is unacceptable that we are unable to protect our children from this scourge of gun violence. We cannot continue to accept it as normal. We need Congress to act. Now.”
While female school shooters are rare, they are not unprecedented. According to David Riedman, founder of the K-12 School Shooting Database, at least four planned school shootings over the past 50 years have involved female attackers.
The shooting occurred just days before the start of the Christmas holidays, leaving the school community in shock. Barbara Wiers, the school’s director of elementary and school relations, said it was still undecided whether students would return to school before the break.
As of this year, the United States has experienced at least 487 mass shootings, defined as incidents involving four or more victims. In total, more than 16,000 people have been killed by gun violence in 2024, not including suicides, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
This tragedy follows a spate of recent school shootings, including the September killing of four people, including two students, by a 14-year-old boy at a Georgia high school. The mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, in May 2022, left 21 dead, including 19 students.
AFP
