5 Injured, 6th Grader Killed in Mass Shooting Carried Out By Iowa Teen

It was a horrific return to school for those in the small town of Perry, Iowa, with authorities confirming Thursday that a high school student opened fire just before school began—killing a sixth grader and injuring five others, including a school administrator.

The gunman was identified as 17-year-old Dylan Butler, according to officials. He was armed with a pump-action shotgun and a small-caliber handgun, said Mitch Mortvedt, the assistant director of field operations at the Iowa Department of Public Safety.

Mortvedt said an improvised explosive device was also recovered at the school, but said it never exploded. The official added that Butler shot himself dead after carrying out the shooting.

The tragedy occurred at Perry High School, about 40 miles from Des Moines, just before school commenced on the first day back from winter break. Authorities suggested the sixth grader was likely at the high school due to a pre-school breakfast program that also served the Perry Middle School, which is located next door.

Mortvedt did not name the other victims, but said five are being treated at hospitals in the area. Four of them are students and one is a school administrator, he said.

The official added that Butler had made “social media posts in and around the time of the shooting.” A TikTok account that appears to have belonged to Butler was disabled on Thursday morning as rumors spread that the teen was the shooter.

The Des Moines Register reported that Butler posted a photo to TikTok that showed a blue duffle bag by his feet, with a caption that read, “Now we wait.” The TikTok was reportedly playing “Stray Bullet” by KMFDM—song infamously used on the personal website of Eric Harris, one of the Columbine High School shooters.

Mortvedt said Butler is believed to have acted alone.

Dallas County Sheriff Adam Infante said earlier Thursday that law enforcement were on the scene within seven minutes of the first shot being fired.

“Luckily, there was very few students and faculty in the building, which I think contributed to a good outcome in that sense,” Infante said.

In a Facebook post, the Easton Valley Community School District identified Principal Dan Marburger as one of the shooting victims. The post did not share the extent of Marburger’s injuries, but said he’d been an administrator in the district since 1995.

Lori Meinecke, a teacher at the school, told Raccoon Valley Radio that she heard six to seven gunshots around 7:40 a.m., followed by the voices of several school coaches rushing students out of the building.

CBS News reported that an unnamed student told a journalist at the scene that he’d fled to his house after the shooting but returned to the school once he discovered his back was bleeding. That student reportedly said the shooter was a student at the school.

Ava Augustus, a senior at Perry High School, told WHO 13 News that she heard three gunshots as she was sitting in her guidance counselor’s office before school. When she was evacuating the building, she said she saw a wounded student being rushed out of an auditorium who had been shot in the leg.

Augustus said she saw “glass everywhere” and “blood on the floor.”

A hospital spokesperson at Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines confirmed to The Daily Beast that two patients were being treated there. Their condition was not released.

Multiple ambulances were reportedly seen arriving at the school and rushing away, and flight-tracking apps showed multiple medical helicopters descending on the school in the city of just 8,000.

The shooting was reported on the first day back for students following winter break, and a nearby elementary school was also placed under lockdown, city authorities said.

The Perry News, a local newspaper, reported that authorities at the scene called the shooting a “mass casualty event.” The Perry Police Department and authorities at the City of Perry did not respond to calls from The Daily Beast.

The GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy was holding his first campaign event of the day on Thursday morning in Perry when the shooting occurred, The New York Times reported. He reportedly led a prayer circle as “attendees expressed fear, but little surprise.”

Ramaswamy addressed the shooting in a post to X, formerly Twitter, writing, “Pray for the community in Perry, Iowa this morning.”

A districtwide communication system said the Perry Community School District, which oversees approximately 1,800 students, had canceled classes Friday, the Register reported. Authorities announced that counseling services will be available at the Perry Public Library from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday.

A White House official reportedly told CNN that President Joe Biden was briefed on the shooting and that the White House is in touch with the Iowa governor’s office.