School shooter pictured as multiple factors may have contributed to motive

Childhood trauma is being discussed as a possible contributor to Monday’s school shooting in Madison, Wisconsin, in which Natalie Samantha Rupnow, 15, shot and killed another student and a teacher at a Christian school, and injured seven others. She then killed herself.

According to the Daily Mail, court records show that she was moved from home to home to home throughout her childhood because of her parent’s turbulent relationship, in which they were married and divorced three times, changing up their daughter’s living arrangements often.

The report said of late she had been living mostly with her father, Jeff, although legal custody was shared.

She was in therapy to decide with which parent to spent weekends.

The victims of the shooting at Abundant Life High School haven’t been identified. A student and school employee were killed and several others injured. Two remain hospitalized in critical condition.

The report cited court documents as revealing that “unsettled” childhood.

And Jillian Peterson, a forensic psychologist, told the Washington Post that childhood trauma is often a driving force behind such incidents.

Court documents show her parents married in 2011, two years after she was born, then divorced in 2014, married in 2017 and divorced in 2020, and then married once again, only to be petitioning for a third divorce in 2021.

Police continue investigating contributing factors to the shooting, including how she obtained a handgun allegedly used in the violence.

No specific motive had been identified.

Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes acknowledged there was an online “manifesto, if you want to call it that,” but it wasn’t determined that the document had been linked to the shooter.

WND reported police confirmed Natalie died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Police said they had had no previous interactions with Rupnow.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported there was a “combination of factors” that probably contributed to a motive.

Under investigation was whether bullying contributed.

Several hundred people attend a vigil on Tuesday, the publication said.