PERRY, Iowa — A student opened fire at Perry High School in Perry, Iowa, on Thursday morning, killing one student and wounding five others before taking his own life. Police identified the shooter as Dylan Butler, a 17-year-old student at the school.
The incident happened as students were returning to their first day of classes from the winter break. The school serves about 600 students in a district of approximately 1,800 and is located in a small, primarily working-class town about 40 miles northwest of Des Moines.
According to police, Butler, armed with a pump-action shotgun and a small-caliber handgun, opened fire on students and staff before committing suicide. Along with shooting one sixth-grade student and wounding five others, an undetonated makeshift explosive device was also found with his body.
Witnesses recounted their experiences of the shooting, including students and staff barricading themselves in classrooms and fleeing the school as gunshots rang out.
At a press conference, the assistant director of the Iowa Department of Public Safety Division of Criminal Investigation stated that the shooter made a number of social media posts around the time of the shooting. Reports have indicated that the entire incident was live-streamed on the shooter’s Instagram account, including his suicide.
The shooting at Perry High School is the first mass school shooting of the year, and comes amidst a concerning trend of school shootings in the US and internationally in recent years.
Details of the incident are still emerging, but authorities are working to understand the circumstances surrounding the tragic event and to prevent further similar incidents. The shooting has once again raised concerns about the prevalence of school shootings and the lack of action taken to address the underlying social issues that contribute to such violent acts.