New details emerge as the search for a motive drives Wisconsin school shooting investigation

The Abundant Life Christian School remains a crime scene Thursday as detectives search for a motive in the deadly Monday morning shooting carried out by a student and probe her possible links to a man who – according to an Associated Press report – authorities believe was planning another mass shooting in California.

(CNN) — The Abundant Life Christian School remains a crime scene Thursday as detectives search for a motive in the deadly Monday morning shooting carried out by a student and probe her possible links to a man who – according to an Associated Press report – authorities believe was planning another mass shooting in California. The campus remains closed as investigators comb through social media and documents to understand how 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow, who went by Samantha, got a firearm used in the killings at the private school in Madison, Wisconsin. Rupnow used a handgun to carry out the attack, authorities said. The handgun and a second gun not used in the attack were found at the scene, Madison police said Wednesday. The US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has traced the origins of the weapons, but police won’t provide further information on the guns, “as it could jeopardize our investigation,” a police statement said. Teacher Erin Michelle West, 42, of DeForest, and student Rubi Patricia Vergara, 14, of Madison, were both pronounced dead at the scene, the Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office said in a news release Wednesday. Six people were injured. Two students with life-threatening injuries remain hospitalized, while four other people with minor injuries were discharged, the Madison Police Department said in a release Wednesday. The tragedy is one of more than 80 school shootings across the United States this year – surpassing 2023 for the most in a single year since CNN began tracking such incidents in 2008.