Teacher and teen student killed in Wisconsin school shooting

A teacher and a teenage student have been killed and six others injured in a shooting at a Wisconsin school, police say.

Madison Police Chief Shawn Barnes said the teenage suspect, who was a student at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, was among the dead. At least two students have suffered life-threatening injuries.

“Today is a sad day not only for Madison, but for our entire country,” Mr. Barnes said. “We have to do better in our community.”

He said police have not identified a motive for the shooting and the suspect’s family is cooperating with the investigation.

Authorities responded to a 911 call of an active shooter at the Christian school around 11:00 local time (17:00 GMT).

Police say that when they arrived at the scene, they found that the attacker was already dead and that none of the officers fired their weapons.

Several victims were injured by the shooting and were taken to hospital.

Mr Barnes said two students were in a serious condition in hospital with life-threatening injuries. Four other people are in hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.

He said that the police have recovered a pistol from the incident spot. The shooting was confined to one location, but it is unclear whether it was in a classroom or a hallway.

officials say There is no threat to other schools or the surrounding community. The investigation is active and ongoing.

Residents have been asked to stay away from the area and roads around the school have been closed.

A reunion center has been set up next to the school building to reunite students with their parents.

“Every child, every person in that building is suffering and will always be suffering,” Mr Barnes said.

He said officers responded to the scene while they were training at a training center for law enforcement located three miles from the school.

“What started as a training day turned into a real day,” he said.

The incident also resulted in a major response from emergency officials. Madison Fire Chief Chris Carbone said 15 ambulances responded to calls of shots fired.

Abundant Life Christian School has approximately 400 students from kindergarten through high school.

“Please pray for our Challenger family,” the school wrote in a post on Facebook.

Local city officials responded to the shooting during a news conference Monday afternoon.

“Reach out, ask for help, this doesn’t have to be the reality of our community,” said Dane County Executive Melissa Agard.

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers said he was following the incident closely.

“We are praying for the children, teachers and the entire Abundant Life School community as we wait for more information and are grateful for the first responders who worked to respond rapidly,” Evers said in a statement on Twitter. Are doing.”

The White House says President Joe Biden has been informed and senior officials are in contact with local officials.

Shootings are common in America and schools are also no exception to this.

The K-12 Violence Project, a nonprofit working on reducing violence through accessible and actionable research, has counted more than 300 shootings in 2024. These include incidents where a gun is brandished or fired, or a shot is fired for any reason on school property, regardless of the number of victims.

There have been 38 school shootings across the United States that have resulted in deaths or injuries this year, according to news organization EducationWeek. Before today’s shootings there were a total of 69 victims – including 16 deaths.