‘Violence is necessary:’ TikTok account believed to be Madison school shooter's, researchers say
Researchers at the Anti-Defamation League announced Wednesday they had identified a TikTok account believed to belong to the 15-year-old who killed two people and wounded six more in a school shooting in Madison, Wisconsin earlier this week.
The account reposted violent and racist content and may offer fresh clues for the girl's motives in the attack.
Local law enforcement and the FBI would not comment on the ongoing investigation into the online activities of Natalie Rupnow, who was a student at the Abundant Life Christian School. The teen died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound after the attack.
The TikTok account, which is still active and which Paste BN is not linking to, only contains two original videos. Anti-Defamation League researchers said they identified the account by geo-locating one of the two videos on the account to the home where the 15-year-old lived with her father.
The account also reposted dozens of videos, including one featuring photographs of Luigi Mangione, who is accused of shooting and killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson earlier this month. That video contains the text “When all other forms of communication fail, violence is necessary to survive.”
Another video featured footage of Elliot Rodger, who killed six people and injured 14 others in a mass shooting and stabbing spree in 2014 in California.
"The bio and reposts on the account, though memetic and crude, indicate the user was influenced by a range of extremist ideologies and themes including antisemitism and white supremacy," said Carla Hill, senior director of investigative research at the Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism.
The group announced its findings in its weekly “Extremely” newsletter released Wednesday afternoon.
The TikTok account reposted “a range of very generic white supremacist and antisemitic memes (including Nazi images and racist 'statistics') with a bio including the phrase ‘Totally normal day,’" according to the newsletter.
That wording is often used by racist users to signify the abbreviation "TND," with T for "total," N for a racist slur and D for "death," the ADL researchers wrote in the report.
In an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Wednesday evening, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said investigators were still analyzing the suspect's electronic devices, social media accounts, and alleged writings circulating online. He said detectives were interviewing relatives and friends of the suspect to learn if bullying was one of "multiple factors" that motivated the shooting.
"That will give us some idea into motivation," Barnes said. "We're simply just not there yet."
He added: "The shooter made a decision to walk into that study hall with mixed high school students and opened fire. Everyone in that room had an equal chance of dying that day."
There are other online clues about the 15-year-old.
A Facebook account that appears to belong to her father, Jeff Rupnow, shows him playing with his young daughter and their boxer dog. One photograph shows a girl firing a weapon at a location her father identifies as the North Bristol Sportsman’s Club in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.
“Is that kiddo?” a friend asks in the comments. “Sure is!!!! We joined NBSC this spring and we have been loving all every second of it!” Jeff Rupnow replies.
In the photograph, the girl is wearing a T-shirt for the German industrial rock band “KMFDM.” Both of the shooters in the 1999 Columbine High School massacre were photographed wearing KMFDM T-shirts, and the band has gained a cult following online among people obsessed with school shootings.
Since the Columbine shooting, a toxic subculture glorifying mass shooters has formed in online spaces. Much of the internal culture and shared language overlaps with white supremacist and other ideologies. The views in these spaces tend to be incoherent and not necessarily a clear political ideology.
Extremism researchers told Paste BN they have identified several more online accounts believed to belong to the 15-year-old, including accounts on X, Tumblr and the online gaming platform Steam.
Like the TikTok identified by the Anti-Defamation League, these accounts shared photos and videos of the Columbine shooting and other mass shootings and appeared to show an obsession with these events, researchers said. One linked to a letter possibly written by the teen prior to the shooting.
However, police and researchers have cautioned that these reports are still unsubstantiated.