AILSA CHANG, HOST:
There has been another deadly mass shooting at a school in this country, this one in Madison, Wisconsin, at the private K-12 called Abundant Life Christian School. Authorities say three people lost their lives, including the suspected shooter. A student and several others were injured. Sarah Lehr of Wisconsin Public Radio is in Madison and has been following the story and joins us now. Hi, Sarah.
SARAH LEHR, BYLINE: Hello.
CHANG: Hi. So what do you know so far about how this tragedy unfolded?
LEHR: Police and other local officials have been briefing reporters throughout the day today, and what we know so far is that a 911 call came in shortly before 11 a.m. Monday of an active shooting at the school. The Madison Police Department actually has been hosting emergency response trainings for a while. So even today, the city's police chief, Shon Barnes, says a special team of medics was holding a training about three miles from the school, and when the 911 call came in, what began as a training quickly became an actual incident.
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SHON BARNES: The protocols are simple. Stop the killing, stop the dying, find out who's doing this.
LEHR: When officers arrived, the suspected shooter was dead of what's believed to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
CHANG: And what do we know so far about the suspected shooter?
LEHR: The investigation is still ongoing, so there's a lot that investigators are still withholding about the shooter right now. They haven't released the shooter's name or age at this time, but they say the suspected shooter was a teenager who attended the school. The biggest question obviously is - why did this happen? And, really, the shooter's motivation is still unknown at this time. That's something that investigators say they're still trying to piece together as they process the crime scene and interview witnesses.
CHANG: Well, how has the community been responding?
LEHR: This has been devastating. Abundant Life is a small school. There's 200-some families who send their children there. It's a private school in Wisconsin's state capital in Madison, which is southern Wisconsin. Earlier this afternoon, my colleague spoke with a mother who is waiting to be reunited with a daughter, a student at Abundant Life. She was able to FaceTime with her daughter, verify that she's OK, but she said, as a parent, it's just so difficult to talk about this type of violence with your children. The mayor of Madison, where the shooting took place, Satya Rhodes-Conway, is offering condolences and support to families who are affected.
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SATYA RHODES-CONWAY: The most important thing right now is to make sure that we are centering the victims and their families and that we are doing whatever we can to support them.
LEHR: The mayor says she hopes this day was something that would never come to pass. Unfortunately, it did, and she's among the local leaders here who say more needs to be done to prevent gun violence.
CHANG: Yeah. Well, what is next in the investigation at this point?
LEHR: Police have seized a handgun. They say that's the gun that was used in the shooting. They also say they've made contact with the family of the suspected shooter, and so far, they say the family is cooperating. Officers are executing search warrants, and the city's police chief says they are going to be interviewing students who witnessed the shooting, but he also said there's not a rush, that students can come forward when they're ready. And he emphasized that anyone who is in that building today was a victim and is going to have lifelong trauma to deal with.
CHANG: That is Sarah Lehr of Wisconsin Public Radio. Thank you so much, Sarah.
LEHR: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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