Outline:
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Authorities in Wisconsin have filed charges against the father of a teenager who fatally injured a teacher and another student.
school shooting
Last year, after giving her permission to use the semiautomatic pistols involved in the assault.
The accusation filed against 42-year-old Jeffrey Rupnow from Madison outlines how his daughter, 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow, grappled with her parents’ separation, expressing her frustration in an essay titled “War Against Humankind.” The document states that despite attempting to connect with her via firearms, he was unaware of her detailed planning for the assault—this included constructing a cardboard replica of the educational institution and timing the incident so it would culminate in her own death.
The prosecutors submitted the complaint on Wednesday but kept it sealed until after Jeffrey Rupnow’s arrest on Thursday when he was transferred to the Dane County Jail. He now faces two felony charges: knowingly providing a deadly weapon to an individual younger than 18 resulting in death, along with one count of promoting juvenile delinquency. Both accusations are serious offenses.
He was set to appear in court for the first time on Friday. Court documents available online didn’t include any listed attorney for him. Acting Madison Police Chief John Patterson mentioned that he remained cooperative during the entire investigation process. Attempts to reach out via voice messages to potential phone numbers belonging to him and his former spouse, Melissa Rupnow, were unsuccessful.
Assault left 2 deceased, 6 wounded
Natalie Rupnow entered
Abundant Life Christian School
On December 16, a shooter who was affiliated with a religious school in Madison that provides education from pre-kindergarten through high school attacked a study hall, resulting in fatalities.
teacher Erin Michelle West
and
14-year-old student Rubi Bergara
and injured six others before she killed herself.
Based on the complaint, authorities retrieved 20 cartridge cases from the classroom where she unleashed gunfire.
The authorities also found a 9mm Glock pistol, which Jeffrey Rupnow bought for her from the room, along with a .22-caliber Sig Sauer revolver that she had been carrying in a bag. According to the complaint, this particular firearm was given to her by Jeffrey Rupnow as a Christmas gift in December 2023.
Inside the bag were also three magazines pre-loaded with .22 caliber ammo along with a box containing fifty pieces of 9mm rounds. During the assault, she had on a black T-shirt featuring a bullseye emblem.
Natalie Rupnow has been grappling with her parents’ separation.
Jeffrey Rupnow informed the authorities that his daughter resided with him during that period but was grappling with their separation in 2022. He mentioned she detested her existence and expressed desires of ending her own life due to the distress caused by the divorce from her mother. Jeffrey also disclosed that she would harm herself through cutting so severely that he felt compelled to secure every knife within the home.
Until the spring prior to the incident, she had attended therapy sessions aimed at helping her become more socially engaged, as mentioned to investigators. According to statements made to law enforcement officers by her mother, Melissa Rupnow, the therapist indicated that Natalie was dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder linked to their parents’ separation. In addition, one of Natalie’s acquaintances informed authorities that Jeffrey Rupnow often displayed verbal aggression towards his daughter and that she disclosed to this acquaintance that her dad frequently consumed alcohol.
Jeffery Rupnow informed investigators that he had taken Natalie along for target practice on his friend’s property around two years prior to the assault on Abundant Life. She found it enjoyable, which led him to view guns as a means of bonding with her. However, he was surprised by the rapid escalation of her fascination with firearms, he revealed to the authorities.
He stored Natalie’s pistols in a gun safe and informed her that the access code was his Social Security number typed backwards. Approximately 10 days prior to the school assault, he messaged a friend stating that Natalie would shoot him for leaving “the secure cabinet open at this moment,” as per the complaint.
The day prior to the school incident, he removed the Sig Sauer from the safe for Natalie to clean. However, he became sidetracked and couldn’t recall whether he had returned the firearm to the safe or secured it elsewhere, as stated in the complaint.
‘War Against Humanity’
A search of Natalie’s room uncovered a six-page essay titled “War Against Humanity” that the girl had penned. In her writing, she began by referring to humans as “filth,” expressing hatred towards those indifferent individuals who either smoke excessively until their lungs are ruined or consume alcohol just like her biological father did.
She penned her admiration for school shooters, mentioned that her mother wasn’t part of her life, and explained how she acquired her firearms through “deception, manipulation, and my father’s foolishness.”
Investigations revealed that she had obtained maps of the school as well as a cardboard model of the structure. Additionally, there was a hand-written timetable which outlined her plan to initiate an assault at 11:30 a.m., aiming to clear both the first and second levels of the institution by 11:55 a.m. Her intention was to conclude all activities related to this operation by approximately 12:10 p.m., marked clearly in her notes as “Ready for Destruction.”
Acting Madison Police Chief John Patterson stated on Thursday that she had been engaging in online discussions with individuals globally regarding her interest in school shootings and weaponry.
Dad says his decision to teach her about firearm safety was ‘his biggest blunder’
Jeffery Rupnow wrote to a detective approximately two weeks following the school shooting, stating that his primary error was instructing Natalie on firearm safety. He also urged law enforcement to advise individuals about changing their gun safe combination passwords every couple of months, as mentioned in the complaint.
Children are clever and they’ll manage to understand,” he penned. “Similar to someone attempting to breach your bank account security. My aim is simply to shield other households from experiencing what I am enduring.
Based on the complaint, once Melissa Rupnow found out from a law enforcement official that Natalie was the one who shot the gun, she started rapid nasal breathing and shouted loudly, essentially saying, “I will end his life, I will end his life,” seemingly targeting her former spouse.
The charges are part of a series of cases brought against parents involved in school shootings.
Jeffrey Rupnow is the most recent parent whose child was involved in a school shooting to be charged in connection with the incident.
Last year, the parents of a Michigan school shooter, responsible for killing four students in 2021, faced consequences individually.
convicted of involuntary manslaughter
The mother became the initial parent in the United States to face accountability for a child conducting a mass assault at a school.
The parent of a 14-year-old boy charged with
fatally shooting four people
A student at a Georgia high school was detained in September and now faces charges such as second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter for allowing their child to have access to a weapon.
In 2023, the father of a man accused in a fatal
July Fourth procession gunfire
in suburban Chicago
pleaded guilty
up to seven minor offenses concerning the process of obtaining a firearm license for his son.