California 21-year-old who messaged with Wisconsin school shooter barred from gun ownership

Teri Figueroa, The San Diego Union-Tribune on Apr 28, 2025

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SAN DIEGO — A 21-year-old Carlsbad man who authorities said exchanged messages regarding gun and bomb attacks with a Wisconsin teenager who later opened fire at her Wisconsin school was barred Monday from owning or possessing firearms for three years.

FBI agents and local authorities including Carlsbad police detained Alexander Charles Paffendorf on Dec. 17, the day after authorities say a 15-year-old freshman opened fire at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, killing a student and a teacher and wounding six others before fatally shooting herself.

Carlsbad police also obtained an emergency protective order to separate Paffendorf from firearms, citing his communications with the teen girl, including talk of attacks on a government building. In court Monday, Paffendorf said there was no plan for an attack.

Gun violence restraining orders are civil court orders intended for crisis intervention, and they must be approved by a judge. Paffendorf has not been criminally charged, and no such charges are expected, an attorney for Carlsbad police said during the hearing. No firearms were found registered in his name or located in his home.

On Monday, San Diego Superior Court Judge Blair Soper ordered that Paffendorf could not have guns for three years — a year longer than Carlsbad had sought.

Paffendorf and the girl had been communicating over the Discord app, according to testimony Monday during a hearing for Soper to decide whether to keep the gun violence restraining order in place.

In issuing his ruling, Soper said it appeared “there was enough stuff in those chats to give (Discord) and this court concern.”

“This incident just happened in December, and it is way too soon to determine that you are authorized to own a gun,” Soper said. “This case is just too severe. The court is going to order it for three years.”

Before Soper’s ruling, San Diego police Detective Justin Wallace, who is a member of the region’s FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, testified that Discord had notified the FBI of messages containing suicidal statements and threats of violence against government buildings.

In the messages, Wallace said, Paffendorf had discussed prior mass violence attacks, fertilizer bombs and having seen videos on making bombs.

The detective said Paffendorf told him he had sent the messages while in “pursuit of a romantic relationship” with the Wisconsin teenager, Natalie “Samantha” Rupnow. He also said Paffendorf had visited White supremacist and antisemitic websites.

Paffendorf, who represented himself in the hearing, said there were no plots. “They were really off-the-cuff comments,” he said. “They were highly inappropriate, but they were still comments nonetheless.”

Paffendorf pointed out there had been no arrest or criminal charges filed. He said he’d been pursuing schooling and employment, and the emergency court order was “creating a hiccup.”

When Paffendorf was detained in December, a clinician who talked with him found he was potentially a danger to himself or others and sought to have him held in a hospital for 72 hours for a mental health evaluation. Paffendorf was released after the hold.

Carlsbad Deputy City Attorney Marissa Kawecki alleged that Paffendorf had a prescription for valium and had used marijuana daily. Paffendorf said he has “no more marijuana use or use of anything.”

In asking for the restraining order. Kawecki noted there is no criminal case or other protective order. “Really, all we have is this mechanism, this gun violence restraining order, and that is one of the reasons it was created by the Legislature.”

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