Recent school shooters appear to have crossed paths in online extremist groups

[Jilly_in_VA]

Two teenagers who carried out deadly shootings before killing themselves at their respective high schools in attacks roughly a month apart from each other appear to have crossed paths online, according to a new joint report from ProPublica and Wisconsin Watch.

The first shooting took place on 16 December at the Abundant Life Christian school in Madison, Wisconsin. Two people – a teacher and a 14-year-old student – were killed by the shooter, 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow, before she killed herself.

On Wednesday morning, Solomon Henderson, a 17-year-old student at Antioch high school in the Nashville area, killed a fellow student after firing 10 shots in a school cafeteria. Henderson then died of a self-inflicted gunshot.

Extremism researchers who have been studying the online profiles of the two shooters in the aftermath of their attacks believe the two interacted online – specifically in extremist groups that the researchers say radicalize the young teenagers to commit violence. In these online circles, members glorify violent attacks and share tips on how to perpetrate acts of violence, along with promoting white supremacist, antisemitic beliefs.

There is no indication Henderson and Rupnow planned their different attacks and suicides together. But in the weeks before her attack, Rupnow reshared on X a post from Henderson that wished a happy Veterans Day to a man who killed 15 people in a mass shooting at the University of Texas at Austin in 1966.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/25/school-shooters-online-extremist-groups

This is odd. Initially I had thought this to be possibly an "intimate partner" murder-suicide, with the other kid just getting in the way. Apparently it was not at all.

[Dem4life1234]

1. Why can't these demons off themselves instead of taking everyone with them?

Part of the entitlement and arrogant attitudes of many of these young American males of today.

[OldBaldy1701E]

2. That line from Stephen KIng's story, 'The Body' still resonates with me.

BTW, 'The Body' is the story that is the basis for the movie 'Stand By Me'. The narrator was talking about the different boys in the film and what happened to them. He tells about the boy Teddy, who died in a car rollover. He says:

We all grew up with the saying that 'if you go out alone, you are a hero, If you take someone with you, you are dog piss'. The accident killed everyone in the car. Teddy was posthumously awarded 'The Dog Piss Of The Year' award.

We should start calling these people this.

[delisen]

3. Unfortunately one shooter was a girl.

It is rare but possibly we will see more female shooters.

[Dem4life1234]

5. They are using their energy wrong

They are angry at the wrong people, harming and shooting the innocent ones.

Damn, the 60s and even 70s generation of young people galvanized their anger with mass protests and boycotting, spreading love and peace.

When will this generation learn? A major asteroid landing on this planet is over due.

[Scrivener7]

4. "Reshared on X

a post from Henderson that wished a happy Veterans Day to a man who killed 15 people in a mass shooting at the University of Texas at Austin in 1966."

Cesspool owned by a Nazi, abusive to its users.