PERRY, Iowa — One sixth grade student was killed and five others— four students and one administrator— were injured in a shooting at Perry High School in Perry, Iowa at 7:30 a.m. on Thursday, January 4.
UPDATE: 3:00 p.m.
Investigators provided an update on the shooting at Perry High School in Perry, Iowa. According to Mitch Mortvedt, Assistant Director, Iowa DCI, Dallas County received multiple 911 calls on Thursday morning reporting an active shooter at Perry High School.
Perry Police Department officers responding to the scene found multiple people with gunshot wounds. During their search of the building, officers discovered the shooter with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
An improvised explosive device was also discovered. State agencies responding to the shooting were able to render the device safe.
Mortvedt reported that the shooter, identified as 17-year-old Dylan Butler, a student at Perry High School, had been armed with a pump action shotgun and a small caliber handgun.
Investigators believe Butler acted alone.
According to Mortvedt, Butler made social media posts in and around the time of the shooting, and those posts are now part of the ongoing investigation.
UPDATE: 11:35 a.m.
The suspect in the shooting has died of what investigators believe is a self-inflicted gunshot wound, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The official was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to The AP on condition of anonymity.
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UPDATE: 11:00 a.m.
Police in Perry, Iowa, say multiple people were shot at the city's high school Thursday, early on students' first day back in classes after their annual winter break.
Two gunshot victims were taken by ambulance to Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines, about 40 miles southeast of the 8,000 person community of Perry. Dallas County Sheriff Adam Infante said the shooting occurred before school was set to start, so there were few students and faculty in Perry High School.
An active shooter was reported at 7:37 a.m. Thursday morning and officers arrived seven minutes later, Infante said. He added during a news conference that officers located multiple people with injuries, but couldn't confirm how many there were or their conditions. A spokeperson for UnityPoint Health, which operates the Des Moines hospital, confirmed the two gunshot victims arriving there.
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UPDATE: 10:15 a.m.
The Dallas County Sheriff's Office held a brief press conference but would not disclose details regarding number of victims, whether there were fatalities, the status of the shooter, or the shooter's identity. FBI agents from the Omaha-Des Moines office are on scene, and a spokesperson said that details would instead be released at a press conference later in the afternoon.
“There are a bunch of speculative numbers floating around,” said Dirk Cavanaugh, Perry’s mayor. “We have no confirmed numbers of who was involved yet.”
Prior to the conference, Scripps News tracked two medical helicopters leaving the school. One landed at MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center.
The Des Moines Register reports that a first responder alerted dispatchers that he encountered a deceased male in a hallway, noting that he appeared to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The investigation is being led by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.
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Police in the small town of Perry, Iowa, say there was a shooting Thursday at the city's high school.
A woman who answered the Perry Police Department phone confirmed the shooting at Perry High School but did not provide any further information.
An enormous number of emergency vehicles surrounded the building that houses the town's middle school and high school.
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.”
The high school is part of the 1,785-student Perry Community School District. Thursday was the first day back in school for students following the holiday break.
The shooting occurred in the backdrop of the Iowa caucuses and not far from where Republican candidates were campaigning.
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.
Dallas County’s Emergency Management Agency said a new conference would be held at 10 a.m.
