On Monday a 42-year-old substitute teacher and a 14-year-old girl were tragically shot and killed at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin.
Both were fatally shot Monday morning when fellow student Natalie “Samantha” Rupnow, age 15, opened fire inside the private Christian school in Madison before turning the gun on herself.
The 14-year-old freshman student is identified as Rubi Vergara and the substitute teacher is identified as Erin West.
Mourners attend a candlelight vigil outside the Wisconsin State Capitol on December 17
Photo courtesy Jeff M. Brown for ZUMA Press
Rubi Patricia Vergara
Vergara was remembered in her obituary as someone who loved to sing and play keyboard in the family worship band and who “shared a special bond with her beloved pets,” which included a dog and cat, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that cited an obituary.
She was also known as an avid reader who loved art.
The obituary said she will be “deeply missed” by her parents and brother, as well as several other relatives that she left behind.
Erin West, a substitute teacher at the school, was 42 years old
Abundant Life Christian School
A parent said, West, who is from the village of DeForest, was subbing in for a regular teacher who was away on vacation.
Lyndsay O’Connor, whose daughter and son are students at the school, said, “The teacher died protecting her class,” to Wisconsin Right Now.
“Many more lives could have been taken. She (Rupnow) sent off multiple rounds.”
An obituary was not immediately available for West.
Preliminary results from forensic autopsies show West and Vergara died from “homicidal firearm-related trauma,” the medical examiner’s office said.
Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes says officers recovered two handguns from Abundant Life Christian School. However, he says, it appears the 15-year-old shooter only used one of those guns to shoot others and herself. The other gun was not used, Barnes said in a Wednesday evening interview with WPR.
Five other students, including two hospitalized in critical condition, and one teacher were also wounded when Rupnow began firing inside a classroom during study hall.
Rupnow, who police said died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, had been in therapy because of her troubled home, according to court records obtained by the Washington Post.
She is one of just nine female shooters to carry out a school shooting since 1999, according to the publication Authorities are still trying to figure out her motive.
A funeral service for Vergara will be held at a Madison church on Saturday, which will be live-streamed for friends and family to view, according to the funeral home handling arrangements.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and loved ones, students, teachers, and all of those at Abundant Life Christian School as well as the community in Madison.
Please keep the other students and the teacher who were also shot that morning in your prayers.
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