Troubled past, violent end: Unraveling Natalie Rupnow's tragedy

On December 16, in Madison, Wisconsin, USA, 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow shot herself at the private Abundant Life Christian School. Earlier, the teenager had opened fire on her peers and teachers, killing two people and injuring six others. The assailant died on the way to the hospital.

A "manifesto" attributed to Natalie Rupnow, who also used the name "Samantha," appeared on the X portal. As reported by the BBC, on December 17, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes was aware of the document's existence, but its authenticity had not yet been confirmed. Anna Slatz published it from the Reduxx portal, who claimed to have received it from Natalie Rupnow's online boyfriend. The couple was said to have been in an online relationship for two years and had never met in person.

Reduxx is a portal that mainly publishes transphobic and racist content. This both questions the credibility of Slatz as a source and increases the likelihood of her reaching someone close to Rupnow, who in the six-page "manifesto" attributed to her also expressed hateful, racist, and xenophobic beliefs.

The alleged manifesto of Natalie Rupnow explains the reasons for her decision in a very chaotic, emotionally charged way. Opening fire at the school was, for the 15-year-old, a form of extended suicide. She wrote: "I planned to shoot myself a while ago, but I thought maybe this [mass shooting] would be better for evolution than one stupid, boring suicide...". Rupnow stated: "I got the gun thanks to my father's lies, manipulation, and stupidity."

On the teenager's father's Facebook page, Jeff Rupnow, a photo from August shows a person with long hair, wearing protective headphones, aiming a gun at a target from behind. One observer asked Rupnow: "Is that your kid?", to which he replied: "Sure! We joined the NBSC this spring and love every second of it!". NBSC seems to refer to the North Bristol Sportsman's Club, a shooting range in Wisconsin.

In the alleged manifesto, Natalie Rupnow described her relationship with her parents as poor. According to the 15-year-old, both had problems with psychoactive substances and showed her mainly indifference or dislike. Rupnow described symptoms of depression and panic attacks, to which her mother supposedly did not respond. She wrote about her father: "My dad always points out my failures in school or when I can't get out of bed because I don't want to go out."

According to the alleged manifesto, Natalie Rupnow was "mocked and bullied" at school. She wrote: "They always picked on me for being different, as if being quiet was unusual or too weird for them or something like that." She added: "I changed schools and what? They still pick on me, and it's not improving." Rupnow had no hope for change, stating: "I know this will always happen everywhere in my life, but it's still frustrating."

In the document, Rupnow also listed people who were a direct "inspiration" for what she did. About 18-year-old Pekka-Eric Auvinen, who killed eight people in a school shooting in Finland in 2007, she wrote: "I was born on November 7, 2009, exactly two years after Pekka's attack. Amazing, isn't it?". Rupnow called Arda K., who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Turkey for stabbing five people in August 2024, a "true saint." The teenager also listed Vladislav Roslyakov, Eric Harris, Dylan Klebold, and other teenage mass murderers.

The mass shooting in Madison was the 488th this year in the USA, according to the Gun Violence Archive portal, which collects data on this type of homicide. For many years, this number has translated to an average of two shootings every day. Nevertheless, the United States has failed to enact federal laws restricting access to firearms, which can be purchased in supermarkets there.