[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] The youngest survivors of the Madison school shooting have described their terror and panic after watching a teacher get shot in front of them.
Natalie 'Samantha' Rupnow, 15, opened fire on kids and staff at Abundant Life Christian School on Monday - raining bullets in the study hall before turning the gun on herself.
Nora Gottsckalk, eight, was in the hallway before 11am getting ready for lunch when she saw a teacher she knew injured.
'She was screaming, "Ah my leg, help, help,"' the young girl told CNN affiliate WISC as she grasped a Spongebob ice cream, after being reunited with family.
One student and one teacher were pronounced dead, but horrified children as young as eight have recounted the bloody massacre that happened in front of their eyes.
Rupnow died in an ambulance on the way to hospital after being found on the scene with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Six people were injured, with five hospitalized for injuries taken during the rampage. Two were left in critical condition with life-threatening injuries.
Police last night raided Rupnow's family home eight miles away from the school, with SWAT teams deploying stun grenades on the property.
Rupnow may have left behind a chilling manifesto, which investigators are now sifting through - but are yet to confirm its validity.
Sixth-grader Alder Jean-Charles also told how he was attending English class when at the small Christian school when he heard two gunshots ring out.
He recalled: 'Some people started crying and then we just waited until the police came and they escorted us out. I was scared. Why did they do that?'
Investigators believe she used a 9mm pistol, an official told the Associated Press. The school does not have metal detectors but uses other security measures, including cameras.
A motive for the shooting was not immediately known, nor was it clear if the victims were targeted, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said.
Students who survived the shooting were taken to hospital to be reunited with their parents, and when Alder was reunited with his two brothers, they all cried and prayed together, his mother Mireille Jean-Charles said.
When asked whether she was okay, the mom shook her head and broke down into tears.
Mireille Jean-Charles said: 'It's sad, you know, to be home and when somebody calls you and says your kids' school is in lockdown and a shooting, and you don't know where they are.
'Thank God they were safe, but the trauma - it's a lot because I'm sure they lost friends and teachers, which is not okay.
'And I don't think they'll be okay for a long time.'
Barbara Wiers, director of elementary and school relations for Abundant Life Christian School, said students 'handled themselves magnificently'.
Police received a 911 call at 10:57am Monday morning, and within three minutes, county sheriff's deputies arrived at the school which educates about 420 students.
Local police arrived seconds later as fire department workers got to the scene and began to care for the victims.
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At 11:05am, they said that they'd found the shooter wounded and recovered the weapon. Rupnow was pronounced dead en route to the hospital.
Currently, two students are hospitalized with life-threatening injuries and are said to be in critical condition.
A teacher and three other students were also hospitalized with less serious wounds. Two of them were released Monday evening.
Victims have yet to be identified, pending family notification.
Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said that a second-grade student was the one who called 911 to the school.
A law enforcement source told CNN that Rupnow 'had been dealing with problems and expressed some of those in writings, which they are now reviewing.'
A manifesto, that cops have not confirmed is linked to the teen, was published on social media.
Barnes said police were talking with the shooter’s father and other family members, who were cooperating, and searching the shooter’s home.
'He lost someone as well,' Barnes said of the shooter’s father. 'And so we’re not going to rush the information. We’ll take our time and make sure we do our due diligence.'
Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said the suspect’s home had been searched on Monday - and police are seeking additional search warrants.
Cops also confirmed that shooter Rupnow was not on their radar and had no prior interactions with her before Monday, though they said a probe would confirm that.
The shooter, who went by the name Samantha, opened fire on a room full of students from various grades, according to Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes.
It is not yet confirmed if Rupnow's family were gun owners.
Speaking about the alleged manifesto, Chief Barnes told the press conference on Monday night: 'A document about this shooting is circulating at this time on social media, but we have not verified its authenticity.'
The chief also waded into online speculation over the shooter's gender or possible status as a transgender person.
Barnes slammed speculation over Rupnow's gender on social media after he was asked about it.
'I don't know whether Natalie was transgender or not. And quite frankly, I don't think that's important at all,' he said.
'I don't think whatever happened today has anything to do with how she or he or they may want to identify.' He added that it didn't really matter for the time being and that it was 'just not helping.'
'For what we're doing right now, today, literally eight hours after a mass shooting in a school in Madison, it is of no consequence at this time (what gender the shooter was),' he said.
He also claimed that he had no knowledge of any previous interactions with Rupnow: 'I think if there were, we certainly would have had some type of intervention, but I'm not aware of that.'
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