Student reflects on Madison school shooting as the community mourns

(18 Dec 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

++AUDIO AS INCOMING++
++NIGHT SHOTS++

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Madison, Wisconsin - 17 December 2024
1. Med of people holding candle lights outside the Wisconsin State Capitol ++MUSIC AT SOURCE++
2. Med of people holding candles at vigil ++MUSIC AT SOURCE++
++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED++
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Naomi Allen, Abundant Life student:
"That's like a very high stress situation. Most of us were crying. We joined to the corner. We just hunkered down there. Our teacher, she was talking to us very quietly, of course like whispering. It felt like we were there, like forever."
4. Close of a candle
++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED++
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Naomi Allen, Abundant Life student:
"Everything was overwhelming and even quiet things seemed very, very loud."
6. Med of people holding candles at vigil
++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED++
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Naomi Allen, Abundant Life student:
"It's still kind of hard to think and feel feelings because of just how incredibly, like emotionally and mentally taxing that experience was."
8. Various of people holding candles with people singing "Amazing Grace" in the background
STORYLINE:
Police in Madison, Wisconsin, believe multiple factors prompted a 15-year-old student to open fire at a private Christian school.

The shooting Monday at Abundant Life Christian School in Wisconsin’s capital city was just days before winter break. A fellow student and a teacher were killed and six others were wounded. The shooter also died.

A crowd of several hundred people gathered at the foot of the Vel Phillips statue outside the Wisconsin State Capitol Tuesday evening, passing candlelight among each other and standing close against the winter chill.

Many cried as singers performed. As the organizers sought to close the scheduled gathering, someone started to sing “Amazing Grace,” and everyone else joined in.

Naomi Allen, 16, is a student at the school. She said she had been in a nearby classroom when the shooting happened.

'Everything was overwhelming, and even quiet things seemed very, very loud," Naomi said, describing what happened during the shooting.

AP Video by Mark Vancleave

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