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American Military News
13-05-2025
- American Military News
School shooter's father facing felony charges in Wisconsin
The father of a 15-year-old school shooter was arrested and charged last week after allowing his daughter access to semiautomatic pistols, which were used in a fatal school shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin, last December. According to a criminal complaint obtained by The Associated Press, 42-year-old Jeffrey Rupnow has been charged with two felony counts of intentionally giving a dangerous weapon to a person under 18 that caused death and contributed to the delinquency of a child. The charges come after Rupnow's 15-year-old daughter, Natalie Rupnow, committed a mass shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in December. According to The Associated Press, Rubi Bergara, a 14-year-old student, and Erin Michelle West, a teacher at Abundant Life Christian School, were killed in December's mass shooting, while six others were injured prior to Natalie Rupnow ending her own life. The Associated Press reported that Jeffrey Rupnow was arrested on Thursday and booked at the Dane County Jail. In the criminal complaint obtained by The Associated Press, the 42-year-old father explained how his daughter struggled with her parents' divorce and expressed her anger in a manifesto titled 'War Against Humanity.' The criminal complaint noted that Jeffrey Rupnow attempted to bond with Natalie Rupnow through guns. READ MORE: Video: School shooter arrested; 5 hospitalized in Texas According to The Associated Press, investigators discovered a 9 mm Glock handgun that Jeffrey Rupnow had purchased for the 15-year-old, as well as a .22-caliber Sig Sauer pistol, at the scene of the shooting. The complaint indicated that Jeffrey Rupnow had given the Sig Sauer pistol to his daughter as a Christmas gift in 2023. Jeffrey Rupnow told investigators that he took his daughter shooting roughly two years prior to the school shooting. After discovering that his daughter enjoyed shooting, he attempted to use guns to connect with her; however, he told investigators that he was surprised how her interest in guns 'snow balled.' According to the criminal complaint, Jeffrey Rupnow kept his daughter's pistols in a gun safe and gave his daughter the access code. The 42-year-old reportedly texted a friend prior to the school shooting that his daughter would shoot him if he left 'the fun safe open right now.' The Associated Press reported that the criminal complaint showed Rupnow had removed the Sig Sauer pistol from the gun safe to clean it just one day before the school shooting and that he became distracted and was not sure if he put the gun back in the safe or if he locked the safe. According to The Associated Press, in Natalie Rupnow's 'War Against Humanity' manifesto, the 15-year-old described humans as 'filth,' expressed her admiration for school shooters, and revealed that her firearms had been obtained 'by lies and manipulation, and my fathers stupidity.'
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Yahoo
Madison school shooting: Father of teen shooter charged, in court
The Brief The father of a teenage girl who killed a teacher and fellow student in a school shooting appeared in court on Friday, May 9. 42-year-old Jeffrey Rupnow is accused of allowing her to access the pistols she used in the attack. His cash bail was set at $20,000. MADISON, Wis. - Wisconsin prosecutors on Thursday, May 8, 2025, charged the father of a teenage girl who killed a teacher and fellow student in a school shooting last year with allowing her access to the semiautomatic pistols she used in the attack. What we know A day later on Friday, May 9, 2025, 42-year-old Jeffrey Rupnow appeared in Dane County Court for his initial appearance. Rupnow appeared via Zoom from jail. The judge set cash bail at $20,000, and that if he posts bail he will be under GPS monitoring, cannot buy or possess firearms, and must stay away from, and have no contact with, Abundant Life Christian School. FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX LOCAL Mobile app for iOS or Android 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. 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. Rupnow has a status conference scheduled for June 9, 2025. The backstory The criminal complaint against 42-year-old Jeffrey Rupnow of Madison is packed with details about how his daughter, 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow, expressed a hatred of humanity following her parents' divorce and how he hoped he could bond with her through guns. It also says the girl meticulously planned the attack, including building a cardboard model of the school and scheduling the shooting to end with her suicide. He's been charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor and two counts of intentionally giving a weapon to a child causing death. The backstory Natalie Rupnow entered Abundant Life Christian School, a religious school in Madison that offers prekindergarten through high school classes, on Dec. 16 and opened fire in a study hall. She killed teacher Erin Michelle West and 14-year-old student Rubi Bergara and injured six others before she killed herself. According to the complaint, investigators recovered 20 shell casings from the study hall where she opened fire. SIGN UP TODAY: Get daily headlines, breaking news emails from FOX6 News They also recovered a 9 mm Glock handgun that Jeffrey Rupnow had purchased for her from the room and a .22-caliber Sig Sauer pistol from a bag the girl was carrying, the complaint says. Jeffrey Rupnow had given that gun to her as a Christmas present in 2023, the complaint says. Also in the bag were three magazines loaded with .22 ammunition and a 50-round box of 9 mm ammunition. She wore a black T-shirt emblazoned with a bull's-eye during the attack. Dig deeper Jeffrey Rupnow told investigators that his daughter lived with him but had been struggling with his divorce from her mother in 2022, saying she hated her life and wanted to kill herself. He said she used to cut herself to the point where he had to lock up all the knives in his house. She had been in therapy to learn how to be more social until the spring before the attack, he told investigators. Her mother, Melissa Rupnow, told detectives that the therapist told her that Natalie was suffering post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from the divorce. One of Natalie's friends told investigators that Jeffrey Rupnow was "frequently verbally aggressive" with Natalie and that she had told him that her father was a "drinker," according to the complaint. Jeffery Rupnow told investigators that took Natalie shooting with him on a friend's land about two years before the Abundant Life attack. She enjoyed it, and he came to see guns as a way to connect with her. But he was shocked at how her interest in firearms "snow balled," he told investigators. He kept Natalie's pistols in a gun safe, telling her that if she ever need them the access code was his Social