The father of a 15-year-old girl who killed a fellow student and a teacher at a private school in Wisconsin had his bail set at $20,000 on Friday at his first court appearance on charges that he allowed her access to guns.
Prosecutors charged Jeffrey Rupnow, 42, on Thursday with two felony counts of intentionally giving a dangerous weapon to a minor causing death and one felony count of contributing to the delinquency of a child. Rupnow would face up to 18 years in prison if convicted on all counts.
Jeffrey Rupnow’s daughter, Natalie Rupnow, opened fire at her school, Abundant Life Christian School, in Madison in December. She killed teacher Erin Michelle West and 14-year-old student Rubi Bergara and injured six others before she killed herself.
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 had asked for $100,000, noting the seriousness of the shooting and the pending charges.
“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.”
If he posts bail, Jeffrey Rupnow will be fitted with a GPS monitoring device, not be allowed to have contact with anyone at Abundant Life Christian School, purchase or possess firearms or go to the block where the school is located.
Davey declined to comment prior to the hearing.
According to a criminal complaint, Jeffrey Rupnow told investigators his daughter was struggling to cope with her parents’ divorce in 2022.
He bought the two handguns she brought into the school for her as a way to bond with her, he told investigators. He added that he told her the access code to the safe where he stored her guns in case she ever needed them, the complaint said. Rupnow also told investigators he wasn’t sure whether he put one of the guns back in the safe after his daughter cleaned it the day before the school attack.
Investigators found writings in Natalie Rupnow’s room saying she hated people who smoked marijuana and drank as much as they can like her father. She also wrote that her mother wasn’t in her life, that she admired a number of school shooters and that she obtained her guns “by lies, manipulation, and my fathers stupidity.”
Jeffrey Rupnow sent a message to police in the days after the shooting saying the biggest mistake he made was teaching his daughter how to handle guns safely. He urged police to warn people to change their gun safe combinations every two to three months because “kids are smart and they will figure it out.”
Rupnow is the latest in a line of parents of school shooters who have been held criminally liable for their children’s actions in recent years.
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Associated Press writer Scott Bauer contributed to this report.
