Madison, Wisconsin Shooting Case’s Natalie Rupnow Isn’t A Transgender As She Was Born As A Girl
Only hours after the fatal assault, there were social media posts making assumptions about the gender of the shooter at Abundant Life Christian School.
A 15-year-old girl, identified by authorities as Natalie Rupnow, opened fire on a Madison, Wisconsin, K–12 school, killing a teacher and a classmate.
highlights
- Natalie Rupnow opened fire, killing a teacher and a classmate and wounding six others before unaliving herself.
- On social media, unverified statements on Rupnow’s gender identity went viral, incorrectly identifying her as transgender despite the lack of supporting data.
- Police Chief Shon Barnes urged the people to put aside their prejudices and focus on Rupnow’s gender identification, which had no bearing on the inquiry.
Rupnow entered the school with a gun and started shooting, killing a teacher and a teenage student and wounding six others.
With potentially fatal injuries, two of the injured pupils are in critical condition.
Natalie ‘Samantha’ Rupnow and some 390 students in kindergarten through 12 attended the school.
Natalie now was allegedly called transgender
It is not known if Natalie, who also went by Samantha, was transgender or not.
In a post from December 16, 2024, @jackunheard stated:
“🚨BREAKING: The Wisconsin school sh**ter has been identified as a 17-year-old male who identifies as trans.”
It seems that unsupported statements regarding Rupnow that have since been removed may have also been made by other users.
There was no evidence to support these posts on Rupnow’s gender identity.
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They were produced soon after the incident, only the claim and no other information.
Other false information or anti-trans stuff may be found on several of the accounts that shared these falsehoods.
Although this does not prove the veracity of other assertions, it may question their objectivity and trustworthiness.
Following the incident, a police news conference brought up these rumors.
Well, she was born as a girl. It’s evident in Jeff Rupnow’s facebook post, where he has shared a picture of Natalie as a baby girl.
Police Chief Says He Does Not Know If Natalie Was Transgender
When police chief Shon Barnes was asked about the gender of the gunman in an interview with reporters hours after the incident, he became the focus of a heated social media controversy.
Before killing herself, the gunman, Natalie Rupnow, 15, who also went by Samantha, opened fire in a study hall.
Critics say Barnes prioritized “wokeness” over clarity in his treatment of the pronoun dilemma during the news conference, which caused controversy.
Madison, WI police chief says he doesn’t know if the shooter was transgender and then uses he, she, and they pronouns to describe the shooter. Very odd and bizarre… pic.twitter.com/LNbcvaYpUM
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) December 17, 2024
Barnes said in response to the question of whether the shooter was transgender,
“I don’t know whether the shooter was transgender or not.”
Whatever occurred today, in my opinion, has nothing to do with how she, he, or they would have wished to identify.
Additionally, I wish people would put aside their prejudices in this situation.
He stated,
“Whether or not she was, he was, they were transgender is something that may come out later but for what we’re doing right now, today, literally eight hours after a mass shooting in a school in Madison, it is of no consequence at this time.”
Additional Information
- A second-grade student called 911 at 10:57 a.m. to report a shooting at school.
- The motivation behind the shooting is unknown, and police think there was just one shooter.
- A handgun was recovered from the scene.
