By SCOTT BAUER and TODD RICHMOND, Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The father of a Wisconsin teenage girl who killed a teacher and fellow student in a school shooting was charged with felonies Thursday in connection with the case, police said.

The shooting occurred at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison last December.

The shooter’s father, Jeffrey Rupnow, 42, of Madison, was taken into custody around 3:45 a.m. Thursday, police said.

Rupnow was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a child and two counts of providing a dangerous weapon to a person under 18 resulting in death. All three charges are felonies, punishable by up to six years in prison each. He was scheduled to make an initial appearance in court on Friday.

Rupnow’s daughter, 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow, opened fire on Dec. 16, 2024, at Abundant Life Christian School, killing a teacher and a 14-year-old student before killing herself. Two other students were critically injured.

Jeffrey Rupnow did not immediately respond to a message The Associated Press left on his Facebook page. No one immediately returned voicemails left at possible telephone listings for him and his ex-wife, Melissa Rupnow. Online court records indicate he represented himself in the couple’s 2022 divorce and do not list an attorney for him in that case.

Police had said they were investigating how Natalie Rupnow obtained two guns she had the day of the attack. Police have not discussed a clear motive in the attack. Former Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said shortly after the shooting that a “combination of factors” motivated the shooting, but he declined to specify what they were.

Jeffrey Rupnow is the latest parent of a school shooter to face charges associated with an attack.

Last year, the mother and father of a school shooter in Michigan who killed four students in 2021 were each convicted of involuntary manslaughter. The mother was the first parent in the U.S. to be held responsible for a child carrying out a mass school attack.

The father of a 14-year-old boy accused of fatally shooting four people at a Georgia high school was arrested in September and faces charges including second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter for letting his son possess a weapon.

In 2023, the father of a man charged in a deadly Fourth of July parade shooting in suburban Chicago pleaded guilty to seven misdemeanors related to how his son obtained a gun license.

Killed in the shooting were Abundant Life teacher Erin Michelle West, 42, and student Rubi Patricia Vergara, 14.

Abundant Life is a nondenominational Christian school that offers prekindergarten classes through high school. About 420 students attend the institution.

By The Associated Press

Hardly any other country marks the end of World War II with the same fanfare and fervor as Russia, for which the victory over Nazi Germany 80 years ago remains a source of immense pride and a defining moment of history.

Victory Day, celebrated on May 9, is Russia’s most important secular holiday, reflecting its wartime sacrifice. But it’s also used by the Kremlin to bolster patriotism and regain the superpower prestige it lost when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

President Vladimir Putin, who has ruled Russia for 25 of those 80 years, has turned Victory Day into a key pillar of his tenure and has tried to use it to justify his 3-year-old invasion of Ukraine.

He has also sought to underline the failure of Western efforts to isolate Moscow by inviting Chinese President Xi Jinping and other leaders to the festivities, which this year have been overshadowed by reports of Ukrainian drone attacks targeting Moscow and severe disruptions at the capital’s airports, as well as cellphone internet outages on Wednesday.

A look at why Victory Day is so important for Russia and Putin:

The Soviet sacrifice of World War II

The Soviet Union lost a staggering 27 million people in what it calls the Great Patriotic War from 1941-45. That sacrifice left a deep scar in the national psyche.

Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, and quickly overran the western part of the country. They got as close as 30 kilometers (under 19 miles) from Moscow by October of that year, but the Red Army rebounded and routed the invaders.

Soviet troops dealt crushing defeats to Germany in 1943 in Stalingrad and Kursk. and then drove the Nazi forces back across the western Soviet Union all the way to Berlin.

Putin has noted that every seventh Soviet citizen was killed, while the United Kingdom lost one out of every 127 and the United States one out of 320.

“The Soviet Union and the Red Army, no matter what anyone is trying to prove today, made the main and crucial contribution to the defeat of Nazism,” Putin wrote in 2020.

A Putin family story from World War II

Putin is deeply emotional to the history of World War II, saying “we will always remember the high price the Soviet people paid for the victory.”

He often invokes stories from his parents, Vladimir and Maria, in the war, and the death of his 2-year-old brother, Viktor, known as “Vitya,” during the 2 1/2-year Nazi siege of his home of Leningrad, now called St. Petersburg.

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”It was the place where my mother miraculously managed to survive,” Putin wrote. “My father, despite being exempt from active duty, volunteered to defend his hometown.”

He also recalled in a magazine article how his father talked about a scouting mission behind Nazi lines when his comrades were killed and he survived by hiding in a swamp and breathing through a reed while German soldiers walked a few steps away.

Putin’s father was badly wounded. After leaving the hospital, he walked home on crutches to see morgue workers taking his wife’s body away for burial.

“He came up to her and it seemed to him that she was breathing, and he said to the orderlies, ‘She’s still alive!’” Putin’s father recounted to his son.

The morgue workers replied, “She’ll die on the way, she won’t survive.” But Putin said his father pushed them away with crutches and forced them to carry her back to their apartment.

World War II’s role in Kremlin policies

Putin’s emphasis on World War II history reflects not only his desire to showcase Russia’s military might but also his effort to rally the country behind his agenda.

World War II is a rare event in the nation’s divisive history under Communist rule that is revered by all political groups, and the Kremlin has used that sentiment to encourage national pride and underline Russia’s position as a global power.

Victory Day parades are a massive show of its armed forces, with thousands of troops and scores of heavy equipment, including mobile launchers carrying nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles, rolling across Red Square, and flyovers of dozens of warplanes. Military parades, fireworks and other festivities are held in cities across the country.

