Around 7:45 a.m. local time on Thursday morning, a shooting incident took place at a primary and secondary school in Perry, Iowa. The gunman, a seventeen-year-old boy, shot and killed a sixth-grade student and injured four other students and the high school principal. The perpetrator then took his own life.
LOOK. Police on the scene after a shooting at a high school in Iowa
Police released the name of the high school principal, Dan Marburger, but not those of the other victims, one of whom remains critical. The shooter was Dylan Butler, a 17-year-old student at the school. He committed suicide after his deadly raid. Police say the teen acted alone. Nothing is yet known about his motive. The shooter was armed with a shotgun and a pistol. He also posted “a number of messages on social media around the time of the shooting,” according to police, who are investigating the posts.
The school day, the first day after the winter holidays, had not yet started, the sheriff said. “Fortunately, because there were only a few students in the building.” The first reports about the shooting came to the police at 7:37 a.m. (2:37 p.m. Belgian time). About 150 police officers responded to the scene.
According to news channel CNN, there were more than eighty shootings at American schools in 2023. That is the highest number since 2008, the first year for which CNN kept its own figures.
The incident occurred eleven days before the first Republican primary for the 2024 presidential election. Traditionally it takes place in Iowa, in the form of a caucus, this year on January 15.
Anyone with questions about suicide can call the free number 1813 or surf to www.zelfbloed1813.be. Do you need a conversation? Then you can contact Tele-Onthaal on 106 or via chat on www.tele-onthaal.be. Young people can contact Awel on telephone number 102, or via awel.be.
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