By Rich McKay and Brad Brooks
(Reuters) -The teenage girl who killed a teacher and fellow student at her Wisconsin school this week was in contact with a California man who was planning his own mass shooting, according to California court records.
News of the connection between 15-year-old Natalie “Samantha” Rupnow and the Carlsbad, California, man surfaced while authorities worked to determine exactly what motivated her to stage Monday’s attack at the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison. In addition to the two fatalities, the suspect wounded six other people before turning the gun on herself.
In Wisconsin, the Dane County Medical office identified the two people killed at the school as ninth-grade student Rubi Vergara, 14, and Erin West, a 42-year-old faculty member. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.
It remained unclear how the California man and Rupnow became connected. Police have been scouring her online activity, checking her cellphone records and interviewing friends and family to understand her motivations and relationships with others, a police statement said.
“Defining the motive remains a top priority,” police said in the statement. “There appears to be a combination of many factors right now.”
The shooting was a rare example of a mass killing carried out by a female. Male perpetrators have been responsible for an overwhelming majority of such crimes, which have become almost commonplace in the United States.
The California “gun violence emergency protective order” was issued on Wednesday under the state’s red flag law in Superior Court of California County of San Diego against Alexander Charles Paffendorf, 20, of Carlsbad, who was allegedly in contact with Rupnow.
The order states that Paffendorf was confronted by FBI agents “after he was discovered plotting a mass shooting” with Rupnow.
The order added that Paffendorf “admitted to the FBI agents that he told Rupnow that he would arm himself with explosives and a gun and that he would target a government building.”
The order said FBI agents “saw the messages from Paffendorf to Rupnow.” It does not say what building Paffendorf had allegedly targeted or when the alleged attack would happen. It also offered no details about his interactions with Rupnow except to state that the man was plotting a mass shooting with her.
Reuters was unable to contact Paffendorf. It was unclear whether he had retained an attorney.
Paffendorf was ordered to make a first court appearance on Jan. 3.
The civil order requires the subject to turn in any guns and ammunition to police within 48 hours, unless police ask for them sooner.
It was unclear whether Paffendorf was in custody on Thursday. The Carlsbad Police Department referred all queries to the FBI, and a spokesperson for the federal agency has not responded to telephone or email inquires from Reuters.
Paffendorf was not listed as an inmate in the San Diego County Jail on Thursday.
Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said Wednesday that Rupnow had two guns with her at the time of the shooting, which took place in a study hall, but she apparently only used one of them.
Police have said they do not know whether the suspect had targeted anyone specifically but expected their investigation to shed more light on that question.
Meanwhile, the department said in its statement that it saw “everyone” at the school as a target because “everyone was put in equal danger.”
Two of the students shot were in critical condition on Wednesday, but police say they would not continue to update their conditions to the media. Police also said they would not release the identities of the wounded.
After the shooting, police went to Rupnow’s home where she lived with her father, Jeffrey Rupnow. After no one answered, they breached the door with an explosive before looking for other potential victims, police said in a statement. They later obtained permission to search the house for evidence.
FUNERAL FOR TEEN VICTIM SET FOR SATURDAY
A funeral for Vergara has been announced for Saturday, and a funeral is set for West on Monday, both in Madison, the state capital.
Vergara was the daughter of Vicente and Jennifer (Remus) Vergara. She was an avid reader, loved art, singing and playing keyboard in the family worship band, her obituary said. She also had a special bond with her cat Ginger and dog Coco.
West was a substitute teacher for three years at the school before becoming an in-house substitute teacher and coordinator, according to a school statement cited by NBC News.
“She brought her love of Jesus and love of people to our staff and school family all wrapped in a hug and topped with a smile,” the school’s statement said.
West, originally from St. Charles, Missouri, is survived by her husband Jack and three daughters, her obituary said. She enjoyed camping and attending sporting events.
School shootings have become a near-daily occurrence in the United States, with 322 of them this year, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database. That is the second highest annual total since 1966, exceeded only by last year’s 349.
The repeated violence has fueled the debate over gun control in the U.S. But efforts to tighten firearm laws have made little progress in Congress, where Republicans argue that such limits would violate the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of the right to bear arms.
(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta and Brad Brooks in Colorado; Editing by Frank McGurty, Jonathan Oatis and Daniel Wallis)
