3 dead, including suspect, in shooting at Madison’s Abundant Life Christian School Emergency USA

At least three people died in a shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison on Monday.

Those who died include the shooter, whom Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes described as a teenager and student at the school. The other two victims are a teacher and a teenage student.

Barnes said at least six additional people were injured. During a 2:30 p.m. press conference, he said of those injured, two students were in critical condition with life-threatening injuries. Four other students were at area hospitals with non-life threatening injuries.

“Many of you have asked me about the why of this. ‘Why did this happen?’ ‘What do we know?’ ‘What was the motivation?’” Barnes said. “I do not know, but I will tell you this: our detectives are working hard in the investigative process to find out as many answers as we can so that we can further prevent these things from happening, not only in this community, but in other communities around our country.”

Police had earlier reported that five people including the suspect had died, but revised that total at about 1 p.m.

Barnes said police were called to the school at 10:57 a.m.

“When officers arrived, they found multiple victims suffering from gunshot wounds,” he said.

Barnes said the shooter was dead upon police arrival at the school and said police did not fire their weapons. Police did recover a handgun at the scene.

“The protocols are simple. Stop the killing, stop the dying, find out who’s doing this. The officers did that, and they did that adamantly,” he said.

The police chief said no additional information would be shared about the shooter including their age or gender. But he said the shooter’s family had been contacted and is cooperating with the investigation.

Barnes said the school and surrounding area had been cleared and there’s no longer a threat to the community.

 ‘Who’s prepared for any of this?’: Parents reunite with children

A reunification center was set up at the SSM Health clinic on Stoughton Road for school families to join their children. That process is underway, though Barnes said it can take awhile.

Mireille Jean-Charles has three sons who attend Abundant Life: a ninth grader and a set of twins in sixth grade. 

She headed to the school as soon as she heard about the shooting and was reunited with her sons late Monday afternoon after hours of waiting.

She said the first thing they did was hug and cry. She expects they’ll be processing the trauma together as a family for a long time.

“I don’t know what to say because we always send prayers, we always send thoughts, and then when are we going to stop doing that?” Jean-Charles said.

“This is not OK. If your kids are at school, they are not OK. If they are church, they are not OK. If they are outside elsewhere, they are not OK. Where, where are they going to be safe?” she added.

Bethany Highman’s daughter also attends Abundant Life. Speaking to reporters Monday afternoon outside the reunification center, Highman said she was able to talk to her daughter on the phone but had not yet been able to see her.

“I just want to make sure that she’s in the right mindset and she’s mature enough to be able to understand and really grasp the concept,” Highman said.

“Who’s prepared for any of this?” she added. “I don’t know what to do. I’m gonna just gather with community, family, with my daughter.”

According to the state Department of Public Instruction, Abundant Life served 392 students from pre-kindergarten through high school during the 2023-24 school year — the most recent year the agency has data for. The school is part of Impact Christian Schools, a network of six private Christian schools in central Wisconsin. The school campus is surrounded by homes in the East Buckeye neighborhood.

“Every child, every person in that building is a victim and will be a victim forever. These types of trauma don’t just go away,” Barnes said.

“I don’t have all the answers that you want right now, but I will tell you this: we have some of the best officers in the entire country. Our detectives are amazing. We’re going to go and work hard and go through this scene so that we can piece together what exactly happened again,” Barnes continued.

‘This should never happen’: Officials react to shooting

Hours after the shooting, President Joe Biden called on Congress to act to combat school shootings.

“From Newtown to Uvalde, Parkland to Madison, to so many other shootings that don’t receive attention — it is unacceptable that we are unable to protect our children from this scourge of gun violence,” Biden wrote. “We cannot continue to accept it as normal. Every child deserves to feel safe in their class room. Students across our country should be learning how to read and write — not having to learn how to duck and cover.”

Gov. Tony Evers called the shooting devastating in a statement Monday afternoon.

“As a father, a grandfather, and as governor, it is unthinkable that a kid or an educator might wake up and go to school one morning and never come home. This should never happen, and I will never accept this as a foregone reality or stop working to change it,” he said.

“Today my focus is on supporting these families and kids and the Abundant Life community, and the state stands ready to support them and the efforts of local law enforcement through what will undoubtedly be difficult days ahead,” Evers continued.

Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said she hoped “this day would never come in Madison” during the 2:30 p.m. press conference.

“This is an incredibly sad day for our community,” Rhodes-Conway said. “As you’ve heard, there is no danger to the community at this time. But our entire community has been impacted by this tragic incident.”

State Superintendent Jill Underly released a statement Monday mourning the victims. 

“No community should ever face the pain of losing children, teachers, or friends to violence — especially in our schools,” she wrote. “This tragedy is a stark reminder that we must do more to protect our children and our educators to ensure that such horrors never happen again. We will not rest until we find solutions that make our schools safe, and so our children feel secure.”

Monday’s shooting is at least the fifth time this year that gunfire took place at a Wisconsin school, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, an advocacy group. That includes the attempted shooting in May at Mt. Horeb Middle School, 25 miles southwest of Madison, in which police killed a student with a pellet gun before he entered the school building.

According to a CNN analysis, there have been at least 83 school shootings across the country this year, including 56 at K-12 schools, with at least 38 fatalities.

Other schools in the area were put on security holds during the investigation. At 2:15 p.m., the Madison Metropolitan School District emailed parents saying all schools had lifted their security protocols and that classes would resume as normal on Tuesday. Schools in the Monona Grove School District were dismissed at the normal time after schools near Abundant Life were secured for much of the day Monday.

Police encourage the public to avoid the area along 4900 Buckeye Road in Madison.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call the suicide prevention lifeline at 988 or text “Hopeline” to 741741.

Editor’s note: This story will be updated. WPR’s Shawn Johnson, Sarah Lehr, Angela Major, Jenny Peek, Deneen Smith and Anya van Wagtendonk contributed reporting to this story.