Following the devastating school shooting in Perry, Iowa, further details have come to light about the 17-year-old suspect, Dylan Butler.
In a heart-wrenching tragedy that has deeply shaken the tight-knit community of Perry in Iowa, a 17-year-old student at Perry High School unleashed a devastating shooting spree on Thursday morning (January 4), leading to the tragic death of a sixth-grader and injuries to four other students and a school administrator.
Authorities say that the teen shooting ultimately took his own life with a self-inflicted gunshot, leaving behind a community grappling with grief and loss, per NBC News,
The incident occurred around 7:37AM on Thursday when law enforcement responded to distressing reports of an active shooter at Perry High School, located approximately 30 miles northwest of Des Moines, Iowa.
The assailant - who has identified as a 17-year-old student at the school - was armed with a pump-action shotgun and a small-caliber handgun.
Authorities named the shooter as Dylan Butler, and have stated that Butler appears to have acted alone throughout the devastating incident.
Mitch Mortvedt, the assistant director of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, addressed the media during an afternoon news conference, stating that police are actively investigating the motive behind the shooting.
Officers also uncovered an improvised explosive device at the scene. Mortvedt described the device as "rudimentary" and emphasized that authorities had safely neutralized it.
The tragedy has left the community grappling with a profound sense of loss and sorrow, and investigations are ongoing to piece together the events leading up to this tragic incident.
Yesenia Roeder and Khamya Hall, both 17 years old, along with their mother, Alita, shared their insights into the life of the 17-year-old shooter. Speaking to the Associated Press, they revealed that Butler had been relentlessly bullied since elementary school, and the situation had escalated when his younger sister became a target of bullying as well.
The family alleged that school officials did not intervene, and this perceived lack of support became the "last straw" for the shooter.
"[Butler] was hurting. He got tired. He got tired of the bullying. He got tired of the harassment," Yesenia Roeder said. "Was it a smart idea to shoot up the school? No. God, no."
The young man's friends, Yesenia and Khamya, struggled to hold back tears as they described him as "the kindest person ever" and expressed regret that they may not have been there for him when he needed support the most. Yesenia added: "He was there for us when we needed him, and we tried to be there when he needed us, which clearly we weren’t there for him enough."
Per the New York Post, the shooter had posted a cryptic video on his since-deleted social media accounts prior to the shooting.
The video featured him in a school bathroom stall, with a blue duffle bag at his feet and the caption: "now we wait." The footage was reportedly accompanied by the song 'Stray Bullet' by the rock group KMFDM, known for its unsettling lyrics such as: "I am your worst enemy / I am your dearest friend / Malignantly malevolent / I am of divine descent".
Disturbingly, this song was infamously used on the personal website of Eric Harris, one of the perpetrators of the tragic Columbine High School massacre in 1999. Other videos from the shooter's social media account - which have since been shared to Reddit - showed him emulating figures such as The Cook from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Jeffrey Dahmer.
Investigators also uncovered photos of the shooter posing with firearms, raising questions about the source of the weapons used in the rampage.
While the identity of the victims has not been disclosed by the police, the Easton Valley Community School District confirmed that Dan Marburger, the school's principal since 1995, was among the survivors of the tragic incident.
At this time, our thoughts are with the Perry community and anybody impacted by this tragedy.