Troubled youth: Natalie Rupnow's path to tragedy

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

A "manifesto" attributed to Natalie Rupnow, who also went by the name "Samantha," appeared on the X portal. As reported by the BBC, on 17th December, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes was aware of the document's existence, though its authenticity had not yet been confirmed. It was published by Anna Slatz 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 without having met in person.

Reduxx is a portal known for publishing content described as transphobic and racist. This questions Slatz's credibility as a source but also 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 her reasons for the attack in a chaotic, emotionally negative manner. For her, the school shooting was 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 her 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. 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 strained. According to the 15-year-old, both parents had problems with psychoactive substances and mainly showed her 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 getting any better." 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 her actions. Regarding 18-year-old Pekka-Eric Auvinen, who killed eight people in a school shooting in Finland in 2007, she wrote: "I was born on 7th November 2009, exactly two years after Pekka's attack. Amazing, isn't it?" Rupnow referred to Arda K., who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Turkey for stabbing five people in August 2024, as 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 has translated to an average of two shootings daily. Nevertheless, the United States has failed to pass federal laws restricting access to firearms, which can be purchased in supermarkets there.