Authorities have identified the victims of the shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin as Rubi Vergara, a 14-year-old student, and Erin West, a 42-year-old teacher.
West and Vergara, whose identities were confirmed Wednesday evening by the Dane County Medical Examiner’s office, were killed in the shooting at the private elementary school on Monday. Police said the shooter, a 15-year-old student, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
West had been a substitute teacher at Abundant Life for three years before becoming the school’s in-house substitute teacher and coordinator, the school said in a statement.
“ALCS is a better school for Erin West’s work,” the school said. “She served our teachers and students with grace, humor, wisdom and, most importantly, with the love of Jesus. Her loss is painful and deep and she will be deeply missed, not only by our staff, but by our entire ALCS family.”
West was also a mother. One student told CNN that West was “so excited to see her daughters grow up and what they would become and do with their lives.”
Vergara had attended the school since kindergarten and was in 9th grade this year. “Her gentle, loving and kind heart was reflected in her smile. Rubi was a blessing to her class and to our school. She was not only a good friend, but also a very big sister,” the school said.
An obituary on a local funeral home website described Vergara as an avid reader who loved art and music. Vergara’s funeral service will take place on Saturday.
Teacher Erin West, left, and student Rubi Patricia Vergara.
Six others – a teacher and five students – were injured in the shooting. Two of the students suffered life-threatening injuries, police said.
Investigators have not yet determined a motive for the shooting. The FBI arrested California man Alexander Paffendorf late Tuesday and temporarily seized his weapons after it emerged he plotted a separate mass shooting with the Wisconsin school shooter. Court documents provided no details about their alleged plans.
According to NBC News: “It is not clear whether there will be criminal charges in this case. A spokesperson for the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. …A phone number for Paffendorf or his family was could not immediately be found in the public records on Wednesday.”
School shootings in the US have increased sharply in recent years, but data shows that female shooters are rare. Some parents of Abundant Life students told The Washington Post that they enrolled their children there thinking it would be safer than a larger public school.
There have been 327 shootings on school property so far this year, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database, which defines school shootings as “when a gun is fired, brandished (intentionally aimed at a person) or a bullet is fired into school property ends up. , regardless of the number of victims, the time, the day or the reason.”
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
