Overview

The 2024 Madison, Wisconsin School Shooting refers to a December 2024 school shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin, that left two people dead and several injured, which was committed by 15-year-old Natalie "Samantha" Rupnow, also referred to online as the Wisconsin Femcel Shooter by many, referencing the slang term "femcel." Following the incident, the shooter left a manifesto on Google Drive that could not be accessed due to sharing permissions but was later made public via the shooter's online boyfriend. The shooting became a viral subject of discussions on social media in mid-December 2024. It was rumored that the shooter was inspired by radical feminist, misandrist Twitter / X user RadFem Hitler per a Discord screenshot; however, the screenshot that alleged the claim was questioned and ultimately unconfirmed.

Background

On December 16th, 2024, 15-year-old student Natalie "Samantha" Rupnow, opened fire with a 9mm handgun in a study hall at Abundant Life Christian School in Wisconsin, killing a student and a substitute teacher and injuring six other people. She then took her own life by a self-inflicted gunshot.^[1]

Shortly before the shooting, Natalie Lynn Rupnow, who went by the name Samantha, posted a photograph of herself making an OK symbol in a bathroom stall to her X account @Postalbrained.^[2] In the reply to the post, she posted a link to a manifesto on her Google Drive, with access to it unavailable due to the privacy settings not being set to public (post shown below).

In the comments of the post, X^[3] user @PETR0GRAD, a purported online acquaintance of Rupnow, posted her selfie photograph (shown below).

Rumored RadFem Hitler Inspiration

Also on December 16th, 2024, X^[4] user @PETR0GRAD shared a screenshot of her alleged Discord account, which used the handle crossixir, also used by Rupnow on other social media. Additionally, @PETR0GRAD shared a screenshot of what was thought to be an excerpt from her locked manifesto, which mentioned radical feminist X account @hollowearthterf, better known as RadFemHitler, which was later confirmed to be fake.^[4]

Later on December 16th, X^[12] user @null0femm quote tweeted the abovementioned post, showing an alleged message from @PETR0GRAD revealing that they faked the screenshot because they hated RadFem Hitler, gaining over 200 likes in a day (shown below). The rumored RadFem Hitler inspiration also wasn't corroborated by @Slatzism's alleged manifesto.^[9]

The rumor inspired memes online as it spread. For instance, on December 16th, X^[13] user @MatthewTheStoat tweeted an I'll Handle Them, Mr. President meme showing the Wisconsin shooter saying, "I'll handle them, Ms. Hitler," receiving over 16,000 likes in a day (shown below).

Developments

Manifesto

Later on December 16th, 2024, Reduxx co-founder and Editor-in-Chief Anna Slatz posted on her X account @Slatzism claiming that she contacted Rupnow's boyfriend, who shared her alleged manifesto, which she sent to him shortly before the shooting.^[5] In the six-page long manifesto, titled "War Against Humanity," Rupnow purportedly wrote about her disappointment in and contempt for humanity, referring to most people as "scum," and expressed admiration with school shooters Pekka Eric Auvinen, Arda Küçükyetim and Vladislav Roslyakov.

Rupnow called for "public executions," referred to herself as "part of the real thought and the real revolution," and made racist remarks. Rupnow wrote that nobody was aware of her plan to commit a school shooting and that she got access to her father's handgun through "lies, manipulation, and my father's stupidity." She called her parents "scum" and wrote that she didn't trust them.

According to Reuters, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said on December 17th that investigators were looking into online posts and a "possible manifesto" that the shooter might've left behind.^[8] "We have been made aware of a manifesto," Barnes said. "If you want to call it that, or some type of letter that’s been posted by someone who alleged to be her friend."

The topic of X^[9] user @Slatzism watermarking the documents she claimed were part of the shooter's manifesto subsequently became a prominent topic online amid discourse about the school shooting in mid-December 2024.^[10]

For example, X^[11] user @RobertSkvarla replied to Slatzism's tweet releasing the alleged manifesto on December 16th and expressed that choosing to watermark it was something that the writers of the TV series Black Mirror would find "too obvious." The tweet received over 177,000 views, 8,100 likes and 580 retweets in 15 hours.

Online Reactions

Natalie Rupnow, frequently referred to online as "femcel shooter" due to the viral spread of the fake excerpt in which she purportedly subscribed to radical feminist views, became a viral subject of discussions online following the December 16th, 2024, shooting. Notably, Rupnow's failure to make her manifesto accessible to the public became a subject of memes (example^[6] shown below).

A June 2023 post by X user @TaoistShelby that made a prediction that in the following two years, there would be a femcel mass shooter that mentioned radical feminist influencer RadFemHitler in her manifesto went viral following the shooting (example post^[7] shown below).

Search Interest

External References