Father of Wisconsin school shooter faces felony charges, up to 18 years in prison
A Wisconsin father was arrested and charged with multiple felony charges after police said his teen daughter killed two people and injured six others during a shooting at a Christian school in Madison in December 2024. The Madison Police Department announced that it arrested 42-year-old Jeffrey Rupnow in the early morning hours on Thursday, May 8.
Rupnow is charged with “contributing to the delinquency of a child” and two counts of “providing a dangerous weapon to a person under 18 resulting in death,” according to a statement from Madison Police Department spokesperson Stephanie Fryer. If convicted on all charges, Rupnow faces up to 18 years in prison. He is set for a court appearance on Friday, May 9.
Investigators say Rupnow bought the gun used in the shooting legally, and that his 15-year-old daughter had access to the safe where the firearm was stored, as well as other weapons in the home. Police say Rupnow is cooperating with investigators.
What happened?
In December 2024, 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow killed two people and hurt six others at Abundant Life Christian School. Police say a “combination of factors” played a role in the shooting, but have yet to disclose Rupnow’s motive. Rupnow took her own life following the shooting, as police discovered her with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. One of the victims in the school shooting reportedly remains hospitalized nearly five months after the incident. Those killed in the shooting include a teacher, 42-year-old Erin West, and a student, 14-year-old Rubi Vergara.
Abundant Life Christian School has not commented on the father’s charges or arrest.
The investigation
Investigators found that the teen shooter appeared to be obsessed with acts of mass violence, including school shootings, and had a fascination with weapons, but did not say what led her to conduct the attack. Authorities also say that Rupnow’s online interactions showed she was looking into violent subjects, particularly shootings.
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In 2024, James and Jennifer Crumbley, whose son committed a mass shooting at a Michigan high school, became the first parents in U.S. history to be convicted in connection to their teen’s mass shooting.
Following Rupnow’s attack, a judge issued a restraining order against Alexander Paffendorf, a California resident, in connection with the shooting. Police say Paffendorf and Rupnow were messaging about a potential attack on a government building, which involved guns and explosives. Paffendorf has not yet been charged in the case.
Not the first time
The latest arrest isn’t the first involving a parent of a school shooter. Last year, the parents of a Michigan school shooter, James and Jennifer Crumbley, were sentenced to 10 to 15 years behind bars for negligence, including unsecured storage of a firearm used by their teenage son to kill four classmates at a high school in a Detroit suburb. Prosecutors also say the parents ignored warning signs before the shooting. They became the first parents in U.S. history to be charged and convicted for their child’s mass shooting at a school. Their son, Ethan Crumbley, is serving a life sentence.
Cases in other countries
Also in December 2024, parents of a school shooter in Serbia were sentenced to years in prison after police say their teenage son used his father’s gun in a school shooting that left nine children and a security guard dead while injuring six others in the country’s first school mass shooting. Under Serbian law, their son was reportedly too young to be charged with the crime as he was 13 at the time of the incident.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
