THE baby-faced accomplice of teenage school shooter Natalie Rubnow was pulled from public school by his parents, who allegedly grew tired of the state of the education system.
Alexander Paffendorf, 20, was detained earlier this week at his family home in Carlsbad, California.
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He had reportedly been messaging Rupnow online about his plans to carry out his own attack.
Paffendorf allegedly admitted to authorities “that he told Rupnow that he would arm himself with explosives and a gun and that he would target a government building,” police said.
His weapons were seized during a raid, and he’s been banned from buying guns.
Paffendorf has yet to be charged with a crime and is ahead of a court appearance on January 3.
Read more on Natalie Rupnow
Rupnow, 15, allegedly opened fire with a handgun at Abundant Life Christian School in Wisconsin on Monday morning, killing a fellow student and teacher. Six others were injured.
She died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said.
Paffendorf appears in a smiling Facebook photograph taken by his father, while The U.S. Sun can now reveal unearthed social media posts from his mother.
In a post on an old X account, verified by this outlet, his mom states she enrolled her son at a private academy as she slammed the public school system.
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In 2013, she hit out at teachers, writing, “Tenure, paid holidays all summers off, they are so flipping lazy here in SoCal.
“Once they achieve tenure they check out mentally and get so very lazy. The children miss out, so we followed up with lessons at home and eventually pulled our son and placed him in a private AP school. It made all the difference.
“I volunteered in my son’s classrooms & schools from kinder through middle school,” she added in another post.
“I witnessed only 4 excellent teachers throughout that time. It was so bad we removed our son from public school to a private AP academy, now he’s in college & doing very well.
“We live in an affluent beach town in SoCal, so you’d think the standards would be high. The teachers are on their cell phones or charging their Vape devices in class. After Covid lockdowns things got much worse so we pulled him out. Advocate for your children.”
It is not known what schools Paffendorf attended, and he has no active social media.
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Some of his mom’s posts mock President Biden, whom she branded a “puppet,” while she also called California Governor Gavin Newsome a “coward.”
In other replies to followers discussing politics, she has blasted the government.
One reads, “The majority of our government is full of corrupt liars, pedophiles, and thieves with no actual idea or concern for how to run our country…it’s one giant facade.”
In another, she states, “Its been the hardest pill to swallow. Having moved here via green cards from Germany in the 70s, I grew up believing America is the greatest country, with honest & helpful people & the best government. The last 3 yrs have been shocking & extremely disheartening.”
Abundant Life Christian School shooting timeline
On December 16, a student at Abundant Life Christian School opened fire on the private K-12 school in Madison, Wisconsin. Below is a timeline of the events that unfolded:
10:57 am – A second-grade student calls 911 to report the shooting
11:00 am – Cops arrive on the scene and immediately enter the school
11:05 am – Cops find the shooter down and recover the gun
11:14 am – School is started to be cleared
11:20 am – Public safety alert is sent out to nearby phones
11:38 pm – Madison Police Department confirms multiple people are injured
12:15 pm – Cops hold a press conference and confirm three people are dead, including the shooter, and at least six others injured
12:38 pm – Abundant Life Christian School requests prayers on Facebook
2:30 pm – At a second press conference, cops confirm the shooter was a teen who attended the school
8:30 pm – Cops confirm shooter was student Natalie Rupnow, 15, who died while being transported to the hospital
She also wrote on the account, which does not feature her full name, “Sadly, many of us work for companies, hospitals, etc. That will actually dox you & even ‘lay you off’ for your Twitter views if not in keeping with their leftist woke views. We have no choice but to hide behind a pseudonym or quit Twitter.”
She has not posted on the account for several months and now has a new private page, also featuring photos of their late dog.
The bio reads, “No one special, just trying to do my best each day, and be the best Mother I can to my sweet son.”
Paffendorf’s father only has four followers, two of which are his wife’s accounts, but he has rarely used the social media platform.
He and his wife have not posted about having any other children.
Paffendorf’s mom also has a public Instagram account, which uses her full name, and features childhood images of her son.
Paffendorf looks like any other happy young boy in one sweet snap, as he cuddles up to their pet dog.
A second, touching family photograph shows him with blonde hair looking away from the camera with a huge grin on his face.
The U.S. Sun has made several attempts to contact Paffendorf’s parents and other relatives.
Paffendorf’s restraining order states he had to surrender all guns, ammunition, and magazines to law enforcement or “sell them to or store them with a licensed firearms dealer” within 48 hours of receipt of the order.
The Carlsbad Police Department said in a statement Thursday, “Carlsbad is not the lead agency on this investigation, but we are in communication with our federal partners, and we do not believe there to be a threat to our city. Because this is an ongoing investigation being handled by another agency, there are no other details to share at the moment.”
The FBI also added that it is “not aware of any ongoing threats associated with this matter in Wisconsin or California.”
Police, with the assistance of the FBI, have scoured online records and spoken to family and classmates to ascertain a motive after the mass shooting in Wisconsin, Madison police chief Shon Barnes said.
“I do not know if she planned it that day or if she planned it a week prior,” he explained.
“To me, bringing a gun to school to hurt people is planning. And so we don’t know what the premeditation is.”
While Rupnow had two handguns, Barnes hasn’t revealed who purchased them, citing the ongoing investigation.
No decisions have been made about whether her parents, Jeffrey and Melissa, will be charged, but they have been cooperating, Barnes said.
Online court records show they don’t have criminal records, are divorced, and share custody of their daughter, who primarily lived with her father.
Divorce documents also indicated that the teen had struggled with her mental health and was in therapy in 2022.
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