Bail for Wisconsin school shooter's father facing 3 felonies set at $20K
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The father of a 15-year-old girl who killed a fellow student and a teacher at a private school in Wisconsin had his bail set at $20,000 on Friday at his first court appearance on charges that he allowed her access to guns.
Prosecutors charged Jeffrey Rupnow, 42, on Thursday with two felony counts of intentionally giving a dangerous weapon to a minor causing death and one felony count of contributing to the delinquency of a child. Rupnow would face up to 18 years in prison if convicted on all counts.
Jeffrey Rupnow's daughter, Natalie Rupnow, opened fire at her school, Abundant Life Christian School, in Madison in December. She killed teacher Erin Michelle West and 14-year-old student Rubi Bergara and injured six others before she killed herself.
Jeffrey Rupnow's attorney, Bruce Davey, said in court that his client would not be able to post $20,000 in bail, saying 'he's not a wealthy man.' Davey noted that he has no prior criminal history, cooperated with the investigation, has lived in the area his whole life and needs to work at his job to pay his bills and keep his house.
'There's no reason to hold him in jail," Davey said. Davey asked for him to be released on a signature bond, which requires the posting of no money.
Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne had asked for $100,000, noting the seriousness of the shooting and the pending charges. He mentioned that a victim from the shooting was in the courtroom. He did not name the victim. The proceedings were held in a jail courtroom and viewable only via a Zoom teleconference. The victim was not visible on camera.
'This is unprecedented and we do have two deceased," Ozanne said. "We have multiple gunshot victims. It's the defendants actions, inactions, that contributed to this incident.'
Court Commissioner Scott McAndrew said he did not want to set a cash bail so high that Rupnow could not pay it but wasn't comfortable with a signature bond given the seriousness of the offenses.
He ordered that if Rupnow posts $20,000 and is released, he will be fitted with a GPS monitoring device, not be allowed to have contact with anyone at Abundant Life Christian School, purchase or possess firearms or go to the block where the school is located. He said the cash amount could be reviewed later and set a status hearing for June 9.
McAndrew did not allow reporters into the courtroom, telling them through bailiffs that they could watch the proceeding on Zoom.
Asked outside the courtroom after the proceeding had ended whether the cash bail was high enough, Ozanne said the commissioner made his decision and his office will move forward. He then stepped into an elevator and left.
Davey told reporters he did not think the bail amount was fair. Rupnow has been free since the shooting and has not caused any problems, he said.
Rupnow's mother was also turned away at the courtroom door and had to listen to the Zoom teleconference by holding her cellphone next to her ear in the lobby. She declined to comment on the case.
According to a criminal complaint, Jeffrey Rupnow told investigators his daughter was struggling to cope with her parents' divorce in 2022.
He bought the two handguns she brought into the school for her as a way to bond with her, he told investigators. He added that he told her the access code to the safe where he stored her guns in case she ever needed them, the complaint said. Rupnow also told investigators he wasn't sure whether he put one of the guns back in the safe after his daughter cleaned it the day before the school attack.
Investigators found writings in Natalie Rupnow's room saying she hated people who smoked marijuana and drank as much as they can like her father. She also wrote that her mother wasn't in her life, that she admired a number of school shooters and that she obtained her guns 'by lies, manipulation, and my fathers stupidity.'
Jeffrey Rupnow sent a message to police in the days after the shooting saying the biggest mistake he made was teaching his daughter how to handle guns safely. He urged police to warn people to change their gun safe combinations every two to three months because 'kids are smart and they will figure it out.'
Rupnow is the latest in a line of parents of school shooters who have been held criminally liable for their children's actions in recent years.
___
Associated Press writer Scott Bauer contributed to this report.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Combs' ex accuses him of abuse but says she loves him
An ex-girlfriend of Sean "Diddy" Combs who accuses him of kicking, punching and dragging her has testified at his sex trafficking trial that she still loves the hip-hop mogul. "He was my baby," said the woman, who is testifying under the pseudonym Jane to protect her privacy. Asked under cross-examination by defence lawyer Teny Geragos if she still loves Combs, Jane said, "I do". The woman said she enjoyed taking care of Combs, bathing him and falling asleep with him while watching television after "hotel nights", their phrase for drug-fuelled encounters in which she would have sex with male entertainers while Combs watched. The questioning was part of Combs' strategy to portray Jane as a willing participant in the sexual encounters with him, not a victim of sex trafficking as prosecutors allege. She said she agreed to these "hotel nights" while "under a lot of emotional pressure" - and already hooked on love and a desire to stay in a relationship with Combs. Jane testified that she partook in the encounters, sometimes grudgingly, because they pleased Combs and she enjoyed spending time alone with him afterward. Combs, 55, and the founder of Bad Boy Records, has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors say Combs used force and threats of cutting off financial support to coerce women into taking part in the encounters, sometimes known as "Freak Offs". Over three days under questioning by prosecutors in Manhattan federal court, Jane said that she agreed to have sex with a male escort in front of Combs early in their relationship but that he later dismissed her requests to stop and threatened to stop paying her rent. On Monday, Jane said Combs kicked, punched and dragged her during an altercation at her Los Angeles home last June. Later that night, he told her to perform oral sex on a male entertainer even though she said she did not want to, Jane said. Under questioning on Tuesday, Jane said she researched the terms "cuck" and "cuckold" during her relationship with Combs to try to understand his desires. The words refer to men who enjoy watching female partners with other men, Jane said. "I just wanted to know why my partner wanted so many of these nights and what was driving him," Jane said. Combs' defence lawyers are expected to cross-examine Jane until Thursday. Testimony is in its fifth week. Combs could face life in prison if convicted on all counts. Also known throughout his career as Puff Daddy and P Diddy, Combs turned artists like Notorious B.I.G. and Usher into stars, elevating hip-hop in American culture and becoming a billionaire in the process. with AP