Security number entered backward. About 10 days before the school attack, he texted a friend and said that Natalie would shoot him if he left "the fun safe open right now," according to the complaint. The day before the school attack he took the Sig Sauer out of the safe so Natalie could clean it. But he got distracted and wasn't sure if he put the weapon back in the safe or locked it, according to the complaint. Dig deeper A search of Natalie's room netted a six-page manifesto the girl had written entitled "War Against Humanity." She started the piece by describing humanity as "filth" and saying she hated people who don't care and "smoke their lungs out with weed or drink as much as they can like my own father." She wrote about how she admired school shooters, how her mother was not in her life and how she obtained her weapons "by lies and manipulation, and my fathers stupidity." Investigators also discovered maps of the school and a cardboard model of the building, along with a handwritten schedule that detailed how she would being the attack at 11:30 a.m. and wipe out the first and second floors of the school by 11:55 a.m. She planned to end the attack by 12:10 p.m. with a notation "ready 4 Death." She had been communicating online with people around the world about her fascination with school shootings and weapons, Acting Madison Police Chief John Patterson said at a press conference Thursday afternoon. What they're saying Jeffery Rupnow sent a message to a detective two weeks after the school shooting saying that his biggest mistake was teaching Natalie how to handle guns safely and urging police to warn people to change their gun safe combinations every two to three months, the complaint said. "Kids are smart and they will figure it out," he wrote. "Just like someone trying to hack your bank account. I just want to protect other families from going through what I'm going through." According to the complaint, after learning that Natalie was the shooter while talking to a police officer, Melissa Rupnow began breathing very quickly through her nose and yelled something, to the effect of, "I'm going to kill him, I'm going to kill him," apparently referring to her ex-husband. Big picture view Rupnow is the latest parent of a school shooter to face charges associated with an attack. Last year, the mother and father of a school shooter in Michigan who killed four students in 2021 were each convicted of involuntary manslaughter. The mother was the first parent in the U.S. to be held responsible for a child carrying out a mass school attack. The father of a 14-year-old boy accused of fatally shooting four people at a Georgia high school was arrested in September and faces charges including second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter for letting his son possess a weapon. In 2023, the father of a man charged in a deadly Fourth of July parade shooting in suburban Chicago pleaded guilty to seven misdemeanors related to how his son obtained a gun license. What's next Police say one student remains hospitalized. Rupnow was scheduled to make his initial court appearance Friday afternoon. Online court records did not list an attorney for him on Thursday. The Source Information in this report is from previous FOX6 News coverage, The Associated Press, and the Wisconsin Circuit Court Access website.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Yahoo
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.
Associated Press
09-05-2025
- Associated Press
Bail for Wisconsin school shooter's father facing three 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. '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.' If he posts bail, Jeffrey Rupnow 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. Davey declined to comment prior to the hearing. 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.
09-05-2025
Wisconsin dad charged in school shooting is latest parent accused in gun violence
A Wisconsin man charged with crimes for a school shooting committed by his daughter is the latest U.S. parent taken to court for violence caused by a child. Prosecutors have extended responsibility beyond shooters if they believe there is evidence that a parent contributed to the violence. The charges against Jeffrey Rupnow include intentionally giving a dangerous weapon to a person under 18 causing death. In December, his daughter, Natalie Rupnow, 15, killed a student and a teacher at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin, and killed herself. Rupnow was due to appear in court Friday. A look at other cases: Jennifer and James Crumbley were the first U.S. parents held criminally responsible for a mass school shooting committed by a child. They are serving 10-year prison terms for involuntary manslaughter. Their son, Ethan Crumbley, killed four students and wounded others at Michigan's Oxford High School in 2021. The school revealed his violent drawings to the Crumbleys a few hours before the shooting, but they declined to take him home. No one checked his heavy backpack for a gun. The Crumbleys were not aware of their son's plans, but they had given a gun as a gift a few days earlier. Prosecutors said Ethan's actions were foreseeable and that the Crumbleys had failed to prevent the violence. Robert Crimo Jr. pleaded guilty to misdemeanors for endorsing his son's Illinois gun permit in 2019 despite knowing that Robert Crimo III had expressed suicidal thoughts. Three years later, Crimo III killed seven people at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, a suburb north of Chicago. 'He was criminally reckless the moment he submitted that affidavit,' prosecutor Eric Rinehart said of the father. Crimo Jr. was sentenced to 60 days in jail. His son is serving a life prison sentence after pleading guilty in March to murder. In Georgia, Colin Gray is awaiting trial on charges of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter for the deaths of two students and two teachers last year at Apalachee High School in Winder. Gray gave his son, Colt Gray, an assault-style firearm as a gift and was aware that the child's mental health had deteriorated, investigators said. Colt Gray had a shrine above his home computer for the gunman in the 2018 Parkland, Florida, school massacre, according to prosecutors. Colin Gray has pleaded not guilty. In a separate case, his son has pleaded not guilty to murder charges. Deja Taylor was prosecuted in state and federal court after her 6-year-old son took her gun to school and wounded a teacher in a classroom full of students in Newport News, Virginia, in 2023. Taylor was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison for a drug-related crime connected to possessing a gun. Separately, she was sentenced to two years in state prison for child neglect. 'That is my son, so I am, as a parent, obviously willing to take responsibility for him because he can't take responsibility for himself,' Taylor told 'Good Morning America' in 2023. The teacher, Abigail Zwerner, told a judge she wasn't sure 'whether it would be my final moment on Earth.'
