MILWAUKEE – The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm watch for portions of southeast Wisconsin. It takes effect Thursday night and runs through Friday morning.

The watch covers Fond du Lac and Sheboygan counties. Heavy snow will be possible, as much as 6 inches or more in some areas. 

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MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Community members in Wisconsin continued to wrestle with grief and called for change in the aftermath of a school shooting that killed a teacher and a student and wounded six others.

Several hundred people gathered outside the Wisconsin State Capitol for a vigil Tuesday night to honor those slain at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison the day before, with some passing candles to each other and standing close against the winter chill.

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Among those in attendance was Naomi Allen, 16, who was in a nearby classroom Monday when a 15-year-old girl attacked people in a study hall before fatally shooting herself.

“It’s doesn’t matter who you are or where you are, something like this could happen. There’s nothing that is going to exempt someone,” Allen said at the vigil.

Allen’s father, Jay Allen, reflected on the dangers students face these days.

“When I was in school these things never happened,” he said. “This country at some point needs to take mental health seriously and we need to pour resources into it. We really need some changes in the way we handle that issue.”

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The motive for the shooting appears to be a “combination of factors,” Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said Tuesday as he appealed to the public to call in to a tip line and share what they might know about the shooter.

He offered no details about what that motive might be, though he said bullying at Abundant Life Christian School would be investigated. He also said police are investigating writings that may have been penned by the shooter, Natalie Rupnow, and could shed light on her actions.

“Identifying a motive is our top priority, but at this time it appears that the motive is a combination of factors,” Barnes told reporters.

Two students among the six people wounded Monday remain in critical condition. Officials have declined to disclose the names of the victims.

“Leave them alone,” Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said.

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.

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School shootings by teenage females have been extremely rare in U.S. history, with males in their teens and 20s carrying out the majority of them, said David Riedman, founder of the K-12 School Shooting Database.

Abundant Life is a nondenominational Christian school — prekindergarten through high school — with approximately 420 students. Barbara Wiers, the school’s director of elementary and school relations, said the school does not have metal detectors but uses cameras and other security measures.

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

The shooter’s parents, who are divorced, jointly shared custody of their child, but the shooter primarily lived with her 42-year-old father, according to court documents.

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.

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Madison resident Cristian Cuahutepitzi said he attended Tuesday’s vigil to let the families of the victims know “we’re thinking of them.” He said his uncle’s two daughters go to the school.

“They’re still a little bit shook,” he said.

Joe Gothard, the superintendent of the Madison Metropolitan School District, said at the vigil that the tragedy happened less than two blocks away from his childhood home. He said it wasn’t enough to say the district would work on safety.

“We need to connect like we are tonight, each and every day and make a commitment that we know we’re there for one another, hopefully to avoid preventable tragedies like yesterday,” he said.

A prayer service was also held Tuesday night at City Church Madison, which is affiliated with the school

Several teachers from the school prayed aloud one by one during the service, speaking into a microphone and standing in a line. One middle school teacher asked for courage, while another sought help quieting her own soul.

“God, this isn’t a Abundant Life Christian School tragedy,” said Derrick Wright, the youth pastor at the church. “This is a community tragedy. This is a nation tragedy.”

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

A Wisconsin woman who practiced midwifery without a license for more than a decade has been referred to prosecutors for potential criminal investigation, Brown County District Attorney David Lasee confirmed Tuesday.

Heather Baker, a 49-year old De Pere woman, marketed herself as a “traditional midwife” and traveled across the U.S. and Mexico to assist women with home births – despite being told to stop by Wisconsin’s licensing agency in 2014. 

As first reported by the Journal Sentinel and Green Bay Press-Gazette, the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services opened an investigation into Baker after 10 complaints were filed against her during a two-month span this summer. 

Several of the complaints suggest Baker’s practices may violate state regulations governing licensed midwives and standards of care accepted nationally by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Those practices include using drugs to delay or induce labor, discouraging ultrasounds and other prenatal care, and failing to transfer mothers to the hospital in potentially dangerous situations, according to the complaints.  

Baker did not respond to a request for comment.

Department of Safety and Professional Services spokesperson John Beard declined comment other than to say the department’s investigation is ongoing.

The complaints being investigated by the agency span incidents in Florida, Rhode Island and Mexico, including one regarding the death of Jennifer Nosek’s baby during her home birth in Sayulita, Mexico.

Nosek and her husband Rene Lemos, whose son was stillborn in April, are pursuing a case of criminal negligence against Baker in Mexico.

The couple allege in the lawsuit that “Baker’s negligent process as a pseudo-midwife” led several mothers to experience complications in their births due to the use of misoprostol — a drug used to treat postpartum hemorrhaging, and in some cases, to induce labor. 

A group of mothers in Mexico who filed complaints with Wisconsin regulators and helped gather evidence for Nosek’s lawsuit released a statement in response to Baker’s referral for potential criminal investigation.

“Our hope is that the irreparable damage she has caused can be brought to light, accountability can be sought through the justice system and more objective information about her services will become apparent in hope that future families are saved from the traumatic and tragic outcomes others have experienced at her hands,” the statement read.

Alyssa N. Salcedo is a data and investigative journalist pursuing her master’s in journalism at DePaul University. She can be reached at asalced4@depaul.edu. 

Jessica Van Egeren of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this article.