Abundant Life Christian School shooting in Madison: Teen student, teacher killed; 6 students hurt

(MADISON, Wis.) — A teacher and teenage student were killed and six students were hurt in a shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin, on Monday, police said.

Police had briefly mentioned a higher death toll but later revised the information.

The suspect, a student at the school, is also dead, police said. The teenage suspect used a handgun, police said.

The teen suspect was female, multiple law enforcement officials told ABC News.

A motive is not clear, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said at a news conference.

Of the six injured students, two are in critical condition with life-threatening injuries, Barnes said. Four other students suffered non-life-threatening injuries, he said.

Officers responded to the active shooter report around 10:57 a.m. The suspect was dead upon police arrival and no officers fired their weapons, Barnes said.

The shooting was “confined to one space,” but it’s not clear if it was a classroom or hallway, the chief said.

“I never saw so many police cars in my life — just blue and red lights lining the school, lining the streets. Fire department, paramedics, everybody was there,” swarming the usually quiet neighborhood, John Diaz De Leon told ABC News Live.

He said he saw officers with long guns at the scene and older students run from the school across the parking lot.

“Later on, very slowly in a more orderly fashion, the younger students holding hands were let out to go across the parking lot,” he said.

The school has been cleared, Barnes said. There’s no danger to the community, he said.

The suspect’s family is cooperating, the police chief said.

Officials are working to reunite students with their parents. About 390 students from kindergarten through 12th grade attend the school.

President Joe Biden called the incident “shocking and unconscionable” in a statementMonday evening that called on Congress to act, “now.”

He insisted that they pass “commonsense” gun safety laws including universal background checks, a national red flag law and a ban on both assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

“It is unacceptable that we are unable to protect our children from this scourge of gun violence,” the statement said, adding, “We cannot continue to accept it as normal.

Biden also mentioned his administration’s efforts to combat the gun violence epidemic in the United States, including the implementation of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, while stating that more needed to be done and offering his prayers to those affected in Madison.

The Madison police chief said he began his career as a teacher.

“We owe it to our community to do everything possible to ensure [schools are] not only a special place, but a safe place,” he said.

“I hoped that this day would never come in Madison,” Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said.

She stressed the need for gun violence prevention and said she wants the community and country to make sure “no public official ever has to stand in this position again.”

Jill Underly, Wisconsin’s superintendent of public instruction, also emphasized the need for change, saying in a statement, “This tragedy is a stark reminder that we must do more to protect our children and our educators to ensure that such horrors never happen again. We will not rest until we find solutions that make our schools safe.”

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said in a statement, “There are no words to describe the devastation and heartbreak we feel,” calling the shooting a “gut-wrenching tragedy.”

Evers said he and his wife are “praying for the families and loved ones of those whose lives were so senselessly taken and for the educators, staff, and the entire Abundant Life school community.”

“It is unthinkable that a kid or an educator might wake up and go to school one morning and never come home,” he said. “This should never happen, and I will never accept this as a foregone reality or stop working to change it.”

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.