MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A 15-year-old girl opened fire at the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin on Monday, killing a teacher and another teenage student in the final week before Christmas break. The shooter also died, police said.

Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes identified the shooter as Natalie Rupnow, who went by the name Samantha. She was pronounced dead on the way to a hospital.

Rupnow also wounded six others at the school.

Barnes said two of them were in critical condition with life-threatening injuries. The other four had non-life-threatening injuries; a hospital spokeswoman said two were discharged Monday evening.

The non-denominational school has 420 students in prekindergarten through 12th grade.

Second-grader called 911, police say

Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said a second-grade student called 911 at 10:57 a.m. Monday to report a shooting at the school.

“Let that sink in,” Barnes repeated twice at a news briefing.

The shooting took place in a study hall, he said.

Police arrived within four minutes, he said. They were at a training center three miles from the school, and responded from there.

“What began as a training day became an actual day,” he said.

Lisa Adams, spokeswoman for SSM Health, said two patients were discharged on Monday night; two others remain hospitalized at St. Mary’s Hospital in stable condition.

She said personnel at its medical clinic near the school “worked collaboratively with law enforcement in reuniting families.”

Two students remained in critical condition at a different hospital, according to Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes.

Parents reunite with children

Well into Monday afternoon, parents were directed to a medical clinic building about a mile from the school to pick up their children.

Some left holding their young children against their chests, others squeezing kids’ hands or shoulders as they walked side by side.

One family draped an adult-size coat around a young girl’s shoulder as they left the building to a parking lot still teeming with police and law enforcement vehicles.

Bethany Highman rushed to the school as soon as her mother, who lives near the school, called her about the shooting. Highman said she was able to briefly FaceTime with her daughter, so she knew she was safe.

But when she first arrived at the school, she said, she didn’t know any details about what happened.

“We’re just as hungry for what’s going on as I’m sure all of you are,” she told a reporter. She called the situation “surreal.”

“As soon as it happened, your world stops for a minute. Nothing else matters. 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.

“... I bring my daughter to school knowing well that this happens in the world,” she said. “That people are struggling. And I pray for my daughter’s safety and I pray for the entire school’s safety. I pray for the hearts of the students, the teachers, the staff members. It’s a very real thing.”

She said she is angry about the shooting and devastated for the families who lost loved ones.

Motive unknown

Barnes said police found a handgun at the school. Investigators believe the shooter used a 9mm pistol, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.

The shooter’s family is cooperating with investigators, Barnes said.

He  said he didn’t yet know the shooter’s motive but added that detectives were “working hard to find as many answers as we can.”

He initially refused to release any information about the shooter, including name or gender, partly out of respect for the student’s family.

“That’s still someone’s child that is gone,” he said.

‘The latest group of survivors’

Madison’s police chief ended the agency’s third press conference of the day by asking people to focus their attention on the Abundant Life Christian School community.

“These children are now the latest group of survivors of a school shooting,” Barnes said. “This time, unfortunately, in Madison, Wisconsin.”

“I’m feeling a little dismayed now, so close to Christmas,” he said. “Every child, every person in that building is a victim and will be a victim forever.”

Agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives came to assist local law enforcement.

Students ‘handled themselves magnificently’

School officials have not yet decided if classes will start up again this week. Barbara Wiers, director of elementary and school relations for Abundant Life Christian School, said Monday began the last week of school before winter break.

She said their goal is to get the school’s staff together early in the week and then try to have some community opportunities for the students to reconnect.

Wiers said students “handled themselves magnificently.”

She said when the school practices safety routines, leaders always announce that it is a drill. That didn’t happen on Monday.

“When they heard ‘lockdown, lockdown,’ they knew it was real,” she said.

Wiers said just before the school year, they had done a retraining with the Madison Police Department, so it was “very fresh for faculty.”

“This has obviously rocked our school community,” she said.

The school does not have metal detectors but uses other security measures including cameras, she said.

On it's Facebook page, the school asked for the community’s prayers.

“Prayers Requested! Today, we had an active shooter incident at ALCS. We are in the midst of following up. We will share information as we are able,” the post said. “Please pray for our Challenger Family.”

Hundreds of commenters offered prayers from around the country, some from former students, former teachers and alumni.

Shootings by girls rare

School shootings by girls are extremely rare, with boys and men in their teens and 20s carrying out the vast majority most of them, according to David Riedman, founder of the K-12 School Shooting Database.

In a blog post last year, he pointed to a handful of school shootings that involved female perpetrators including a 16-year-old girl who killed two and injured several others at San Diego elementary school shooting in 1979.

Biden: ‘We need Congress to act. Now.’

“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,” Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said in a statement as word spread about the shooting.

President Joe Biden called the shooting “shocking and unconscionable” in a statement Monday.

“We need Congress to act. Now,” he said.

“From Newtown to Uvalde, Parkland to Madison, to so many other shootings that don’t receive attention - it is unacceptable that we are unable to protect our children from this scourge of gun violence. We cannot continue to accept it as normal,” he said. “Every child deserves to feel safe in their class room. Students across our country should be learning how to read and write – not having to learn how to duck and cover.”

He said that he and his wife, Jill, are praying for the victims. He thanked first responders who arrived quickly and said the FBI is supporting local law enforcement efforts. His team has also reached out to local officials to offer further support, at his direction.

He said that while his administration has taken aggressive action to combat the gun violence epidemic, more is needed:

“Congress must pass commonsense gun safety laws: Universal background checks. A national red flag law. A ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.”

Milwaukee Bucks coach Doc Rivers reacts

In Las Vegas, Milwaukee Bucks coach Doc Rivers opened a news conference Monday by talking about the shooting.

“Not a lot to say. Just a shame this keeps happening,” Rivers said, unprompted and before any questions could be asked. “Kids can’t go to school safe, and it just seems like we don’t do anything about it. Not going to get up here on the podium and give a long speech — except for it’s just bad and that we are thinking about them.”

Las Vegas was the site of the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history in 2017, when 58 people were killed and more than 850 were injured among a crowd of 22,000 at a country music festival.

The Bucks are in Las Vegas for Tuesday’s NBA Cup tournament championship game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Dozens of U.S. school shootings in recent years

Monday's 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.