Students return to Madison’s Abundant Life Christian School after shooting

Classes were back in session on Friday at Madison’s Abundant Life Christian School for the first time since last month’s shooting.

A 15-year-old student fatally shot two other people at the school before killing herself on Dec. 16, just days before the scheduled start of Christmas break.

Now, staffers at the private school are working with Wisconsin’s Office of School Safety to provide trauma-informed care as students return to the school building, school Principal Doug Butler said in a video message posted earlier this week.

“It will feel different,” Butler said. “It will look different. It is different. There are security changes, both seen and unseen.”

Butler referenced a recent parent meeting and said he’s grateful to God and to the school community.

“I have been tremendously blessed and encouraged to see so many of our staff, parents, families, at the walk-throughs in the training sessions that we have offered in these recent days,” Butler said. “I have seen how have you supported one another, how you have shared stories of answered prayer, and I could not be more proud to be a part of this amazing, resilient Challenger family.”

More than 400 students in pre-K through 12th grade are enrolled at the nondenominational Christian school on Madison’s east side. Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction recently clarified that Abundant Life will not face the loss of any school choice funds, should the school fall short of requirements for annual teaching time that are set in state law.

“The DPI provides this assurance to help you focus on your students and your school community during this time,” Assistant State Superintendent Tricia Collins wrote in a Jan. 8 email.

Detectives probe shooter’s online presence

No one has been charged with a crime in the aftermath of the shooting, and Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said he’s not aware of further danger to the community.

“While the motive in this case is still unknown, we have no credible information that there are others who intend to commit further violence,” Barnes said in a video update earlier this week.

Authorities recovered 21 shell casings and two handguns from the scene, though police believe the shooter only fired one of those guns on Dec. 16.

Madison police have not disclosed where the guns were purchased, citing an ongoing investigation.

Barnes said that includes probing the shooter’s online presence, including requesting warrants and subpoenas for information held by tech companies and social media platforms.

“This can be a lengthy process that involves allowing the companies time to process the information before detectives can even begin reviewing what will likely be tens of thousands of pages of data,” Barnes said Wednesday.

The shooter was “very active online and on social media,” Barnes said. A review by the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism found that the shooter appears to have used social media to post racist and anti-Semitic memes.

“Social media accounts believed to belong to the shooter included many posts expressing admiration for past school shooters and mass attackers, as well as an unusual interest in violence of all kinds,” the Center wrote in its newsletter.

Rubi Vergara, a 14-year-old Abundant Life freshman, and Erin West, a 42-year-old substitute teacher coordinator, died in the shooting which unfolded during a study hall. Another teacher and three other students were released from the hospital last month after suffering non-life-threatening injuries.

Two students have been upgraded to fair condition at American Family Children’s Hospital after battling critical injuries.