Would charges have been brought in Waupaca County?
We don’t have an opinion on everything. It just seems that way. We’re pleased that the new Pope was raised in Chicago and educated in the U.S. but he is not “an American cardinal” as some have written. He is or was a cardinal archbishop in Peru. We do hope his selection jump starts a return to faith. Might even penetrate the Stately Manor.
What grinds our gizzard this beautiful day in May are the criminal charges brought against the father of that poor 15-year-old girl who committed suicide after killing two and injuring six at a private religious school here 12-16-24 in Madison WI. We are on record as demanding accountability for the parents of law breakers but this case gives us pause. Jeffrey Rupnow is charged with contributing to the delinquency of a child and providing a dangerous weapon to that child — felonies. Seems a bit of a stretch.
According to the thorough report in the Wisconsin State Journal, the poor girls’ father fully cooperated with police. He appears to be a hard-working single father who did the best he could for his only child.
On the day of the shooting, [Jeffrey] Rupnow left for work between 3:30 a.m. and 4 a.m. and sent a Facetime message to his daughter later in the morning to make sure she was going to school.
More than my old man ever did! The young teenager was troubled by her parents’ divorce two years earlier. Dad seemed to connect with daughter at the shooting range — as many parents do. Kept the weapons in a gun safe. The combination, he told her, was his social security number backwards, but never told her the SS number. (Wisconsin is one of 26 states that have a safe gun storage law but applies it to minors younger than 14 and only if the gun is used criminally.)
Maybe dad drank too much. Maybe he was stupid and naive as daughter Natalie had written. (Aren’t they all at that age!) But those thoughts were secreted in her bedroom. Contrast that with the precedent to this case.
Ignored his cry for help
James and Jennifer Crumbley were sentenced in April 2024 to up to 15 years each after their son shot up his school in Michigan, killing four and wounding six. They were the first parents convicted in such circumstances.
“It seemed a huge reach to try to hold the parents responsible,” a law professor told The New York Times. “This was new legal territory.”
But the kid — also age 15 — did everything but take out an infomercial on cable TV crying for help. The morning of his attack, teachers found violent drawings on which he wrote “My life is useless,” “Blood everywhere,” and “The thoughts won’t stop. Help me.”
The school called a meeting with his parents. They never disclosed that Ethan Crumbley had access to a weapon. Didn’t want to take him out of school and get mental health care. Didn’t want to miss work! (SNARK ALERT: Now they’re missing work!) School returned the kid to the classroom. Never checked his backpack. Would have found the gun.
Blaska’s Bottom Line: We do have some empathy for Mr. Rupnow. In addition to the shame he carries for the tragedy at Abundant Life School, he grieves the loss of a daughter that he obviously loved. Would the felony charges against him have been filed in a less progressive jurisdiction than Dane County? How many parents of teen gang bangers get charged?
10 responses to “Is the Madison school shooter’s father guilty?”
Don’t stop with gun crimes; charge parents when their kid maims or kills someone while driving.
Not only is giving minor children a gun stupid, it’s against the law. According to the paper, they both considered the .22 caliber “her gun.” Information on the 9 mm was contradictory about whether it was in the gun safe or hidden under a bed as a future present. Either way, it was plainly his intention to arm a 15-year-old with two handguns. A 15-year-old that was already harming herself and threatening suicide (however casually.) And while it might seem admirable for Dad to be so involved in his daughter’s newfound interest in shooting, his interest seemed selective. I have to wonder if he ever went into his daughter’s room to see what it is she is reading and writing about. Did he ever question her detailed maps of the crime scene? How about the scale model of the room where the shooting happened? Her manifesto of hate was in her room in a spiral notebook (presumedly without a lock.) This goes beyond being unaware.
Well argued. But my read is that the girl never had unsupervised control of “her gun.” I had a savings account in my son’s name but he never controlled it until he was of age. As far as a girl’s bedroom goes … even mothers dare not enter. In any event, dad may not have been Jim Anderson in Father Knows Best but was he criminal?
In the report I heard, her father was aware that she had voiced suicidal ideation; he reportedly said he thought it was “not too serious.” Just how serious does a kid’s cry for help need to be before a parent takes steps to address it?
Maybe not as seriously as he should have, Gary. Is he a criminal?
Bottom line is that a teenager was able to access a gun because of careless storage of the weapon, even if it was locked inside the safe and daughter dear did not know the combination. She could have hacked into or broken the safe. Father should have hidden it. And yes, parents are entitled to enter the rooms of their children.
Too many kids are dying by gunfire. I value a strict approach, and hope this case ends with a conviction.
Geez! A pope who roots for the Sox. The Church may have found another convert in me…😉
No one ever talks about the prescription drugs these people are on. Puberty blockers, testosterone, ADHD and others that are given to trans children that we have no idea how it affects their brain. Remember the covid vaccines and all they were going to do that they didn’t and side effects that we are still learning about. More to look at than just guns.
Amen to the possibility of the meds’ part in all this! For some of that crap the health care “providers” should be held accountable!
I guess it all boils down to
“What does the law say?”
Were these random people she shot, or were they targeted, like for revenge?
Mitigating circumstances:
Was she bullied?
Did she tell someone she needed to talk?
Was she TOLD she could talk to someone?
Did the Dad have access to someone he could confide in?
I own guns. I know they can be dangerous. My kids (35, 36, 38 and 40) STILL don’t know the safe combination. Not because I don’t trust ’em (I do) but because they don’t live locally, and THEY have kids. I have two friends who know where to find it. My kids all know they’ll get their “inheritance” as soon as they get REAL gun-safes – not those screwdriver-accessible sheet-metal “gym lockers”.
Thanks.