Nashville school shooter connected via social media to Wisconsin school shooter: report

( Post Millennial )

The 17-year-old Nashville student who carried out a fatal school shooting was found to have connections on social media with the 15-year-old shooter responsible for a similar attack in Madison, Wisconsin, just weeks earlier.

On the day of the Nashville shooting, Solomon Henderson entered his school cafeteria and opened fire, killing one classmate before taking his own life. Investigators have since discovered that Henderson was active on the same social media networks as Natalie Rupnow, the Madison shooter who killed two people and herself in a school attack one month earlier.

According to a report by ProPublica, investigators found instances of direct interaction between the two. Although there is no evidence that Henderson and Rupnow directly coordinated their attacks, researchers believe both were part of online networks that glorify mass shootings. In the days following the Madison shooting, Henderson showed an apparent fixation on Rupnow, referring to her as a "mutual" on X. He also shared a post stating, “I used to be mutuals with someone who is now a real school shooter ;-).”

Before her attack, Rupnow posted an image on X of a person in a bathroom stall making a hand gesture associated with white supremacy. As news broke about the shooting, Henderson allegedly responded on X with the comment, “livestream it.” Researchers also uncovered that Henderson had shared a similar image prior to his own attack.

Law enforcement agencies in Wisconsin and Tennessee have not officially linked the two shootings. Madison police told ProPublica that their investigation into Rupnow’s social media continues as they are “just starting” to receive and review documents from tech companies.

At the time of her attack, Rupnow followed only 13 accounts on X, two of which have been linked to Henderson. In one instance last November, Rupnow reportedly shared a post from Henderson that celebrated a man who killed over a dozen people at the University of Texas at Austin in 1966.

When news of the Madison shooting broke, an X user messaged Henderson and others, suggesting one of their “buddies” might have “shot up a school.” Henderson denied any close connection, saying, “I barely know her” and insisting they had never exchanged private messages. A 51-page manifesto attributed to Henderson, now being reviewed by Nashville police, includes praise for Rupnow and other attackers, saying, “I have connections with some of them only loosely via online messaging platforms.” He also referred to Rupnow as a “Saintress” and frequently reshared posts celebrating her online persona, which allegedly promoted racist and genocidal ideologies.

“This network is best described as an online subculture that celebrates violent attacks and radicalizes young people into committing violence,” said a violence prevention researcher, per ProPublica. “Many of the individuals involved in this network are minors, and we'd like to see intervention to give them the help and support they need, for their own safety as well as those around them.”