The father of the suspect in the Madison School shooting was ordered to stand trial for providing the assailant with the guns that were used in the incident that killed two people.
The defendant was identified as 43-year-old Jeffrey Rupnow, whose attorney is arguing that he could not be held responsible for his daughter's actions on the day of the shooting or the fact that he was the one who bought the guns she used in the attack.
Father of School Shooter Stands Trial
Rupnow appeared for his preliminary hearing in Dane County Circuit Court on July 24 wearing a black suit. He is charged with two felony counts of intent to sell a dangerous weapon to a person under 18 and one felony count of contributing to the delinquency of a child.
The defendant's attorney, Lisa Goldman, argued that Rupnow did not physically hand his 15-year-old daughter, Natalie Rupnow, the guns that were used in the Dec. 16, 2024, shooting. This is the reason she claims makes her client not liable for the freshman's actions of taking them to Abundant Life Christian School, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The attorney said that the state's argument against Rupnow presumes that by telling his daughter the gun safe combination, he gave her a weapon. However, she argued that this was not what the law says about the definition of give.
Despite this and other arguments, Dane County Court Commissioner John Rome still found sufficient evidence to move Rupnow's case to trial. The defendant's attorney said that at the time of the shooting, her client was at work on the west side of Madison.
Giving His Daughter Guns
While the two guns that were used in the shooting were legally purchased in Rupnow's name, he told investigators that he gave them to his daughter as gifts. While the teenage girl brought both handguns to her school, she only used one to perform the crime, WPR reported.
The case stems from the teenage girl open firing at Abundant Life Christian School last year, killing teacher Erin Michelle West and 14-year-old student Rubi Vergara. She also injured six other people before eventually killing herself by shooting her own head.
At the time, investigators recovered a 9 mm Glock handgun from the room where the suspect died as well as a .22-caliber Sig Sauer pistol from a bag that she was carrying. It also had three magazines that were loaded with .22 ammunition and a 50-round box of 9 mm ammunition, as per PBS Wisconsin.
