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A 20-year-old California man was reportedly detained for plotting a mass shooting with Natalie 'Samantha' Rupnow, the 15-year-old who gunned down two people and injured others at a Wisconsin Christian school on Monday (December 16), CBS 8 reports.
Alexander Paffendorf, of Carlsbad, was discovered to have exchanged messages with Rupnow and coordinated an attack at a local government building before she carried out the shooting at the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison earlier this week, according to a gun violence restraining order obtained by the news station.
âDuring an FBI interview, Paffendorf admitted to the FBI agents that he told Rupnow that he would arm himself with explosives and a gun and that he would target a government building,â the Carlsbad Police Department restraining order states.
The order doesn't specify which building Paffendorf planned to strike or provide specific details about his conversation with Rupnow, who died by suicide after having already killed substitute teacher Erin West, 42, and fellow student, freshman Rubi Vergara, 14, at Abundant Life Christian School earlier this week. A San Diego Superior Court judge approved the order in adherence with California's red flag gun law Tuesday (December 17) night, which requires Paffendorf to surrender all guns and ammunition to authorities within 48 hours.