The mayor of Madison, Wisconsin, got angry with reporters at a press conference Tuesday about the shooting at a private Christian school that left a teacher and a student dead and six others injured, some grievously.
“It is absolutely none of y’all’s business who was harmed in this incident,“ Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway told reporters asking about the identities of the victims.
”Please, have some human decency and respect for the people who lost loved ones or were injured themselves or whose children were injured,“ she said.
Police say 15-year-old student Natalie Rupnow opened fire at Abundant Life Christian School on Monday shortly before 11 a.m. local time. Rupnow died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.
As of Tuesday afternoon, two students were in critical condition. Of the four others taken to nearby hospitals, two were still being treated for non-life-threatening injuries, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said at a news conference.
Law enforcement officers are shown at the scene of a shooting Monday, December 16, 2024 at the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin. Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ORG XMIT: MJS2412161310040007 (Via OlyDrop)
The pointed response from the mayor came at the tail end of a tense press conference just over 24 hours after her city about 80 miles from Milwaukee was rocked by its second school shooting this year.
“I don’t know how many times I can say this: We will share good, factual information when we can. None of you is obliged to stay here. You’re free to leave. You don’t have to be sitting in this room if you don’t want to,” she said after being asked multiple times about the victims and other unanswered questions, including about how the school monitors bullying.
”Just have some human decency folks. Leave them alone. Let them grieve. Let them recover. Let them heal,” she said. “Don’t feed off their pain. We’ll share what we can when we can and not before that. Thank you.”
Officials on Tuesday said they were still working to identify a motive for the shooting and learn where the teenager got the handgun used in the attack. Authorities have searched the suspect’s home and have spoken with her family members, who were cooperating with investigators, Barnes said.
When asked whether the suspect’s parents or anyone else could face charges, the mayor said “We don’t know nearly enough yet.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Madison mayor angry with reporters at school shooting press conference
