Californian connected to Wisconsin school shooter barred from owning guns for 3 years

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A California man who authorities said exchanged messages with a 15-year-old girl who fatally shot two people at a religious school in Wisconsin has been barred from owning or possessing firearms for three years.

A San Diego Superior Court judge on Monday approved a restraining order against Alexander Paffendorf that was issued in the days after the Dec. 16 shooting last year at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin. The judge also extended the order from two to three years.

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Police in Carlsbad, near San Diego, had sought the order to separate Paffendorf from firearms, citing his communications with the teen shooter, including talk of attacks on a government building. In court Monday, Paffendorf said there was no plan for an attack, the Union-Tribune reported.

Paffendorf has apologized for his connection to Natalie Rupnow, the Wisconsin girl who killed Rubi Patricia Vergara, a 14-year-old freshman, and 42-year-old teacher Erin Michelle West and severely injured two other students before shooting herself.

A day after the attack, a California judge issued a restraining order against Paffendorf, 20 at the time, under the state’s gun red flag law. It required him to turn his guns and ammunition into police.

He has not been charged with any crime and is not expected to be. No firearms were found registered in his name or located in his home.

During a hearing in January, Paffendorf expressed regret for his involvement and said he was prepared to accept the consequences of his actions without explaining his precise role.