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Some of the youngest survivors of the mass shooting at the private Christian school in Madison, Wis., have described the horror they saw — with one witnessing an injured teacher screaming for help.
Nora Gottschalk, 8, was walking in the hallway, getting ready to go to lunch, when the shooting began just before 11 a.m. Monday inside Abundant Life Christian School.
“I was getting ready for lunch … and then I just heard shotting [sic],” the young girl told WISC-TV.
As gunfire started to ring out, she saw a teacher she knew crying out for help.
“And then there was a teacher and she was screaming like, ‘Ahh, my leg! Help! Help!’” Gottschalk said.
“I was really scared, and I was really sad,” the second-grader added while clutching onto a Spongebob ice cream pop after being reunited with family.
Sixth-grade student Adler Jean-Charles said he was in English class when the Christian School went into lockdown.
“I heard two (gunshots),” he told WISC-TV. “Some people started crying, and then we just waited until the police came and they escorted us out.”
“I was scared. Why did they do that?” the confused sixth-grader asked.
Jean-Charles and students at Abundant Life Christian School were taken to the hospital and later reunited with their parents after being rescued by police.
However, the frightened youngster said he didn’t feel “safe” until he saw his mom.
His mother, Mireille Jean-Charles, who has two sons attending Abundant Life Christian School, said that after she was reunited with her children, she broke down into tears and started praying with them.
“It’s sad, you know, to be home and then somebody calls you and says your kids’ school is in lockdown and a shooting, and you don’t know where they are,” she said.
Another young student, speaking alongside her parents, told WISN how she heard “gunshots and screaming.”
“It was really scary, and I was terrified, and so were my friends,” the little girl explained.
She said it took her about five to six hours to be reunited with her parents.
Another mother said she rushed down to the school immediately when she got news of the shooting and was even briefly FaceTime with her daughter to check if she was safe while on the way.
“I just bolted out, drove down here, called my husband and he made his way over here,” said Bethany Highman.
Highman shared it was a surreal feeling rushing to the school to make sure her child was safe while knowing a shooting was unfolding.
“I bring my daughter to school knowing well that this happens in the world. That people are struggling. And I pray for my daughter’s safety and I pray for the entire school’s safety,” she said.
Abundant Life is a nondenominational Christian school — prekindergarten through high school — with approximately 420 students in Madison, the state capital.
Police said the shooter, Natalie “Samantha” Rupnow, a 15-year-old student, brought a handgun to campus and opened fire around 11 a.m. inside a classroom during a study hall filled with students from different grades.
As the gunfire erupted, a second-grader in a nearby classroom called 911 for help, and police were on the scene in about three minutes, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said Monday night.
The teenage student and teacher were pronounced dead at the scene, while another teacher and five more students were wounded.
Two of those students are in critical condition with life-threatening injuries.
Rupnow sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound and was pronounced dead on the way to the hospital.
A motive for the shooting was not immediately known, nor was it clear if the victims were targeted, Barnes said.
SWAT teams raided Rupnow’s family’s home on Monday night, busting through the front door and conducting a thorough search inside, WISN reported.
Investigators believe the shooter used a 9mm pistol, a law enforcement official, speaking under anonymity because of the ongoing investigation, told The Associated Press.
The Madison Police Chief said law enforcement has been talking with the shooter’s father and other family members.
“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,” Barnes said.
With Post wires
