Iowa shooting: ‘Joyful’ 11-year-old victim mourned as bullying of Perry school gunman revealed

One dead, five injured, as students returned from winter break

Community mourns deadly Iowa school shooting

The Iowa school shooter who killed one sixth grader and injured five was bullied “relentlessly,” according to his former classmates.

Dylan Butler, 17, was named as the gunman who attacked Perry High School in Iowa on Thursday as students returned from their Christmas break.

His former classmates, sisters Yesenia Roeder and Khamya Hall, both 17, said that Butler had been bullied relentlessly since elementary school.

They added that the bullying had escalated recently, 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 said.

Police said the suspect’s motive was being investigated and authorities were looking into “a number of social media posts” he made around the time of the shooting, Des Moines Register reported.

Moments before the shooting, Butler, who was found dead at the scene, posted a video on TikTok captioned “now we wait” and the song “Stray Bullet” by the German band KMFDM accompanied it.

Ahmir Jolliff, the 11-year-old victim of the shooting, is remembered by family and friends as a joyful boy known as “Smiley” at home.

Key Points

• What we know about the Iowa school shooting
• 11-year-old killed in Iowa school shooting remembered as a joyful boy
• Iowa shooting suspect dead from self-inflicted gunshot wound, source says
• Iowa school shooter’s chilling final social media post revealed
• ‘We have to get over it’: Trump comments on Iowa school shooting

[5 January 2024 18:28 · Graig Graziosi]

Classes cancelled Friday

Classes at Perry High School were cancelled on Friday after a student, Dylan Butler, shot and killed a sixth grader and wounded five others, including four students and a school administrator, on Thursday morning.

Butler died by suicide at the school.

The school shut down to allow the students and the community time to grieve after the incident.

[5 January 2024 19:24 · Graig Graziosi]

WATCH: Iowa student describes escaping school shooting

[5 January 2024 19:52 · Graig Graziosi]

Nikki Haley calls for schools to be secured ‘like airports'

GOP presidential primary candidate and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley has called for heightened security at schools hours after a shooter killed a sixth grader and wounded five others at Perry High School in Iowa.

[5 January 2024 20:20 · Graig Graziosi]

Images from Iowa: Candlelight vigil, makeshift memorial

Community members gather in Wiese park for a candlelight vigil following the morning shooting at the Perry Middle School and High School complex on January 04, 2024 in Perry, Iowa. A 17-year-old student identified by authorities as Dylan Butler opened fire at the school on the first day back from the winter break, killing a student and wounding five others (Getty Images)

Teddy bears and flowers are seen outside of Perry High School following a shooting Thursday at the school, Friday, Jan. 5, 2024, in Perry, Iowa (AP)

[5 January 2024 21:06 · Graig Graziosi]

Perry school teacher describes going into ‘panic mode,’ shares details about principal injured in Iowa shooting

Laura Espinoza, 38, a teacher at Perry Elementary School, shared what she experienced during a shooting on Thursday at the combined K-12 school Iowa. The shooting left one sixth grade student dead and injured five others, including four students and a school administrator.

Ms Espinoza said she went into “panic mode” when she realised what was happening, according to The New York Times.

“You just don’t imagine it’ll happen to you,” she said. “I feel like we go into these trainings ready to learn, but hoping that you’ll never have to use that.”

She said she knew principal Dan Marburger, one of the five injured in the attack, who she described as friendly and eager to get to know and help students at the school.

“I feel like a lot of times you say the principal is this very serious authority figure, which he is, but he’s also a person you can hear a joke from,” she said. “Or you could tell a joke and he’ll laugh about it.”

Mr Marburger is in stable condition.

[5 January 2024 21:40 · Graig Graziosi]

Shooter acted alone

Dylan Butler, the 17-year-old who attacked Perry High School on Thursday morning, reportedly acted alone, according to assistant director of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation Mitch Mortvedt.

Police reportedly searched the school immediately after discovering Butler’s body inside the school. He died by suicide. They found no evidence of a second shooter.

One sixth grader from Perry Middle School was killed in the attack. Four other students, as well as an administrator, were injured in the shooting.

Police are still working to determine a motive.

[5 January 2024 22:00 · Graig Graziosi]

Students should not be ‘looking for escape routes’ in school, Iowa Democratic Party chair says

Students should not be “looking for escape routes” in school, the Iowa Democratic Party chair has said.

Rita Hart said released a statement following the Iowa school shooting in which one sixth grader died and five other people were injured.

Students “should be able to focus on creating brighter futures for themselves while they are in their classrooms, not looking for escape routes, hiding places, or fearing for their safety,” she said.

“I am so sad and so sorry that the Perry community is living this nightmare that has happened far too often across our country,” she added.

“The Perry community deserves better. Iowa deserves better.”

[5 January 2024 23:00 · Graig Graziosi]

Sheriff says few students at school when the shooting occurred

Dallas County Sheriff Adam Infante said that there were only a few students at Perry High School when gunfire broke out on Thursday.

“School didn’t start yet luckily, so there were very few students and faculty in the building, which I think contributed to a good outcome in that sense,” he said during a press briefing.

The shooter reportedly died by suicide, according to police. One of the victims who was shot was reportedly a school administrator. One sixth grade victim died and four other students, as well as a school administrator, were injured in the attack.

[6 January 2024 00:00 · Graig Graziosi]

Iowa governor issues statement following shooting

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds issued a statement on Thursday after 17-year-old Dylan Butler was identified as the gunman who attacked Perry High School and killed a sixth grade student. Four other students and a school administrator were also injured in the attack.

“Our hearts are heavy today and our prayers are with the Perry community,” Ms Reynolds said at an afternoon news conference. “This senseless tragedy has shaken our entire state to the core.”

[6 January 2024 01:00 · Graig Graziosi]

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis says gun control a ‘local and state’ issue after Iowa school shooting

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said that gun control was a “local and state” issue, and contended that suggestions for curbing gun violence would infringe the rights of US gun owners.

“I don’t support infringing the rights of law-abiding citizens with respect to the ability to exercise their constitutional rights,” he told the Des Moines Register on Thursday.

“I know these things can be used to try to target things and a lot of the things that are proposed would not have even prevented any of these things,” he added. “Federal government is probably not going to be leading that effort. I think it is more of a local and state issue.”