Madison school shooting: Father of teen in court, bond set at $20K

MADISON, Wis. - The father of a teen who opened fire at a Madison school in December, killing two people and wounding six others, made his first court appearance on Friday.

Father charged

In Court:

Prosecutors accuse 42-year-old Jeffrey Rupnow of buying guns for his daughter that were used in the shooting at Abundant Life Christian School. He’s charged with two counts of intentionally giving a dangerous weapon to a minor and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a child.

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Rupnow’s bond was set at $20,000 on Friday. If he posts bail, he will be under GPS monitoring, cannot buy or possess firearms, and must stay away from, and have no contact with, Abundant Life Christian School. 

What they're saying:

Jeffrey Rupnow's attorney, Bruce Davey, said in court that his client would not be able to post $20,000 in bail, saying "he's not a wealthy man." Davey noted that he has no prior criminal history, cooperated with the investigation, has lived in the area his whole life and needs to work at his job to pay his bills and keep his house.

"There’s no reason to hold him in jail," Davey said. Davey asked for him to be released on a signature bond, which requires the posting of no money.

Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne asked for $100,000, noting the seriousness of the shooting and the pending charges. He mentioned that a victim from the shooting was in the courtroom. He did not name the victim. The proceedings were held in a jail courtroom and viewable only via a Zoom teleconference. The victim was not visible on camera.

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"This is unprecedented and we do have two deceased," Ozanne said. "We have multiple gunshot victims. It’s the defendants actions, inactions, that contributed to this incident."

Court Commissioner Scott McAndrew said he did not want to set a cash bail so high that Rupnow could not pay it but wasn't comfortable with a signature bond given the seriousness of the offenses.

What's next:

Rupnow is due back in court next month.

Shooting at Abundant Life

The backstory:

The 15-year-old shooter entered Abundant Life Christian School and opened fire in a study hall on Dec. 16, 2024. She killed teacher Erin Michelle West and 14-year-old student Rubi Vergara and injured six others before she killed herself.

According to the complaint, investigators recovered 20 shell casings from the study hall where she opened fire. They also recovered a 9 mm Glock handgun that Rupnow had purchased for his daughter from the room and a .22-caliber Sig Sauer pistol from a bag the girl was carrying, the complaint says. Rupnow had given that gun to her as a Christmas present in 2023, the complaint says.

Also in the bag were three magazines loaded with .22 ammunition and a 50-round box of 9 mm ammunition. She wore a black T-shirt emblazoned with a bull's-eye during the attack.

Police say one student remains hospitalized.

Parents charged

Big picture view:

Rupnow is the latest parent to be criminally charged for mass violence caused by their child.

• Last year, the mother and father of a school shooter in Michigan who killed four students in 2021 were each convicted of involuntary manslaughter. The mother was the first parent in the U.S. to be held responsible for a child carrying out a mass school attack.
• The father of a 14-year-old boy accused of fatally shooting four people at a Georgia high school was arrested in September and faces charges including second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter for letting his son possess a weapon.
• In 2023, the father of a man charged in a deadly Fourth of July parade shooting in suburban Chicago pleaded guilty to seven misdemeanors related to how his son obtained a gun license.

FOX6 News talked to a Wisconsin law professor about how prosecutors were able to charge Rupnow and other parents.

"There’s a growing sense that the parent or the guardian does bear some responsibility," said John Gross, an associate clinical professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School.

Gross said, as more prosecutors extend responsibility to parents in such cases, criminal law could change.

"How profoundly impactful these school shootings are," he said, "looking around to try to find some justice for this community."

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