Sixth grader killed, 5 injured in Iowa
Gunman at high school dead after shooting himself
A gunman killed a sixth grader and injured five other people at a high school in Perry, Iowa, early Thursday just as students were arriving back to school after their winter break.
Four of the injured were students, and one was an administrator, said Mitch Mortvedt, assistant director of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, at a news conference Thursday. One of the injured victims was in critical condition.
The administrator was identified by Easton Valley Community School District as Dan Marburger, principal at Perry High School, where the shooting took place. Officials did not release the names of any other victims.
The gunman, identified as Dylan Butler, a 17-year-old student at the high school, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Mortvedt said. Law enforcement officials believe he acted alone and said the motive was not yet known.
Mortvedt said calls about someone with a gun at Perry High School began coming in just after 7:30 a.m. and emergency responders arrived about seven minutes later at the school. Perry is about 40 miles northwest of Des Moines.
The attack took place before classes began, Mortvedt said, during a breakfast program that catered to students from multiple grades where the high school and middle school share a campus.
He said that when law enforcement officials arrived on the scene, they found multiple victims with gunshot wounds, and students and faculty sheltering in place and running from the school.
They also found a “rudimentary” improvised explosive, Mortvedt said, and agents with the state fire marshal and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives “rendered the device safe.”
The gunman was armed with a pump-action shotgun and a small caliber handgun, Mortvedt said. He also made “a number of social media posts in and around the time of the shooting,” which law enforcement officials are investigating, Mortvedt said.
About 150 law enforcement officers responded to the scene, Mortvedt said.
Governor Kim Reynolds said at a news conference Thursday that the shooting “has shaken us to our core” and recognized the “incredible coordination” of local, state, and federal agencies.
The victims’ families “need your thoughts and prayers, as well as time and space to process and grieve,” said Perry Police Chief Eric Vaughn.
“This community has been through tough times before and have rallied together. I’m sure this time will be no different,” he said.
As of Thursday afternoon, multiple patients with gunshot wounds were being treated at Iowa Methodist Medical Center and MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center, Polk County Medical Coordination Center said in a statement.
Ava Augustus, a senior at the school, told WHO 13 News that she was in her counselor’s office when she heard three gunshots. When they got the all-clear, she saw “glass everywhere,” “blood on the floor,” and a student who had been shot in the leg being taken out of the auditorium.
Jody Kurth told KCCI 8 News, a local CBS affiliate, that her stepson, a student at the school, was hurt in the shooting. She described the morning attack as “an absolute nightmare.” Her daughter texted her to let her know about the shooter, she said, calling it “one of the worst moments of my entire life.”
Both of her children were safe, she told KCCI.