Court records say that a California man was plotting with Wisconsin school shooter Natalie “Samantha” Rupnow on a coordinated attack.
According to KFMB, a gun violence restraining order was filed against 20-year-old Alexander Paffendorf in Carlsbad, California, and police swarmed his home shortly after the order was signed. The order is a civil action and not a criminal one, but it does allow authorities to seize Pallendorf’s weapons.
Neighbors said about a dozen police vehicles were on the scene.
“I saw them carrying out the big box,” neighbor Alex Gallegos said. “I didn’t see them arrest anybody, but they gave high-fives as it came to an end.”
According to the court document, Paffendorf told FBI agents that he was texting with Rupnow.
“During an FBI interview, Paffendorf admitted to the FBI agents that he told Rupnow that he would arm himself with explosives and a gun and that he would target a government building,”the order says.
The order says that agents “saw the messages from Paffendorf to Rupnow” but does not say if they saw messages from Rupnow to Paffendorf. The order also does not say what government building Paffendorf planned to attack or when. And the order does not say what alerted them to Paffendorf.
According to WTMJ, a hearing on the matter has been set for January 3.
Rupnow, a 15-year-old student at Madison’s Abundant Life Christian School, opened fire Monday morning in a multi-grade study hall, killing a student and a teacher and wounding five other students and a teacher. She then turned the weapon on herself. While police have refused to identify Rupnow’s victims, the family of 14-year-old freshman Rubi Patricia Vergara released on obituary for their daughter Wednesday night, as CrimeOnline reported, and the Dane County medical examiner’s office identified the teacher killed as Erin Michelle West, 42, The Associated Press reported.
Abundant Life’s communications director, Barbara Wiers, said in a statement that Vergara had attended the school since kindergarten and West was a substitute teacher for three years before accepting a position as substitute coordinator and in-house substitute teacher.
Two of the wounded students remained in critical condition.
Meanwhile, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said investigators are still pouring over records and interviewing survivors in an attempt to determine Rupnow’s motive — and that Rupnow brought two guns into the school on Monday.
“I do not know if if she planned it that day or if she planned it a week prior,” Barnes said. “To me, bringing a gun to school to hurt people is planning. And so we don’t know what the premeditation is.”
Authorities are also still working to determine how the teen got her hands on the guns. She is seen skeet shooting in photos posted on her father’s Facebook page, but Barnes said no decisions have been taken to charge either of her parents, who were divorced, in the shooting. Both are said to be cooperating with the investigation.
Jeffrey and Melissa Rupnow shared custody of their daughter, but she lived primarily with her father, court records say.
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[Featured image: Erin Michelle West/Abundant Life Christian School and Rubi Patricia Vergara/Gunderson Funeral and Cremation Care]
