(OSV News) – Police in Madison, Wisconsin, said they are investigating a mass shooting at that city’s Abundant Life Christian School on Dec. 16 that left several people dead and injured.

Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said at a news conference that there was no ongoing threat to the school or the local community. He said the suspected shooter, who authorities believed was a student at the school, was dead.

Barnes said Madison police responded to a report of a shooting at Abundant Life Christian School, a Christian parochial school with students in kindergarten through 12th grade. According to the authorities, the information on victims and injuries continued to develop.

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“This is something we all prepare for, but we hope we never have to do it,” Barnes said of the law enforcement response.

A White House spokesman said President Joe Biden had been briefed on the incident and senior White House officials were in contact with local counterparts in Madison “to provide support as needed.”

Gov. Tony Evers said in a statement, “I am closely following the incident at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison.”

“We are praying for the children, educators and entire Abundant Life school community as we wait for more information and are grateful to the first responders who are responding quickly.”

The incident occurred just before the 12th anniversary of the mass murder at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14, 2012, in which a gunman with a semi-automatic rifle left 20 children and 6 adults dead. It is one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history.

Theologians and church leaders previously told OSV News that preventing gun violence is a matter of social justice and that, from a Catholic perspective, a public response to gun violence should begin with prioritizing the common good.

OSV News contacted a spokesman for Bishop Donald J. Hying of the Diocese of Madison but did not receive an immediate response.