A 17-year-old opened fire at a small-town Iowa high school on the first day of school after the winter break, killing a sixth-grader and wounding five others Thursday as students barricaded in offices, ducked into classrooms and fled in panic.Mitch Mortvedt, assistant director of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, said 17-year-old Dylan Butler was armed with a pump-action shotgun and a small-caliber handgun to carry out the shooting.Mortvedt said a sixth-grade student at Perry Middle School, which is connected to the high school, was killed in the shooting. Five others, four students and a Perry school administrator, are being treated at local hospitals. One is in critical condition, Mortvedt said, and four others are in stable condition.The state capital is about 40 miles southeast of Perry, which has about 8,000 residents.Perry High School principal Dan Marburger was identified as one of the injured victims, according to the Easton Valley Community School District, where Marburger attended school. Marburger has been with Perry schools for 25 years, according to his biography on the Perry staff directory.None of the student victims have been publicly identified.According to Mortvedt, responding officers found Butler dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. In a subsequent search of the school, officers located a “rudimentary” improvised explosive device. It was disarmed without further incident or injury, he said.The suspect’s motive is being investigated and authorities are looking into “a number of social media posts” Butler made around the time of the shooting, Mortvedt added. All of the shootings occurred inside the high school, but he said other students from other grades may have been there for a breakfast program.A law enforcement official briefed on the investigation who was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity said federal and state investigators are interviewing Butler’s friends and analyzing Butler’s social media profiles, including posts on TikTok and Reddit.Video below: ‘It is absolutely a nightmare’: Family members of Perry High School shooting victims share emotionsPerry senior Ava Augustus said she was in a counselor’s office, waiting for hers to arrive, when she heard three shots around 7:30 a.m. She and other people barricaded the door, preparing to throw things if necessary, with a window being too small for an escape“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.”Three gunshot victims were taken by ambulance to Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines, a spokesperson for its health system said. The other victims were transported to a second hospital in Des Moines, a spokesperson for MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center confirmed.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. The school district has 1,785 total students, with about 575 in grades 9-12. The town of Perry is more diverse than Iowa as a whole, with census figures showing that 31% of the residents are Hispanic, compared to less than 7% for the state. Those figures also show that nearly 19% of the town’s residents were born outside the U.S.Vigils were planned for Thursday evening at local churches and a park.Perry High School teacher Lori Meinecke said she heard about six to seven gunshots around 7:40 a.m., followed by the voices of several school coaches encouraging everyone to evacuate the area, according to Raccoon Valley Radio.In Washington, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland was briefed on the shooting. FBI agents from the Omaha-Des Moines office are assisting with the investigation led by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.”Our hearts break” for the families of the victims in Perry, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at a daily press briefing in Washington, D.C., hours after they said President Joe Biden was following the situation.”We’re just a couple of days into the New Year, and we’re talking about another shooting, and that is heartbreaking and heart-wrenching … enough is enough,” she said.Video below: White House response to Iowa school shootingThe shooting occurred in the backdrop of Iowa’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses. GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy had a campaign event scheduled in Perry at 9 a.m. about 1 1/2 miles rom the high school but canceled it to have a prayer and intimate discussion with area residents.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.Ramaswamy said the shooting is a sign of a “psychological sickness” in the country. In Des Moines, GOP rival and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said that gun violence “is more of a local and state issue” in an interview with the Des Moines Register and NBC News.Video below: Officials hold news conference earlier in the day on Perry High School shootingRachael 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.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.”Gov. Kim Reynolds ordered flags to be flown at half-staff through Sunday.“Our hearts are heavy today, and our prayers are with everyone in the Perry community,” Reynolds said in a news release. “This senseless tragedy has shaken our entire state to its core. I want this community to know that every Iowan stands with you.”The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A 17-year-old opened fire at a small-town Iowa high school on the first day of school after the winter break, killing a sixth-grader and wounding five others Thursday as students barricaded in offices, ducked into classrooms and fled in panic.
Mitch Mortvedt, assistant director of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, said 17-year-old Dylan Butler was armed with a pump-action shotgun and a small-caliber handgun to carry out the shooting.
Mortvedt said a sixth-grade student at Perry Middle School, which is connected to the high school, was killed in the shooting. Five others, four students and a Perry school administrator, are being treated at local hospitals. One is in critical condition, Mortvedt said, and four others are in stable condition.
The state capital is about 40 miles southeast of Perry, which has about 8,000 residents.
Perry High School principal Dan Marburger was identified as one of the injured victims, according to the Easton Valley Community School District, where Marburger attended school. Marburger has been with Perry schools for 25 years, according to his biography on the Perry staff directory.
None of the student victims have been publicly identified.
According to Mortvedt, responding officers found Butler dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. In a subsequent search of the school, officers located a “rudimentary” improvised explosive device. It was disarmed without further incident or injury, he said.
The suspect’s motive is being investigated and authorities are looking into “a number of social media posts” Butler made around the time of the shooting, Mortvedt added. All of the shootings occurred inside the high school, but he said other students from other grades may have been there for a breakfast program.
A law enforcement official briefed on the investigation who was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity said federal and state investigators are interviewing Butler’s friends and analyzing Butler’s social media profiles, including posts on TikTok and Reddit.
Video below: ‘It is absolutely a nightmare’: Family members of Perry High School shooting victims share emotions
Perry senior Ava Augustus said she was in a counselor’s office, waiting for hers to arrive, when she heard three shots around 7:30 a.m. She and other people barricaded the door, preparing to throw things if necessary, with a window being too small for an escape
“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.”
Three gunshot victims were taken by ambulance to Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines, a spokesperson for its health system said. The other victims were transported to a second hospital in Des Moines, a spokesperson for MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center confirmed.
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. The school district has 1,785 total students, with about 575 in grades 9-12. The town of Perry is more diverse than Iowa as a whole, with census figures showing that 31% of the residents are Hispanic, compared to less than 7% for the state. Those figures also show that nearly 19% of the town’s residents were born outside the U.S.
Vigils were planned for Thursday evening at local churches and a park.
Perry High School teacher Lori Meinecke said she heard about six to seven gunshots around 7:40 a.m., followed by the voices of several school coaches encouraging everyone to evacuate the area, according to Raccoon Valley Radio.
In Washington, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland was briefed on the shooting. FBI agents from the Omaha-Des Moines office are assisting with the investigation led by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.
“Our hearts break” for the families of the victims in Perry, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at a daily press briefing in Washington, D.C., hours after they said President Joe Biden was following the situation.
“We’re just a couple of days into the New Year, and we’re talking about another shooting, and that is heartbreaking and heart-wrenching … enough is enough,” she said.
Video below: White House response to Iowa school shooting
The shooting occurred in the backdrop of Iowa’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses. GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy had a campaign event scheduled in Perry at 9 a.m. about 1 1/2 miles rom the high school but canceled it to have a prayer and intimate discussion with area residents.
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.
Ramaswamy said the shooting is a sign of a “psychological sickness” in the country. In Des Moines, GOP rival and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said that gun violence “is more of a local and state issue” in an interview with the Des Moines Register and NBC News.
Video below: Officials hold news conference earlier in the day on Perry High School shooting
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.
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.”
Gov. Kim Reynolds ordered flags to be flown at half-staff through Sunday.
“Our hearts are heavy today, and our prayers are with everyone in the Perry community,” Reynolds said in a news release. “This senseless tragedy has shaken our entire state to its core. I want this community to know that every Iowan stands with you.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
www.ksbw.com
SOURCE
2024-01-05 03:40:00 , Top Stories
