Newly uncovered photos and online profiles believed to belong to the Wisconsin teen school shooter reveal a troubling fascination with other school shooters, including Columbine killer Eric Harris. In one of the images she is even seen wearing a T-shirt from his favorite German band.
An unsettling photo of 15-year-old Natalie "Samantha" Rupnow, shared on her father's Facebook page, shows her at a shooting range aiming a rifle while wearing a shirt featuring the German industrial rock band KMFDM. Rupnow carried out a deadly attack at Abundant Life Christian School on Monday, firing on students and staff in the study hall. She killed two people before taking her own life.
Fascinated With White Supremacists
Online profiles linked to Rupnow also indicate a fixation on white supremacist ideologies and notorious school shooters from the past. Rupnow's KMFDM T-shirt can be linked to Eric Harris, who was also photographed wearing a T-shirt from the same band before he and Dylan Klebold carried out the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, killing 13 people.
According to reports, the band's acronym, KMFDM, roughly translates to "no pity for the majority."
Like Columbine shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, Rupnow also took her own life by turning the gun on herself after her deadly rampage on Monday.
The photo of Rupnow wearing the band's T-shirt has sparked speculation that she may have drawn inspiration from the Columbine massacre, idolizing its teenage perpetrators and other infamous school shooters. However, investigators are still working to determine her exact motive for the attack.
An X account believed to be linked to Rupnow shared a post just minutes before the shooting began, featuring someone making the "OK" hand gesture—a symbol associated with other school shooters, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
The account also shared a video of the 2015 Trollhattan school stabbing in Sweden, as well as a disturbing post days before the Madison attack showing a person taking their own life at a gun range, the outlet reported.
A Tumblr account, also believed to belong to Rupnow, features images of firearms and other content related to school shootings. The profile picture appeared to show a screenshot of surveillance footage from a shooting, authorities told ABC News.
The same account also featured a photo of Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz and posts referencing the 2007 school shooting in Jokela, Finland.
A CashApp account allegedly linked to Rupnow also featured a photo of the Columbine shooters. When a Facebook user asked her father if the person in the shooting-range photo was "Kiddo," he responded with, "sure is!!!!" "We joined NBSC this spring and we have been loving all every second of it!" the dad said.
Motive Still Unclear
Other photos on Rupnow's father's Facebook page show her enjoying playful moments in the leaves with two dogs. Police said Rupnow brought a handgun to the school and opened fire around 11 a.m. in a study hall classroom.
Screenshots of what's believed to be her manifesto depict Rupnow as a lonely person, expressing feelings of being "trapped and forced into my corner." She spoke of unhappiness with what she described as a broken home and referenced a therapist multiple times.
In her writings, Rupnow described herself as a "loner," acknowledging that while she would mourn the loss of friends, they would eventually leave her.
The manifesto doesn't clearly indicate any particular political stance, but it does state, "we need revolution." It ends with a quote attributed to the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski: "Finally, one learns that boredom is a disease of civilization."
Police suggested that bullying may have played a role in the shooting but stressed that it's too early to determine if the shooter's parents could face criminal charges.
Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes told reporters that investigators are still trying to uncover the exact motive behind Rupnow's actions. "There are always signs of a school shooting before it occurs," the police chief said.
"We're looking into her online activity," he said. "We're asking for anyone who knew her or may have insight into her feelings leading up to yesterday'' to come forward.
"On the question of bullying, we're talking to students to understand whether bullying was one of those multiple factors that I mentioned earlier," he said.
Barnes said that the department is still investigating the validity of the "manifesto" that has been circulating online and is believed to be linked to the shooter.
