The 15-year-old girl who shot dead two people and injured multiple others at a Wisconsin Christian school was armed with two firearms during the attack, authorities revealed on Wednesday. Natalie "Samantha" Rupnow was carrying two handguns when she launched the deadly attack at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison on Monday morning.
Rupnow fatally shot substitute teacher Erin West and freshman Rubi Vergara. Police Chief Shon Barnes said that the teenager's motive for the incident is still unclear. This came as a California man Alexander Paffendorf, 20, was arrested on allegations of conspiring with Rupnow to carry out a coordinated attack on the same day she went on a carnage.
Carried Two Guns During Rampage
"I do not know if she planned it that day or if she planned it a week prior," Barnes said. "To me, bringing a gun to school to hurt people is planning. And so we don't know what the premeditation is."
Barnes said that it remains unclear how Rupnow acquired the two handguns, and he declined to disclose who purchased them, citing the active investigation.
Authorities also revealed on Tuesday evening that Rupnow had been in contact with 20-year-old Alexander Paffendorf, who was allegedly planning a coordinated assault on a government building in California.
"During an FBI interview, Paffendorf admitted to the FBI agents that he told Rupnow that he would arm himself with explosives and a gun and that he would target a government building," the two-page emergency restraining order from the Carlsbad Police Department states.
This bombshell information comes from an emergency gun violence restraining order obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. A San Diego judge on Tuesday authorized an order, demanding that Paffendorf surrender any firearms and ammunition, while also forbidding him from acquiring any more weapons.
Bombshell Revelations
Soon after, neighbors told CBS 8 that they saw over a dozen police vehicles entering the apartment complex where Paffendorf lives. "They had their full guns out all over the street," neighbor Alex Gallegos said. "They were cop cars. I'd say about 15 cops here."
He said that he saw police leave the building while carrying what he referred to as a "black gun box." "I saw them carrying out the big box. I didn't see them arrest anybody, but they gave high-fives as it came to an end."
Paffendorf is set to appear in court on January 3.
Local authorities, with help from the FBI, are investigating online records and interviewing Rupnow's parents and classmates in an effort to uncover a motive, Chief Barnes stated.
Investigators have not determined whether any specific people were targeted in the attack or if it was premeditated.
According to a Washington Post analysis, Rupnow was one of only nine female students involved in school shootings since 1999 and was a year younger than the average age of such shooters.
