Suspected Iowa school shooter Dylan Butler – who injured three people including the principal – before turning the gun on himself

The suspected Iowa school shooter, who injured three people including the principal before turning the gun on himself, has been identified as a school senior. 

Dylan Butler, who was a senior at Perry High School, was named as the suspected gunman by local news outlet WHO 13. Police have not confirmed the identification. 

One of the three 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 two people injured were students, according to reports.  

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.  

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. He was named by WHO 13, a local news outlet

Law enforcement officers work at the scene of a shooting at Perry High School in Perry, Iowa

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, but Infante said they are still working on confirming the number of victims. He did not confirm if anyone was deceased.

WHO 13 and AP said the shooter is believed dead from a self-inflicted gun wound.

Perry High School is 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.

Infante said there is no further threat to the community. They have identified the shooter, but did not confirm if they are alive or deceased. 

The sherriff said: ‘The community is safe. We are now working backwards, to see what happened.’ 

Today is the first day back after the winter break for the 1,785 students who study at the Perry Community School District.

The number of potential injuries and victims have not yet been confirmed by police, but ABC reports that one person was killed in the shooting. 

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.’ 

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. 

There is no active threat in those vicinities. The high school is the focus of the investigation – which was cleared by a team of officers at 8:27 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. 

Just after 9.30am local time, police issued a shelter-in-place warning for people living in Woodward-Granger, a nearby community – but this was soon lifted.