New York Post
26 minutes ago
- New York Post
2 death row inmates executed in Florida, Alabama minutes apart for grisly murders
Two death row inmates were executed by a pair of southern states for their twisted murders minutes apart Tuesday evening. Anthony Wainwright was put to death in Florida and Gregory Hunt was killed in Alabama four minutes later Tuesday evening. It's the fourth time this year there have been double-executions, according to USA Today. 3 Anthony Wainwright is scheduled to be killed in Florida. AP Wainwright, 54, was killed by lethal injection 30 years after he raped and fatally shot mother of two Carmen Gayheart, 23, in Lake City. He was pronounced dead at 6:22 p.m. shortly after the execution got underway. His final words weren't inaudible from the witness room. Wainwright and his co-defendant Richard Hamilton, broke out of North Carolina prison and while they were on the run carjacked Gayheart's blue Ford Bronco in April 1994. The two men forced her into the car at gunpoint and then raped her in the backseat as they drove off. Wainwright and Hamilton, who died on death row, then dragged her from the car and shot her twice in the back of the head. 3 Gregory Hunt will be executed in Alabama. Alabama Department of Corrections/AFP via Getty Images They were captured the next day and convicted in 1995. Gayheart's sister, Maria David, has kept track of every court hearing and appeal since her loved one's murder. 'I'm looking forward to getting the last pieces of paperwork that say he's been executed to put into the book and never having to think about Anthony Wainwright ever again,' she said recently. Wainwright's legal team tried to convince the US Supreme Court to stop his execution — to no avail — by arguing that his exposure to Agent Orange before he was born led to cognitive and behavioral problems throughout his life, according to CBS Miami. Wainwright's father, who fought in the Vietnam War, was exposed to the herbicide and Wainwright was conceived six months after he came back from the war, his lawyers argued. 'Although Mr. Wainwright did not serve in the Vietnam War, and was not even a viable life at that point, he was catastrophically and immutably cognitively damaged from it,' part of the petition states, according to the station. 'Unlike veterans, who make knowing sacrifices for our country in the face of grave risks, Mr. Wainwright had no such choice.' The argument was one of several appeals the Supreme Court shot down Monday. The highest court also rejected a final plea Tuesday morning. 3 One of the two men will be killed by lethal injection. AP Meanwhile Hunt's execution was by nitrogen gas about 35 years after he was convicted of bludgeoning a woman he had been dating, Karen Lane, to death inside an Cordova apartment she shared with Hunt's female cousin in 1988. He was pronounced dead at 6:26 p.m. Lane, 32, was so badly beaten that she had 60 injuries, including 20 to the head. She was also sexually abused by Hunt leading up to the fatal attack. He was convicted in June 1990 of capital murder, as well as sexual abuse and burglary. Jurors then voted 11-1 that he be sentenced to death, which the judge signed off on. Hunt claimed in an interview last month he was a changed man, and that the killing was fueled by booze, drugs and overwhelming jealousy after he saw Lane in a car with another man, 'Karen didn't deserve what happened to her,' Hunt said. 'You have your come-to-Jesus moment,' he added. 'Of course, after the fact, you can't believe what has happened. You can't believe you were part of it and did it.' This was the sixth time a state has killed an inmate with nitrogen gas. With Post wires.
Fox News
37 minutes ago
- Fox News
Protesters throw rocks, jump on moving ICE vehicle after Omaha workplace raid
After a workplace ICE raid that resulted in the arrests of about 70 alleged illegal aliens at a meatpacking plant in Omaha, several protesters threw rocks and jumped on federal vehicles carrying out the operation. The AP reported that federal immigration authorities made the arrests at Glenn Valley Foods Tuesday morning. Fox News Digital reached out to ICE to confirm the raid but did not immediately hear back. ICE officials told the AP the raid was "based on an ongoing criminal investigation into the large-scale employment of aliens without authorization to work in the United States" and that it was likely the largest "worksite enforcement operation" in Nebraska since President Donald Trump took office. The Flatwater Free Press reported that the situation grew tense after protesters began gathering as a caravan of federal vehicles was leaving the plant. The outlet reported that several protesters jumped on moving law enforcement vehicles and "threw rocks and debris at the cars, shattering one window." Video posted by the outlet shows what appears to be a line of federal vehicles surrounded by protesters on either side throwing objects, kicking the cars and yelling profanity and slogans like "f--- you, pig." At one point during the video, a window can be heard smashing. In another video posted by the outlet, two protesters jumped on the hood of a vehicle as it attempts to travel off. Violence erupted in Omaha with Los Angeles still battling violent anti-ICE riots and the rest of the country facing widespread protests against the Trump administration ramping up of ICE arrests and deportations. Protests over the raids in Los Angeles devolved into violence over the weekend as rioters targeted federal law enforcement officials by throwing rocks, and videos showed people looting stores, setting cars on fire and taking over a freeway. Trump announced Saturday he was deploying 2,000 National Guard members to help quell the violence, bypassing the governor, who typically activates the National Guard. The administration has also deployed several hundred active-duty Marines to respond to the riots. The move prompted Newsom to file a lawsuit against the Trump administration over efforts to allegedly "federalize the California National Guard," while Democrats across the nation have attempted to pin blame for the violence on Trump's activation of the National Guard while characterizing the anti-ICE riots as "peaceful" demonstrations. Speaking with reporters in the Oval Office Tuesday, Trump said Americans can expect additional immigration raids across the country similar to those in California, warning that any potential riots that break out in response to the raids will be met with "equal or greater force" compared to the government's handling of recent Los Angeles violence.
