Dec. 16 (UPI) — A teenage student and a teacher are dead after Monday’s mass shooting at a small, private Christian school in southeast Wisconsin. At least two students also are hospitalized in critical condition.
At least three people are dead and handful of others were reported injured after initial reports presented conflicting information throughout the afternoon about the shooting at Abundant Life Christian School.
At least two other students are now reported to be in critical condition and four others in recovery from non-life threatening injuries.
The FBI is on the scene to aid in the investigation.
“As difficult as today is, that’s still someone’s child that’s gone, that’s still someone that has to deal with what happened today,” Madison Chief of Police Shon Barnes said at his second press briefing in the afternoon. “And so we want to make sure that we can ensure as much cooperation as we can.”
The suspected shooter was among those found dead, Barnes confirmed early Monday afternoon during his initial news conference.
“We believe the shooter was a student at the school,” he said, adding that Monday was a “sad day for our community and our country.”
Seven victims were transferred to hospital with “minor injures to life-threatening” injuries, Barnes said earlier in the day.
Students were taken to a reunification center near the school. The nondenominational school has about 390 students enrolled from kindergarten through 12th grade serving roughly 200 families.
“Prayers Requested! Today, we had an active shooter incident at ALCS,” school officials wrote in a Facebook post. “We are in the midst of following up,” ALCS officials wrote, adding that information will be shared as it becomes available. “Please pray for our Challenger Family.”
The incident was first reported before 11 a.m. local time, authorities initially said.
Among the victims included the alleged juvenile believed to be responsible for the shooting. ABC News reports said the shooter was “down” in its first reports. The alleged shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot, officials said.
Gov. Tony Evers, himself a former teacher and school administrator, posted on Bluesky in the afternoon saying his office was “closely monitoring the incident.”
“We are praying for the kids, educators, and entire Abundant Life school community as we await more information and are grateful for the first responders who are working quickly to respond,” the governor wrote.
A Wisconsin congressman said this is “uniquely a United States problem that doesn’t have to happen” and called for “more action” and “backbone” by elected officials to “stand up to gun manufacturers.”
“Thoughts and prayers without action means more school shootings, more dead kids,” Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., who sits on the House Appropriations Committee and is Labor Caucus co-chair, posted on social media before 3 p.m. local time.
Training on responding to shootings was ongoing the same day at a training center three miles away, Barnes said earlier in the day. But the local police department did not fire their weapons, he said.
He would not give further information on the victims until families had been alerted, he said. “We’re still going through and collecting evidence,” he said in his first news conference Monday afternoon.
