6th grader killed, 5 others hurt in shooting at Perry High School in Iowa: authorities

PERRY, Iowa (WHO) – A gunman opened fire inside a small-town Iowa high school early Thursday as students prepared to start their first day of classes back from winter break, killing one person and wounding five others, authorities said.

Seventeen-year-old student Dylan Butler is believed to have shot and killed a sixth grader inside Perry High school, and wounded four high school students and an administrator, according to Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation Asst. Director Mitch Mortvedt.

It’s not yet clear why the sixth grader, who attended classes in the adjoining middle school, was in the building at the time of the shooting, but it may have been to attend a breakfast program for multiple grade levels, Mortvedt said.

Law enforcement was notified about an active shooter at Perry High School at 7:37 a.m. CT. When Perry police offers arrived, they found multiple gunshot victims, along with the body of Butler, who police say died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Officers searched the school and found an improvised explosive device, Mortvedt said. Responders with the Iowa State Fire Marshal and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms rendered the device safe, Mortvedt said.

Butler, who made several social media posts around the time of the shooting, was armed with a pump action shotgun and a small caliber handgun, Mortvedt said.

Authorities said the wounded administrator has been identified as Perry High School Principal Dan Marburger. An eastern Iowa school district where Marburger graduated from high school confirmed his identity. Marburger has worked for Perry schools for 25 years.

Nexstar’s WHO spoke with a representative for UnityPoint Health in Des Moines who confirmed they were treating two victims with gunshot wounds at Methodist Medical Center.

Thursday was the first day back for students from the winter break. At the time of the shooting, classes had not yet started for the day, so there were fewer students and staff in the school, said Dallas County Sheriff Adam Infante.

Multiple law enforcement agencies responded to the school after being notified of the active shooter situation. Police and Iowa State Troopers blocked off the streets surrounding the school, where multiple ambulances were seen entering and leaving.

Perry has about 8,000 residents and is about 40 miles northwest of Des Moines, on the edge of the state capital’s metropolitan area. It is home to a large pork-processing plant, and low-slung, single story homes spread among trees now shorn of their leaves by winter. The high school and middle school are connected, sitting on the east edge of town.

Some students were seen having tearful reunions with parents near where the schools adjoin.

Zander Shelley, 15, was in a hallway waiting for the school day to start when he heard gunshots and dashed into a classroom, according to his father, Kevin Shelley. Zander was grazed twice and hid in the classroom before texting his father at 7:36 a.m.

Erica Jolliff said that her daughter, a ninth grader, reported getting rushed from the school grounds at 7:45 am. Distraught, Jolliff was still looking for her son Amir, a sixth grader, one hour later.

“I just want to know that he’s safe and OK,” Jolliff said. “They won’t tell me nothing.”

Rachael Kares, an 18-year-old senior, was wrapping up jazz band practice when she and her bandmates heard what she described as four gunshots, spaced apart.

“We all just jumped,” Kares said. “My band teacher looked at us and yelled, ‘Run!’ So we ran.”

Kares and many others from the school ran out past the football field, as she heard people yelling, “Get out! Get out!” She said she heard additional shots as she ran, but didn’t know how many. She was more concerned about getting home to her 3-year-old son.

“At that moment I didn’t care about anything except getting out because I had to get home with my son,” she said.

FBI agents from the Omaha-Des Moines office were on the scene to help with an investigation led by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

“Our hearts are broken by this senseless tragedy,” Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said in a statement. “Our prayers are with the students, teachers & families of the Perry Community.”

Phone messages left with the Perry School Board’s president and vice president and an email message left with Superintendent Clark Wicks were not immediately returned.

The Perry Community School District has about 1,785 students.

Mass shootings across the U.S. have long brought calls for stricter gun laws from gun safety advocates, and Thursday’s did within hours. But that idea has been a non-starter for many Republicans, particularly in rural, GOP-leaning states like Iowa.

As of July 2021, Iowa does not require a permit to purchase a handgun or carry a firearm in public, though it mandates a background check for a person buying a handgun without a permit.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.