A 17-year-old student opened fire at a small-town high school in Iowa on the first day after the winter break, killing a sixth-grader and wounding five others on Thursday in a chaos-filled situation where students barricaded in offices, hid in classrooms and fled. The student was later found dead of what authorities believe was a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
According to authorities, the student was identified as Dylan Butler, who was a student at the school in Perry. The motive for his shooting remains unclear as of now. Authorities said that at least five people were injured, one of them was later identified as Perry High School Principal Dan Marburger.
Two friends and their mother told the Associated Press that Butler was a quiet person who had been bullied for years at the high school. However, it escalated recently when Butler's younger sister started getting picked on as well. His parents raised the matter with the school, they said, and that was the “last straw” for Butler. "He was hurting. He got tired. He got tired of the bullying. He got tired of the harassment. Was it a smart idea to shoot up the school? No. God, no," said Yesenia Roeder Hall, 17.
How the situation unfolded?
Perry High School senior Ava Augustus said that she was awaiting a counselor in a school office when she heard three shots. Unable to flee through a small window, she and others barricaded the door and were ready to throw things if necessary.
"And then we hear ‘He’s down. You can go out'. And I run and you can just see glass everywhere, blood on the floor. I get to my car and they’re taking a girl out of the auditorium who had been shot in her leg," said Augutus.
Rachael Kares, an 18-year-old senior, was wrapping up jazz band practice when she and her bandmates heard four gunshots, spaced apart. “We all just jumped,” Kares said. “My band teacher looked at us and yelled, ‘Run!’ So we ran.”
The shooting incident coincided with the Iowa caucuses and occurred not far from where Republican candidates were actively campaigning. Attempts to reach out to the Perry School Board's leadership and Superintendent Clark Wicks for immediate comments were unsuccessful at the time.
Three gunshot victims were being treated at Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines, a spokesperson said. Others were taken to a second hospital, a spokesperson for MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center confirmed. One person was reported in critical condition but the injuries did not appear to be life-threatening.
Hundreds of people gathered for a candlelight prayer vigil on Thursday evening at a park where hours earlier, students had been brought to reunite with their families after the shooting. They listened to pastors from many faiths and heard a message of hope in both English and Spanish amid freezing temperatures.
Ongoing investigation into the shooting
Authorities said Butler had a pump-action shotgun and a small-caliber handgun when he opened fire in the school on Thursday. A "pretty rudimentary" explosive device was also found and rendered safe by authorities, said Mitch Mortvedt, the state investigation division's assistant director.
US President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland were briefed on the shooting. Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy had a 9 am campaign event scheduled in Perry about 2 km from the school, but canceled it to hold a prayer and intimate discussion with area residents.
The suspect’s motive is being investigated and authorities are looking into “a number of social media posts” he made around the time of the shooting, Mortvedt added. Before the shooting, Butler reportedly posted a photo of a bathroom of Perry High School on TikTok, captioned "now we wait" with a song titled "Stray Bullet" by the German band KMFDM. Investigators have also found other photos Butler posted posing with firearms, according to a law enforcement official.
There have been growing instances of mass shootings in the US, and several arms safety advocates have called for stricter gun laws. However, this idea has faced stiff opposition from Republicans, particularly in conservative-leaning areas like Iowa.
Iowa does not require a permit to purchase a handgun or carry a firearm in public as of 2021, though it mandates a background check for anyone buying a handgun without a permit. Ramaswamy said that the shooting is a sign of a “psychological sickness” in the country.
Perry has about 8,000 residents and is about 40 miles (65 kilometers) northwest of Des Moines, on the edge of the state capital’s metropolitan area. Perry is more diverse than Iowa as a whole. Census figures show that 31% of its residents are Hispanic, compared with less than 7% statewide.
(with inputs from AP)
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