Three dead, six injured in Abundant Life Christian School shooting in Wisconsin

A teacher and a teenaged student were killed and six others were injured in a shooting at a school in Wisconsin, police say.

Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said the suspect, a teenager who was a student at the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, was also among the dead. At least two students have suffered life-threatening injuries.

“Today is a sad day not only for Madison, for our entire country,” Mr Barnes said. “We have to do a better job in our community.”

He said the police had not identified a motive for the shooting, and the suspect’s family was co-operating with the investigation.

Officers responded to a 911 call of an active shooter at the Christian school around 11:00 local time (17:00GMT).

Police say they found the shooter already dead when they arrived on the scene and no officers fired weapons.

There were multiple victims with gunshot wounds, and they were transported to the hospital.

Mr Barnes said two students were in critical condition in the hospital facing life-threatening injuries. Four others are at hospitals with non life-threatening injuries.

He said the police recovered a handgun from the scene. The shooting was confined to one space, but it’s unclear if it was in a classroom or a hallway.

Officials say there is no ongoing threat to other schools or the surrounding community. The investigation remains active and ongoing.

Residents have been asked to avoid the area and roads are closed around the school.

A reunification centre has been set up next to the school building to reunite students with their parents.

“Every child, every person in that building is a victim and will be a victim forever,” Mr Barnes said.

He said officers responded to the scene while they were undergoing training at a training centre for law enforcement located three miles from the school.

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

The incident also resulted in a large response from emergency officials. Madison Fire Chief Chris Carbon said 15 ambulances responded to calls of the shooting.

The Abundant Life Christian School has around 400 students ranging from kindergarten through high school.

“Please pray for our Challenger Family,” the school wrote in a post on Facebook.

Local city officials responded to the shooting during a press conference on Monday afternoon.

“Reach out, ask for help, this does not need to be the reality of our community,” Dane County Executive Melissa Agard said.

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers said that he was closely monitoring the incident.

“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,” Evers said in a statement on X.

President Joe Biden has been informed, the White House says, and senior officials are in touch with local authorities.

Shootings are common in the US, and schools are no exception.

The K-12 Violence Project, a non-profit working on reducing violence through accessible and actionable research, has counted more than 300 shootings in 2024. These include events where a gun is brandished or fired, or a bullet hits school property for any reason, regardless of the number of victims.

According to the news organisation EducationWeek, 38 school shootings have resulted in deaths or injuries across the US this year. There were a total of 69 victims – including 16 deaths – before today’s shooting.