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Shooting at Christian school in Madison leaves three dead [1]

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Date: 2024-12-16 19:45:07+00:00

Reading Time: 4 minutes

A teenage student opened fire Monday at a private Christian school in Wisconsin, killing a teacher and another teen during the final week before Christmas break. The shooter also died, police said.

The shooter also wounded others at Abundant Life Christian School, including two students who were in critical condition, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said.

“I’m feeling a little dismayed now, so close to Christmas,” Barnes said. “Every child, every person in that building is a victim and will be a victim forever. … We need to figure out and try to piece together what exactly happened.”

The shooter was a 17-year-old female student, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The official was not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity.

Police said the shooter apparently was dead by suicide when officers arrived.

Abundant Life is a nondenominational Christian school — kindergarten through high school — with approximately 390 students in Madison, the state capital. After the shooting, students were led next door to City Church, where buses took them elsewhere to be reunited with families.

Meanwhile, nine public schools in Madison were locked down for a few hours as a precaution.

Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes speaks during a press conference At Fire Station 14 in Madison, Wis., following a shooting at Abundant Life Christian School. Barnes says three people, including the teenage shooter, a teacher and another teenage student were killed. (Brad Horn for Wisconsin Watch) Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway speaks during a press conference at Fire Station 14 in Madison, Wis., following a shooting at Abundant Life Christian School on Dec. 16, 2024. She says it is important to meet the mental health needs for those involved in the traumatic incident. (Brad Horn for Wisconsin Watch)

“As difficult as today is, that’s still someone’s child that’s gone,” the chief said.

A motive for the shooting was not immediately known, he added.

“I don’t know why, and I feel like if we did know why, we could stop these things from happening,” Barnes said.

Someone from the school called 911 to report an active shooter shortly before 11 a.m. First responders who were in training just 3 miles away dashed to the school for an actual emergency, Barnes said.

Investigators believe the shooter used a 9mm pistol, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.

“I’m not aware that the school had metal detectors nor should schools have metal detectors. It’s a safe space,” Barnes said.

Police blocked off roads around the school. Federal agents were at the scene to assist local law enforcement.

Abundant Life asked for prayers in a brief Facebook post.

Husband and wife Bethany Highman, left, and Reynaldo LeBaron are shown near the scene of a shooting that left three dead at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wis. on Dec. 16, 2025. LeBaron says his daughter, along with six nieces and nephews, attended the school. The incident showed “this can happen anywhere,” he says. (Brad Horn for Wisconsin Watch)

Bethany Highman, the mother of a student, rushed to the school and learned over FaceTime that her daughter was OK.

“As soon as it happened, your world stops for a minute. Nothing else matters,” Highman said. “There’s nobody around you. You just bolt for the door and try to do everything you can as a parent to be with your kids.”

In a statement, the White House said President Joe Biden has been briefed on the shooting and officials were in touch with local authorities to provide support.

“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,” Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said. “This should never happen, and I will never accept this as a foregone reality or stop working to change it.”

The episode was the 323rd shooting at a K-12 school campus thus far in 2024, according to researcher David Riedman, founder of the K-12 School Shooting Database. The database uses a broad definition of shooting that includes when a gun is brandished, fired or a bullet hits school property.

“This shooting follows the common patterns with planned attacks at schools. The perpetrator was a student (insider), committed a surprise attack during morning classes, and died by suicide before police arrived,” Riedman wrote Monday on his website.

Police stand outside of SSM Health Urgent Care, which served as the reunification area for families and students of Abundant Life Christian School, following shooting at the Madison, Wis. school that left three dead on Dec. 16, 2024. (Brad Horn for Wisconsin Watch)

It was the the latest among dozens of school shootings across the U.S. in recent years, including especially deadly ones in Newtown, Connecticut; Parkland, Florida; and Uvalde, Texas.

The shootings have set off fervent debates about gun control and frayed the nerves of parents whose children are growing up accustomed to doing active shooter drills in their classrooms. But school shootings have done little to move the needle on national gun laws.

Firearms were the leading cause of death among children in 2020 and 2021, according to KFF, a nonprofit that researches health care issues.

Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said the country needs to do more to prevent gun violence.

“I hoped that this day would never come to Madison,” she said.

Wisconsin Watch contributed information to this story.

More from Wisconsin Watch Mount Horeb shooting: ‘People in every community need to be mindful of the warning signs’ What is clear about school shootings in the U.S. is that, despite feelings of, “I never thought it could happen here,” the worst incidents frequently occur in smaller towns.

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit and nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletter to get our investigative stories and Friday news roundup. This story is published in partnership with The Associated Press.

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