School shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, WI
The fifth planned attack at a school in 2024 took place today. Earlier this year, a student with IEDs and Molotov cocktails committed a school shooting in Mount Horeb, WI.
A school shooting occurred this morning at Madison Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, WI. This private Christian school has 420 k-12 students and shares a 28-acre campus with City Church and Campus for Kids, an infant to pre-kindergarten child care center.
Here is the initial press briefing by the Madison Police chief:
Here are the details that are available based on a press briefing (including updates during second briefing at 2:30 PM central) from the Madison, WI police chief:
Shooting started inside the school at 10:57 AM. Officers arrived and entered the schools within 3 minutes of the 911 call for an “active shooter”.
A teacher and teenage student died.
A teacher and 5 students were wounded (2 critical).
Teenage student shooter committed suicide inside the school before police arrived.
Shooter used a handgun.
Shooting was contained to one space within the school (shooter did not roam the building).
All seven of the student victims were in the same age group as the shooter.
Police officers did not fire their weapons.
Madison, WI police held a training session for school shootings 2 weeks ago.
This private school is not under the authority of the Madison Police Department and there are no officers assigned to the campus.
Here is the 2:30 PM central time update:
5:45 PM central time update:
This shooting follows the common patterns with planned attacks at schools. The perpetrator was a student (insider), committed a surprise attack during morning classes, and died by suicide before police arrived.
Most school shootings are committed by current or former students who are “insiders” at the school and know the security plan/procedures.
Like most schools across the country, the classroom buildings sit on an open campus within a residential area. Fencing and fortifying this type of campus with TSA-style security is not realistic.
This attack is the 323rd shooting at a k-12 school campus so far in 2024.
More on the school shooting earlier this year in Mount Horeb, WI:
Near Miss: Student had 'dirty bomb' at Mount Horeb Middle during school shooting
Missed the warning signs (again) to prevent a school shooting in Wisconsin
David Riedman is the creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database, Chief Data Officer at a global risk management firm, and a tenure-track professor. Listen to my weekly podcast—Back to School Shootings—or my recent interviews on Freakonomics Radio, New England Journal of Medicine, and my article on CNN about AI and school security.