shooter who killed A student and teacher at a religious school in Wisconsin brought two guns to school and were in contact with a man in California who was planning to attack a government building, according to authorities and court documents made public Wednesday.
Madison Police Chief Shawn Barnes told The Associated Press on Wednesday that police are still investigating why a 15-year-old student at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison shot and killed a fellow student and teacher on Monday before shooting himself. Why? The condition of two other students injured by bullets remained critical even on Wednesday.
A Southern California judge on Tuesday issued a restraining order against a 20-year-old Carlsbad man under California's gun red flag law. The order requires the man to surrender his guns and ammunition to police within 48 hours, unless an officer asks for them sooner because he poses an immediate danger to himself and others.
Carlsbad is located just north of San Diego.
According to the order, the man told FBI agents he was sending messages to Wisconsin shooter Natalie Rupnow about attacking a government building with a gun and explosives. The order did not specify which building he targeted or when he planned to attack. It does not provide details of his conversation with Rupno, except that the man was plotting a mass shooting with him.
CBS's San Diego affiliate KFMB-TV informed Law enforcement searched the man's home Tuesday night after the judge signed the order.
Barnes told the AP that police, with assistance from the FBI, were examining online records and other resources and talking to the shooter's parents and classmates in an effort to determine a motive for the shooting.
Police do not know whether anyone was targeted in the attack or whether the attack was planned in advance, the chief said. Police said the shooting occurred in a classroom where students from multiple classes were gathered in a study hall.
“I don't know if he planned it that day or a week before,” Barnes said. “To me, bringing a gun to school to hurt people is planning. And so we don't know what premeditation is.”
City of Madison website to make it available Police on Wednesday revealed that two guns were found at the school, but only one was used. A law enforcement source previously told CBS News that the weapon used appeared to be a 9mm pistol.
Barnes told the AP he did not know how the suspected shooter got the guns and declined to say who bought them, citing the ongoing investigation.
Barnes told the AP that no decision has been made about whether Rupno's parents could be charged in connection with the shooting, but that they are cooperating.
Abundant Life is a non-denominational Christian school offering prekindergarten classes through high school. Around 420 students study in the institute.
Dane County Medical Examiner's Office Identified two people killed on Wednesday as 42-year-old Erin West and 14-year-old Ruby Vergara.
An online obituary at a local funeral home said Vergara was a freshman student who leaves behind her parents, a brother, and a large family. It described him as “an avid reader” who “loved art, singing, and playing keyboards in the family worship band.”
West's exact status in relation to the school was unclear.