Parents and community members scrambled for quick answers Monday after police said an Abundant Life Christian School student shot and killed a fellow student and a teacher and injured six other students, two seriously.
Police found the gunman dead at the scene, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said.
These numbers only begin to describe the emotional and psychological toll of what the community has experienced.
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“We know this was the middle of a school day, and so there are going to be more injuries that we’re going to have to deal with for a long, long time, and we’re going to do everything we can as we can.” community to heal those injuries as well,” Barnes said.
“We owe it to our community to do everything we can to make sure it is not only a special place, but a safe place, and we will continue to do that,” Barnes said moments later.
Approximately 335 students are enrolled at K-12 Abundant Life Christian School.
City buses carrying children traveled to and from the nearby SSM Clinic at 1821 South Stoughton Rd., which served as a reunification point for parents. A couple, who looked like a mother and father, held a young girl as they got into their pickup truck. The woman, visibly emotional, approached nearby officers guarding the perimeter and thanked them before leaving.
Panic, uncertainty and shock have permeated the community.
Michelet Jean-Charles heard sirens for almost half an hour this morning. He works at Bou Matic, a production company near the school. His boss said it was a school shooting. Panic immediately arose. Jean-Charles has a ninth grader and twin boys in sixth grade at school. A colleague took him across the street to the reunification center. “I couldn’t (walk on my own), you know, I was shaking,” he said. “I cried. I have cried before, but this was a different cry, because I never thought my children would be safe.” Two hours passed before Jean-Charles received word that all three of his children were safe. They hugged each other in the clinic. They cried. Then they prayed.
Troy Regge lives about three blocks from the school. Many in the area send their children to the school, he said. “Nothing like this has ever happened in the area,” he said. “It’s a sad situation all around.”
Shannon Moungey lives about 15 minutes away in Stoughton and said the shooting was “a very sad situation so close to Christmas.”
“Kiss your loved ones extra, extra tonight,” Moungey said, adding that she has friends whose children go to school.
‘Fortunately they are safe. They are quite upset and will be going through a lot of trauma because of this.”
Moungey said she was surprised this happened in this area.
“It’s kind of close to home,” Moungey said. “You see this more and more every day and that is a shame. You see this on TV and you never think this is going to happen in your area, and unfortunately that happened for us today.”
When asked how the community can move past this moment, Moungey said, “This is going to be a long process for many, I think. The parents who come to pick up their kids, I can’t even imagine how they feel or how they felt until I was able to get to them.”
Parent Bethany Highman said her daughter attends school at Abundant Life. Highman declined to give her daughter’s name or age. She said she called her child briefly earlier in the day to find out she was doing well. She was unsure about next steps, but said she planned to support her daughter through community and prayer. ‘Your world stands still for a moment. Nothing else matters,” she said. “We just wait and pray.”
Less than seven months earlier, a 14-year-old brought a pellet gun to Mount Horeb Middle School, where he attended school 25 miles west of Madison. The student pointed the gun at officers, who were fatally shot after being told to drop his weapon. He was the only casualty, no other physical injuries were reported.
School shootings cause ongoing trauma for children and parents
The Office of Children’s Mental Health published a fact sheet in April reporting a disturbing spike in school shootings in Wisconsin. Between 1970 and 2022, Wisconsin has experienced 27 school shootings, but the vast majority of those, nearly 60%, occurred in the last eight years.
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According to the state agency under the Department of Health, children who survive shootings are twice as likely to develop pain disorders, 68% more likely to be diagnosed with a mental illness and 144% more likely to develop a substance use disorder than children who survive shootings. those who have not endured a shooting.
But it is not isolated to the survivors. Parents of shooting survivors are more likely to have psychiatric disorders and mental health visits than parents who did not have a child exposed to gun violence.
The Office of Children’s Mental Health recommends increasing anti-bullying programs, promoting a culture of help-seeking and increasing awareness of warning signs.
Warning signs to look out for
Trish Kilpin, director of the state Office of Student Safety, told the Journal Sentinel in May after the Mount Horeb shooting to be alert if students start talking about school violence or researching previous school shootings and previous acts of violence. Obsessions with death and a lack of positivity can sometimes indicate problems.
Changes in behavior, outlook on life, and how a person dresses can be clues that something is wrong.
“Assessing behavioral threats looks at the totality of a person’s circumstances, all of their protective factors, their stressors, and any indicators of behavioral problems,” Kilpin said. “But in order to do that, we have to report these things. We can’t connect the dots if we don’t collect the dots.”
Kilpin encourages anyone with a tip to contact Speak Up, Speak Out or SUSO, at www.speakup.widoj.gov.
A DHS spokesperson encouraged anyone who wants to talk to contact the Disaster Distress Helpline by calling or texting 800-985-5990. They can also connect to additional resources on the website.
Families and teens can also contact mental health services by calling 211. If you or someone you know is in crisis or need, call or text 988.
This article originally appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Uncertainty and panic after deadly school shooting in Madison
