U.S. California man linked to Madison school shooter may have plotted own attack: report

NEW YORK, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- A Southern California man who was in contact with the Madison, Wisconsin, school shooter allegedly was plotting to attack a government building, reported the Los Angeles Times on Thursday.

On Tuesday evening, a San Diego County Superior Court judge granted a gun violence emergency protective order that the Carlsbad Police Department filed against local resident Alexander Paffendorf. This is a civil action that allows law enforcement to seize weapons from individuals deemed to be a threat to themselves or others, according to the report.

"FBI agents detained the 20-year-old after learning he was allegedly plotting a mass shooting with 15-year-old Natalie 'Samantha' Rupnow," noted the report. During a Federal Bureau of Investigation (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," the restraining order stated.

Authorities said Rupnow shot and killed a teacher and a teenage student and injured six others at Abundant Life Christian School in Wisconsin on Monday, before dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.