MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A 15-year-old student opened fire inside a study hall at a small Christian school in Wisconsin, killing a teacher and teenager and prompting a swarm of police officers responding to a second grader’s 911 call.

The female student wounded six others in Monday’s shooting at Abundant Life Christian School, including two students who were in critical condition, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said. A teacher and three students were taken to a hospital with less serious injuries, and two of them were later released.

“Every child, every person in that building is a victim and will be a victim forever. … We need to figure out and try to piece together what exactly happened,” Barnes said.

Police said the shooter, identified as Natalie Rupnow, was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound when officers arrived and died en route to a hospital. Barnes declined to offer additional details about the shooter, partly out of respect for the family.

Abundant Life is a nondenominational Christian school — prekindergarten through high school — with approximately 420 students in Madison, the state capital.

Barbara Wiers, the school’s director of elementary and school relations, said when they practice safety routines, leaders always announce that it’s a drill. That didn’t happen Monday, just a week before Christmas break.

“When they heard, ‘Lockdown, lockdown,’ they knew it was real,” she said.

Wiers said the school does not have metal detectors but uses other security measures including cameras.

A motive for the shooting was not immediately known, nor was it clear if the victims were targeted, Barnes said.

“I don’t know why, and I feel like if we did know why, we could stop these things from happening,” he told reporters.

Barnes said police were talking with the shooter’s father and other family members, who were cooperating, and searching the shooter’s home.

“He lost someone as well,” Barnes said of the shooter’s father. “And so we’re not going to rush the information. We’ll take our time and make sure we do our due diligence.”

The first 911 call to report an active shooter came in shortly before 11 a.m. First responders who were in training just 3 miles (about 5 kilometers) away dashed to the school for an actual emergency, Barnes said. They arrived three minutes after the initial call.

Investigators believe the shooter used a 9mm pistol, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.

Police blocked off roads around the school, and federal agents were at the scene to assist local law enforcement. No shots were fired by police.

Children and families were reunited at a health clinic about a mile (1.6 kilometers) from the school. Parents pressed children against their chests while others squeezed hands and shoulders as they walked side by side.

Abundant Life asked for prayers in a brief Facebook post. Wiers said they’re still deciding whether they will resume classes this week.

Bethany Highman, the mother of a student, rushed to the school and learned over FaceTime that her daughter was OK.

“As soon as it happened, your world stops for a minute. Nothing else matters,” Highman said. “There’s nobody around you. You just bolt for the door and try to do everything you can as a parent to be with your kids.”

In a statement, President Joe Biden cited the tragedy in calling on Congress to pass universal background checks, a national red flag law and certain gun restrictions.

“We can never accept senseless violence that traumatizes children, their families, and tears entire communities apart,” Biden said. He spoke with Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers and Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway and offered his support.

Evers said it’s “unthinkable” that a child or teacher would go to school and never return home.

The school shooting was the latest among dozens across the U.S. in recent years, including especially deadly ones in Newtown, Connecticut; Parkland, Florida; and Uvalde, Texas.

The shootings have set off fervent debates about gun control and frayed the nerves of parents whose children are growing up accustomed to doing active shooter drills in their classrooms. But school shootings have done little to move the needle on national gun laws.

Firearms were the leading cause of death among children in 2020 and 2021, according to KFF, a nonprofit that researches health care issues.

Rhodes-Conway said the country needs to do more to prevent gun violence.

“I hoped that this day would never come to Madison,” she said.

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Associated Press writers Alanna Durkin Richer, Ed White, Josh Funk and Hallie Golden and photographer Morry Gash contributed to this report.

First responders in Madison, Wisconsin, were participating in a training session on Monday morning when a school shooting occurred nearby, authorities said.

A student and teacher were killed and six others were injured when a teenage student opened fire at Abundant Life Christian School, a private Christian school serving approximately 250 families on the city’s East Side, said Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes. The shooter was found dead by authorities, police said.

Barnes said the shooting occurred around 10:57 a.m. CT, while medics with the Madison Police Department’s Special Events Team were in a session at the department’s training center — less than three miles away. The SET Medics Team consists of about 16 team members, including several who have worked or volunteered in Emergency Medical Services, according to the city of Madison website.

“They left the training center immediately and came down here and doing in real time what they were actually practicing for,” he said. “And that’s why training is so important, and making sure that we can provide the best possible training and the best possible response for our community members.”

The police chief said training for such events occurs “constantly,” noting fire and police commanders participated in a separate training session within the past two weeks.

Madison police and local officials shared additional details on Monday following a deadly school shooting at Abundant Life Christian School.

“And so all of that came into play today, and our officers performed extremely well based on their training and based on the expectations that they know exactly what to do,” Barnes said. “Stop the threat, stop the killing, find the threat.”

Training for mass incidents is something “we had hoped we would never have to put into practice one more time,” Madison Fire Chief Chris Carbon said.

A possible motive for the shooting remained unclear late Monday afternoon.

According to Barnes, police were working to find out “as many answers as we can” while interviewing witnesses and securing search warrants to obtain additional information.

“Many of you have asked me about the why of this,” the police chief said. “Why did this happen? What do we know? What was the motivation? I do not know, but I will tell you this, our detectives are working hard in the investigative process to find out as many answers as we can so that we can further prevent these things from happening, not only in this community, but in other communities around our country.”

MADISON – Quarterback and defensive line are two major areas of need for the Wisconsin football team this offseason.

Luke Fickell and his staff scored key pickups at both positions Monday morning.

Quarterback Danny O’Neil and defensive lineman Corey Walker announced commitments to the Badgers to bring the total of known transfer portal pickups for the program to five.

O’Neil, coming from San Diego State, is the first quarterback recruited with the idea of running new offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes’ scheme.

This season the 6-foot, 195-pound redshirt freshman completed 209 of 330 passes (63.3%) for 2,181 yards, 12 touchdowns and six interceptions.

Walker (6-5, 270) played at Western Michigan and was part of the Broncos’ ‘defense that faced Wisconsin in Camp Randall Stadium earlier this season.

He finished the season with 38 tackles that included 6 ½ tackles for a loss and 5½ sacks. He was also credited with five pass break ups. He had three tackles in a 28-14 loss to the Badgers on Aug. 28.

Walker has one year of eligibility remaining.

More: The latest Wisconsin football transfer portal pickup caught almost 100 passes this season