A 17-year-old student shot and killed a sixth-grader and injured five others at Perry High School in rural Iowa. Dylan Butler, 17, was armed with a shotgun and a handgun when he opened fire at his school Thursday before the start of classes. He was found dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, reports the Wall Street Journal. The victims included a school administrator and four students. Perry, a community of about 8,000 residents, is 40 miles northwest of Des Moines.
It was the fourth shooting at a school in 2024, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database. The database lists any time a gun is brandished or fired in schools, or a bullet hits school property. Gun incidents at schools have risen sharply. The database recorded 346 incidents at schools in 2023 and 308 in 2022, compared with 256 in 2021, 116 in 2020, and 124 in 2019. In Iowa, police received calls about an active shooter about 7:30 a.m. Mitch Mortvedt of the Iowa Department of Public Safety said, “They witnessed students and faculty either sheltering in place or running from the school." As they swept the school, police found the shooter dead from a gunshot wound. Officers found a rudimentary improvised explosive device. “This strikes at the heart of everything that we hold dear,” said Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds. “This senseless tragedy has shaken our entire state to the core. And I want this community to know that every Iowan stands with you.”