Madison doctors recall lifesaving efforts on school shooting anniversary
By Mallory Anderson
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MADISON, Wis. (WISN) — As the one-year anniversary of the tragic shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison approaches, doctors who responded to the emergency are sharing their experiences and the importance of preparedness in saving lives.
A career in the medical field means never knowing when the next emergency will strike. Dr. Adam Brinkman, pediatric trauma medical director at American Family Children’s Hospital, said, “December 16 started for me like any typical day.” However, that mid-December day in 2024 quickly turned into one of the darkest for Madison doctors.
Dr. Megan Gussick, a prehospital medicine doctor at UW Health, recalled, “It started like most weekdays. I was just doing emails and administrative work, and then I received a phone call telling me that there had been a shooting at the Abundant Life Christian School. And obviously that’s when my day completely changed.”
The shooting resulted in the deaths of student Rubi Vergara and teacher Erin West. The shooter, Natalie Rupnow, also injured six others before taking her own life.
Gussick was one of the first doctors on the scene, equipped with her emergency “go bag.”
“I at least had things to take care of bleeding like bandages, tourniquets, just really ABC management of patients in those first few minutes,” Gussick said.
Gussick organized the emergency response on scene and works with the Madison Fire Department to prepare for mass shootings.
“The training that we did absolutely made us respond the best way we could that day. Samy and River had life-threatening injuries where literal minutes mattered,” Gussick said. “So despite the fact that we don’t want to train for these events, because we just don’t want them to happen, it’s imperative that we do because it absolutely saved those kids’ lives.”
Samuel ‘Samy’ Garduno-Martinez and River Clardy were critically wounded in the shooting. Both were rushed to American Family Children’s Hospital, where Brinkman performed surgery.
“This was the first time that I think many people in the emergency room saw this number of critically ill children with this amount of bodily injury, truly grasping for life,” Brinkman said.
The hospital staff’s quick actions and surgical precision saved Samy and River, who are both now out of the hospital.
“I still think about Samy and River and all the children that were affected, and the adults at the school,” said Brinkman. “It was beautiful to watch Samy and River leave the hospital. I still think about them all the time. I still think about the decisions we made. I still think that our response to caring for these kids was the best it could be. I’m very proud of everyone who cared for River and Samy. Not only the day that they came into the hospital, but every subsequent day until they went home.”
Gussick was able to organize a reunion between Samy and River and the first responders who saved them at their school.
“This was a very traumatic event for our first responders, too,” Gussick said. “When they were transporting those kids, they were dying. And that’s the last memory they have of them. So to be able to replace that with a picture of them healed and as a kid again, I think that was really important for the first responders and their healing process.”
Brinkman emphasized the importance of acknowledging emotions in the healing process, noting that medical professionals often do not fully understand the trauma they see during these incidents.
“Something that I learned about myself is that it’s OK to cry. It’s OK to name those feelings of anger and frustration, to call something sickening or disgusting, or to say, this feels like I’ve been eviscerated,” Brinkman said. “I think there’s a tendency for all of us to say, ‘I’m OK, I’ll think about this later, I’m just here to do my work and take care of these patients.’ I can tell you by processing that and by thinking through those thoughts, naming those feelings, talking about it with mental health providers that have training, it’s helped me be a better doctor. It’s helped me be more compassionate. It’s helped me be a better father, a better friend.”
“Anniversaries are always hard. It brings back a lot of feelings, grief that you thought you had dealt with resurfaces,” said Gussick. “I really think that my hope is that we continue to support the Abundant Life community and that we just continue to support each other. I think one thing that we can all take away from this is that our kids deserve better.”
Natalie Rupnow died by suicide during the shooting. Her father, Jeffrey Rupnow, is currently facing charges, accused of supplying his daughter with the gun used in the shooting.
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