A 17-year-old student armed with two firearms and a makeshift explosive device opened fire inside his rural Iowa high school on the first day back from winter break Thursday — killing a sixth grader and injuring five others, before turning the gun on themself, officials said.
Gunman Dylan Butler posted an ominous message on TikTok saying “now we wait” shortly before his bloody 7:47 a.m. rampage at Perry High School, according to state police and published reports.
The attack horrified the students who were on the campus early before classes started — including Rachael Kares, an 18-year-old senior, who said she was practicing with the school’s jazz group when she heard four gunshots ring out.
“We all just jumped,” Kares said. “My band teacher looked at us and yelled, ‘Run!’ So we ran.”
Officials did not release the names of the victims, though one was identified as Principal Dan Marburger. One of the injured parties was in critical condition but was expected to survive, and the other four were in stable condition, according to Mitch Mortvedt, assistant director of Iowa Department of Public Safety.
Tooktoomuch/Tiktok
Tooktoomuch/Tiktok
All evidence suggested Butler acted alone, Mortvedt said, adding that he made cryptic social media posts before the rampage at the small town school combined middle school and high school campus, 40 miles northwest of Des Moines.
A motive for the mass shooting was not revealed by police, but community members said Butler had been bullied relentlessly throughout his life.
Butler was armed with a pump action shotgun and a small caliber handgun, according to authorities. After he took his own life, first responders deactivated a “makeshift explosive device” during a “swift and immediate” police response that involved 150 officers from multiple agencies, Mortvedt said.
The rampage at the school came before the opening bell when “very few students and faculty” were in the building “which contributed to a good outcome in that sense,” Dallas County Sheriff Adam Infante said at a press conference in the aftermath of the shooting.
The Easton Valley Community School District confirmed that Marburger, who had served as principal for the Perry Community School District since 1995, was the administrator injured in the tragedy.
“Our hearts break to hear of this kind of violence that affects so many people, including many in our community. Our thoughts will also be with the entire Perry community as they grieve through this traumatic event. We will follow up with any updates once we receive more information,” the district said in a statement.
Parent Kevin Shelley told KCCI Des Moines that his 15-year-old son Zander Shelley was in a school hallway when he was grazed by a bullet in the back and arm before taking shelter in a classroom.
Tooktoomuch/Tiktok
AP
AP
Zander also watched Marburger get struck by the gunfire.
“My son was inside, said he heard gunshots and immediately started running,” Shelley said. “They got into a classroom with a teacher that kept them hidden and safe.”
The injured sophomore was reunited with his dad outside the school and was recovering at home, as throngs of parents met with students outside the school for “tearful” reunions after the campus was cleared and evacuated, the local station reported.
Shelley, a garbage truck driver, told his boss he had to run to the school as soon as he got word of the shooting.
“It was the most scared I’ve been in my entire life,” he said.
Ava Augustus, a Perry High senior, said she was in her counselor’s office when she heard three shots. The people in the office could not escape through a small window so they barricaded the door and gathered objects to throw at the shooter if necessary.
“And then we hear ‘He’s down. You can go out,’” Augustus said through tears. ”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.”
Some high school kids initially thought the rampage was a prank, according to WHO 13.
“I heard a couple of bangs, they weren’t loud. We saw loads of people run out. We thought it was a prank or something. We didn’t think it was real at first,” a student named Carlos said.
Source: https://nypost.com/2024/01/04/news/active-shooter-reported-at-perry-high-school-in-iowa/