Authorities also encourage May 9 demonstrations featuring what is known as the “Immortal Regiment,” in which people carry photos of relatives who fought in World War II. Putin joined those rallies for several years, carrying a picture of his father.

Using World War II to justify the invasion of Ukraine

When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, Putin declared it was aimed at the “demilitarization” and “denazification” of its neighbor, falsely alleging that neo-Nazi groups were shaping Ukraine’s politics under President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is Jewish. The claims were vehemently dismissed by Kyiv and its Western allies.

Putin tried to cast Ukraine’s veneration of some of its nationalist leaders who cooperated with the Nazis in World War II as a sign of Kyiv’s purported Nazi sympathies. He regularly made references to Ukrainian nationalist figures such as Stepan Bandera, who was killed by a Soviet spy in Munich in 1959, as an underlying justification for the Russian military action in Ukraine.

“The Kremlin has mixed those issues and used the victory over Nazi Germany as a foundation for building anti-Ukrainian narratives,” said political analyst Nikolai Petrov. “In Putin’s mind and in the Kremlin’s plans, the victory over Nazis rhymes with the victory over the Ukrainian neo-Nazism as they put it.”

Every Saturday before Mother’s Day, an annual plant sale outside of Garlough Environmental Magnet School in West St. Paul includes student-made Mother’s Day cards for sale and a potting station where people can create their own container ensembles of marigolds, geraniums, ferns and more just in time for Mom’s special day.

“The hanging baskets are also very popular for Mother’s Day, a lot of people come for those,” says Beth Ernst, treasurer of Garlough Environmental Magnet School Parent Teacher Organization.

The organization’s annual fundraiser this Saturday will raise money for outdoor education, and it’s one of several plant-related activities happening around the Twin Cities on Mother’s Day weekend.

Here are other floral-related options:

The annual Mother’s Day Bonsai Show

Moms will have two options for viewing plants and flowers at Como Park’s Marjorie McNeely Conservatory this weekend.

One of those options is the annual Mother’s Day Bonsai Show that will showcase miniature masterpieces from the Minnesota Bonsai Society.

The tiny trees, shaped over the years into both classic and creative interpretations, will be on display at Como’s Visitor Center from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Admission is free.

Bonsai experts will be on hand to answer questions and share tips.

The Conservatory, located in Como Park at 1225 Estabrook Drive in St. Paul, is currently open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. Info at comozooconservatory.org/como/mothers-day-bonsai-show.

A cottage garden at the Spring Flower Show

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Head over to the Conservatory’s Sunken Garden for the next stop on our Mother’s Day plant and flower tour.

The second installation of the two-part Spring Flower Show 2025 is now in bloom through June 8.

This refresh includes a cottage garden collection of flowers in purple, blue and white flowers, including blue delphinium and purple foxglove.

The Sunken Garden, recently renovated to improve accessibility, is an option for Moms with mobility issues as well as for everyone else in the family.

While admission to the Conservatory is free, a voluntary donation of $4 for an adult and $2 for a child is appreciated.

St. Paul Farmers’ Market

Head to the St. Paul Farmers’ Market with or for Mom this weekend: There will be a free flower pot painting activity for kids during the market, which is open 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday.

The Farmers’ Market, which also has plants and flowers for sale, is located at 290 Fifth St. E. in Lowertown, with free parking at 420 E. Prince St. Info at stpaulfarmersmarket.com.

Tulips at the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum

Tulips bloom at the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska on May 7, 2024. Arboretum staff and volunteers have planted 40,000 tulip bulbs to put on a glorious show in 2025. Blooms typically start in late April and last until mid- to late May. This year, the display includes 108 varieties of tulips. (Mark Paulson / University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum)

It’s a bit of a drive from the east metro — about 35 miles from St. Paul — but the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska is traditionally a popular destination for Mother’s Day as people come out to see the tulips in bloom.

“Tulips are at peak right now,” said Lynette Kalsnes, a spokesperson for the arboretum, “and it seems like everything is in bloom, including our crabapples, lilacs, daffodils and redbuds. It’s pretty glorious.”

It’s not too early to head out now with Mom.

“We’re seeing people coming out with three generations including moms and grandmas this week,” Kalsnes said on Wednesday.

Advance tickets are recommended. General admission to the arboretum for non-members is $20 ($25 at the gate, if parking capacity allows). Admission is free for members and ages 15 and under accompanied by an adult. More info/purchase tickets at arb.umn.edu.

Plant sales

The Garlough Plant Sale, scheduled from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday outside the school at 1740 Charlton St. in West St. Paul, is still in need of volunteers. Sign up at tinyurl.com/gemsplantsale25.

If you’re driving out to Chaska to see the masses of tulips, the arboretum is also set to host a plant sale with some unique finds over the weekend.

The 57th Annual Arboretum Plant Sale will be held from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday and Saturday near the Farm at the Arb at the Chanhassen entrance.

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Horticultural experts will be at the sale to answer questions

The sale is free to attend, but tickets are required; at press time, there were open spots remaining for Friday afternoon and on Saturday. Info/tickets at arb.umn.edu/events/plantsale.

Highlights include several varieties of University of Minnesota-introduced apple and fruit trees, grapes, azaleas and shrubs, including some newer introductions like Kudos apple trees that are hard to find elsewhere.

The sale also features a selection of annuals, perennials, fruits, vegetables, herbs, lilies, roses, hostas, Minnesota natives and trees.

Know of other floral or plant-related events happening this weekend? Let Molly Guthrey know at mguthrey@pioneerpress.com.