Still reeling from Monday’s shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin, residents held a candlelight vigil at the Capitol on Tuesday evening to try to come to grips with a tragedy that left three people dead came and many more people’s lives were turned upside down.

“I think all of our students and faculty are feeling scared and vulnerable right now,” Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said at an afternoon news conference. “We are also trying to take care of our entire community because I believe we are all anxious, grieving and affected.”

The vigil took place at the State Capitol and began at 6 p.m. local time. It brought together a community struggling to explain what might have led 15-year-old suspect Natalie Rupnow, who went by the name Samantha, to throw a gun into the K-12 school of about 390 students on Monday bring and open fire in a study hall.

“Everyone was targeted in this incident and everyone was equally at risk,” Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said at Tuesday’s news conference.

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is also assisting Madison police in determining how the student obtained the weapon used in Monday’s shooting. These and other questions remain open.

“Identifying a motive is our top priority,” Barnes said. “But at this point it appears that the motive was a combination of factors.”

Citing the ongoing status of the investigation, Barnes declined to provide further details on what police have learned so far, but cautioned against sharing information about a manifesto allegedly left behind by the suspect.

“We are currently unable to review the document. We ask that you do not share the document or spread any information that may be false,” Barnes said.

Rhodes-Conway echoed Barnes, calling on the public and media to “avoid the spread of misinformation, particularly through social media.”

“There is so much we do not know at this point, and we must give law enforcement the time and space to conduct a careful and methodical investigation,” she said.

Barnes also clarified that police received the first 911 call at 10:57 a.m. CT from a second-grader at Abundant Life Christian School, a K-12 academy with about 390 students, and not from a second-grader he had stated late Monday .

A Dane County Sheriff’s Office deputy was first on the scene at 11 a.m. The first Madison police officer arrived 24 seconds later and immediately entered the school. Inside, police found several gunshot victims, including the suspect, who died of what police said was a self-inflicted gunshot wound while being transported to a hospital.

“A teacher and a teenage student were pronounced dead at the scene of this school accident,” Barnes told reporters Monday. “Six other students and a teacher were injured and taken to nearby hospitals. Two students remain in critical condition with life-threatening injuries.”

Another teacher and three other students were treated for “non-life-threatening injuries” and two of them have since been released from the hospital.

“At this point we believe there was only one shooter involved,” Barnes said.

At an earlier news conference, police said they had recovered the weapon used in the shooting, which Barnes said took place in a study hall with “mixed grade students.”

The suspect

The suspect’s family has been cooperating with police, said Barnes, who added Tuesday that police were investigating Rupnow’s social media activity leading up to Monday’s shooting.

“There are always signs of a school shooting before it happens. Some of you were aware of Rupnow’s social media activity before yesterday’s shooting,” Barnes said. “We are investigating their online activities. We ask anyone who knew her or has insight into her emotions since yesterday to please contact Madison Area Crime Stoppers.”

Barnes said Monday that “there is nothing to suggest that the school is a place where violence occurs,” adding that he was not aware that the suspect may have had previous contact with police.

“Everyone wants to know what led to this,” Barnes said. “Are there additional threats to public safety? Is this person or was this person alone? There are many questions we want to answer, but first we have to answer the security questions.”

Barnes said the evidence suggests Rupnow died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, but an official cause of death will be determined by a medical examiner.

Asked how Rupnow obtained the gun used in the shooting, Barnes said, “That will be part of this investigation.”

Scary moments for parents

Police evacuated the students from the school and then transported them by bus to a nearby health clinic acting as a “reunification center” where their families could pick them up.

Rob Nelson was first alerted to the shooting by a text message from his 14-year-old daughter, who wrote: “No drill…we heard a bang,” the Washington Post reported.

Viktoriya Gonzales, who was waiting to be reunited with her 12-year-old son, told The New York Times that she was told he was safe but that he was “severely traumatized” by being right next to the shooter.

“This should never happen”

In a country that has already recorded more than 300 school shootings in 2024, there was disbelief among officials at Monday’s news conference that the trend has finally arrived in Madison.

“I’m a little upset now, so close to Christmas,” said Barnes. “Every child, every person in this building is a victim and will forever be a victim.”

Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway reiterated the grim reality her community now faces.

“I admit that I think we need to take better action in our country and in our community to prevent gun violence. And I hoped that day in Madison would never come,” Rhodes-Conway said at the press conference. “No mayor, no fire chief, no police chief, no person in public office ever wants to have to deal with this.”

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers ordered flags in the state to be flown at half-staff until Dec. 22 in honor of the victims.

“It is unthinkable that a child or teacher would wake up one morning, go to school and never come home again,” Evers said in a statement. “This should never happen, and I will never accept this as a foregone conclusion or stop working to change it.”

In a statement, President Biden called the recent school shooting “shocking and irresponsible” and called on Congress to pass universal background checks for firearm purchases, a national red flag law and an assault weapons ban.

“From Newtown to Uvalde, from Parkland to Madison and so many other shootings that go unnoticed, it is unacceptable that we cannot protect our children from this scourge of gun violence,” Biden said.

Training day

Barnes noted Monday that police were conducting a shooting drill at a school 3 miles from Abundant Life Christian School when the 911 call came in. “What started as a practice day turned into a real day,” Barnes said.

When asked by a reporter how safe parents should feel sending their children to school after Monday’s shooting, Barnes gave a clear answer: “All I can tell you is that we have systems in place so we can respond, “If something happens.” That’s what we did today.”

“I think you’re asking me how can I guarantee 100% that nothing will ever happen to any child at school? I can’t. No police chief can do that,” Barnes said.