Young Wisconsin students describe terror of Abundant Life Christian School shooting: ‘Why did they do that?’
Little children witnessed teachers injured and screaming for help in the mass shooting at a private Christian school in Madison, Wis.
Nora Gottschalk, 8, said she was walking in the hallway, getting ready to go to lunch, when the shooting began just before 11 a.m. Monday inside Abundant Life Christian School.
“I was changing from my shoes to my boots to go to lunch, ’cause I have recess after,” the little girl told ABC. “But then I heard the shooting. And screams.”
The child added to WISC-TV, “I just heard shotting [sic].”
She said that as gunfire started to ring out, she saw a teacher she knew crying out for help.
“And then there was a teacher, and she was screaming like, ‘Ahh, my leg! Help! Help!’ ” Nora said.
“I was really scared, and I was really sad,” the second-grader added while clutching a SpongeBob ice cream pop after being reunited with family.
Madison’s police chief Tuesday corrected what he had said the day before, that a second-grader at the school was the one who made the 911 call alerting authorities to the carnage. Chief Shon Barnes told reporters Tuesday that the 911 caller was in fact a second-grade teacher.
Sixth-grade student Adler Jean-Charles said he was in English class when the Christian school went into lockdown.
Follow The Post’s coverage of the school shooting in Wisconsin
- Students reveal they don’t know what caused the shooting as they saw the events unfold
- Police identified Natalie ‘Samantha’ Rupnow, 15, as the shooter
- Police say the shooter’s gender didn’t play a role amid rumors the shooter identified as transgender
- Photos of the shooter have been released to the public
- Police still don’t have a clear answer as to the motive that led to the shooting
“I heard two [gunshots],” he told WISC. “Some people started crying, and then we just waited until the police came and they escorted us out.
“I was scared. Why did they do that?” the confused sixth-grader asked.
Adler and some other students at Abundant Life Christian School were taken to the hospital by police and later reunited with their parents.
The frightened youngster said he didn’t feel “safe” until he saw his mom.
His mother, Mireille Jean-Charles, who has two sons attending Abundant Life said that after she was reunited with her children, she broke down in tears and started praying with them.
“It’s sad, you know, to be home and then somebody calls you and says your kids’ school is in lockdown and a shooting and you don’t know where they are,” she said.
Another young student, speaking alongside her parents, told WISN how she heard “gunshots and screaming.
“It was really scary, and I was terrified, and so were my friends,” the little girl explained.
She said it took her about five to six hours to be reunited with her parents.
Another mother said she rushed down to the school immediately when she got news of the shooting and was able to briefly FaceTime with her daughter to check if she was safe while on the way.
“I just bolted out, drove down here, called my husband, and he made his way over here,” said Bethany Highman.
Highman shared that it was a surreal feeling rushing to the school to make sure her child was safe while knowing a shooting was unfolding.
“I bring my daughter to school knowing well that this happens in the world. That people are struggling. And I pray for my daughter’s safety and I pray for the entire school’s safety,” she said.
Abundant Life is a nondenominational Christian school — prekindergarten through high school — with approximately 420 students in Madison, the state capital.
Police said the shooter, Natalie “Samantha” Rupnow, a 15-year-old student, brought a handgun to campus and opened fire around 11 a.m. inside a classroom during a study hall filled with students from different grades.
As the gunfire erupted, the second-grade teacher in a nearby classroom called 911 for help, and police were on the scene in about 3 minutes, Barnes said.
The teenage student and teacher were pronounced dead at the scene, while another teacher and five more students were wounded.
Two of those students are in critical condition with life-threatening injuries.
Rupnow sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound and was pronounced dead on the way to the hospital.
A motive for the shooting has not been made public, but officials have said bullying may have been one factor.
SWAT teams raided Rupnow’s family’s home on Monday night, busting through the front door and conducting a thorough search inside, WISN reported.
Investigators believe the shooter used a 9mm pistol, a law-enforcement official, speaking anonymously because of the ongoing investigation, told The Associated Press.
The Madison police chief said law enforcement has been talking with the shooter’s father and other family members.
“Every child, every person in that building is a victim and will be a victim forever. … We need to figure out and try to piece together what exactly happened,” Barnes said.
With Post wires
