An Iowa teenager who shot and killed one student and injured five other people on Thursday had been bullied since elementary school, classmates said – and was devastated when his younger sister began to experience the same.
Dylan Butler, 17, who was a senior at Perry High School, opened fire on Thursday morning – shooting dead a sixth grader who attended Perry’s Middle School.
He then turned the gun on himself.
Yesenia Roeder and Khamya Hall, both 17, said alongside their mother, Alita, that Butler, their classmate, had been bullied relentlessly since elementary school.
That escalated recently, they told AP, when his younger sister started getting picked on, too.
Officials at the school didn’t intervene, they said, and that was ‘the last straw’ for the shooter.
‘He was hurting. He got tired. He got tired of the bullying. He got tired of the harassment,’ Yesenia Roeder Hall, 17, said.
‘Was it a smart idea to shoot up the school? No. God, no.’
Dylan Butler, 17, is pictured with his sister. The paie
Dylan Butler, who is a senior at Perry High School, was named as the shooter. Hours before the shooting took place at 7.37am, Butler posted a TikTok of himself, posing in what appeared to be in the school bathroom, with the text: ‘Now we wait’
Principal Dan Marbuger was among those shot and injured
In December, just weeks before the shooting, Butler posted another video on the same social media account of him sitting on children’s playground equipment with a friend, pretending to be in a gun fight using sticks
Law enforcement officers work at the scene of a shooting at Perry High School in Perry, Iowa
Butler was armed with a pump-action shotgun and handgun – both of which are illegal for a 17-year-old to obtain in Iowa. He also had a rudimentary explosive device – which was undetonated and was later rendered safe by fire marshals.
The 17-year-old died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound by the time first responders arrived at the school, shortly after 7.40am. The ordeal triggered a mass evacuation of 1,785 students on their first day of classes after winter break. Cops have yet to provide a possible motive.
One of the five people injured was the school’s principal, Dan Marburger, who was rushed to hospital and is currently in surgery for his gunshot wounds.
The other four people injured were students. Of the five, one is in critical condition – although police did not confirm if this was the principal or a student.
Hours before the shooting took place at 7:37 am, Butler posted a TikTok posing in what appeared to be the school bathroom, with the caption: ‘Now we wait.’
The senior pulled an odd face, as a blue duffle bag sat on the ground of the stall.
Butler posted the TikTok selfie with the song ‘Stray Bullet’ playing in the background.
In December, just weeks before the shooting, Butler posted another video on the same social media account of him sitting on children’s playground equipment with a friend, pretending to be in a gun fight using sticks.
Butler gets ‘shot’ by the stick, and falls down the children’s slide.
On Thursday morning, there were hundreds of emergency services at the scene – which is 25 miles northwest of Des Moines. Ambulances, police units, air ambulances, and firefighters were called to the school at 7.37am.
The Dallas County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the shooting, which happened on the first day of classes. The FBI Omaha Des Moines was on the scene, as was the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive.
County Sherriff Adam Infante said at a press conference at 11am that police officers arrived at the high school seven minutes after the first call was made.
The first responders found ‘multiple gunshot victims’ inside the school – and at a press conference at 3pm, police confirmed the number of injured was five.
Perry High School was on lockdown after a shooting was reported just after 7:30 am this morning
Adam Infante said that there were few people in the building at the time of the shooting, because the school day had not started yet.
Today is the first day back after the winter break for the 1,785 students who study at the Perry Community School District.
Tearful parents have made their way to McCreary Community Building to be reunited with their children following the shooting this morning.
Carlos, who is a student at Perry High School, told WHO 13 that he and his friends thought the ‘loud bangs’ were part of a prank at first – before a teacher started screaming at students to ‘leave, leave, leave.’
He said: ‘I heard a couple of bangs, they weren’t loud. We saw loads of people run out. We thought it was a prank or something. We didn’t think it was real at first.’
Perry High School is taped off as investigators continue to work at the scene of the shooting
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.’
Zander Shelley, 15, was in a hallway waiting for the first day of school after break to start when he heard gunshots and dashed into a classroom, according to his father, Kevin Shelley.
The teenager was grazed twice and hid in the classroom before texting his dad at 7:36am.
Kevin Shelley, who drives a garbage truck, told his boss he had to run. ‘It was the most scared I´ve been in my entire life,’ he said.
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.
Ava Augustus, who is a senior at Perry High School, broke down in tears as she recalled what she saw this morning.
She was in a counselor’s office said she saw blood everywhere, glass on the floor, and she watched a girl with gunshot wounds in her leg be taken out of the auditorium.
She said: ”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.’
A sign informing parents what to do as they arrive at the school is projected at the scene
Dallas County Sherriff Adam Infante confirmed at a press conference at 11am that police officers arrived at the high school seven minutes after the first call was made
Perry Elementary School and Perry Middle School – which are nearby to the high school – were evacuated and buildings were cleared by 8:32 am.
Multiple victims were transported to MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center, a hospital spokesperson confirmed.
Two gunshot victims are being treated at Iowa Methodist Medical Center.
Linda Andorf, board president for the Perry Community School District, said: ‘It is horrendously awful. People need to figure out their life.
‘This is just disgusting. It’s terrible.’
The shooting occurred in the backdrop of the Iowa caucuses and not far from where Republican candidates were campaigning.
Vivek Ramaswamy, who has a campaign event planned in Perry today, wrote on X: ‘Pray for the community in Perry, Iowa this morning.’
Senator Chuck Grassley said in the wake of the shooting: ‘Todays appalling violence at Perry HS is heartbreaking Barbara + I are grateful for quick response by school officials &law enforcement to protect students +restore safety.
‘The Perry community is strong& will band 2gether thru hard time Im here 2help if addtl fed resources needed.’
Perry is a very diverse, working class suburb of Des Moines.