An Iowa school shooter plotted a massacre after he and his sister suffered horrific bullying, with teachers ignoring their torment, classmates say

An Iowa teenager who fatally shot a student and injured five other people Thursday had been bullied since elementary school, classmates said — and was devastated when his younger sister began experiencing the same thing.

Dylan Butler, 17, a senior at Perry High School, opened fire Thursday morning, killing a sixth grader who attended Perry's Middle School.

He then turned the gun on himself.

Yesenia Roeder and Khamya Hall, both 17, along with their mother, Alita, said Butler, their classmate, had been bullied relentlessly since elementary school.

This recently escalated, they told AP, when his younger sister was also bullied.

School officials did not intervene, they said, and that was “the final straw” for the shooter.

'He was in pain. He got tired. He got tired of the bullying. He got tired of the harassment,” said Yesenia Roeder Hall, 17.

'Was it a smart idea to shoot up the school? No. God, no.'

Butler was armed with a shotgun and a pump-action pistol – both of which are illegal in Iowa for a 17-year-old. He also had a rudimentary explosive device, which failed to detonate and was later recovered by firefighters.

The 17-year-old died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound when first responders arrived at the school shortly after 7:40 a.m. The ordeal led to a mass evacuation of 1,785 students on their first day of classes after winter break. Police have not yet provided a possible motive.

One of the five injured was the school's principal, Dan Marburger, who was rushed to hospital and is currently undergoing surgery for his gunshot wounds.

The other four injured were students. Of the five, one is in critical condition, although police have not confirmed whether this was the principal or a student.

Hours before the shooting at 7:37 a.m., Butler posted a TikTok posing in what appeared to be the school bathroom, with the caption, “Now we wait.”

The senior made a strange face as a blue duffel bag sat on the floor of the stall.

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 to the same social media account of himself sitting on children's playground equipment with a friend and pretending to be in a gunfight with sticks.

Butler is 'shot' by the stick and falls down the children's slide.

On Thursday morning, hundreds of emergency services were on the scene, 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 occurred on the first day of classes. The FBI Omaha Des Moines was on scene, as was the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

County Sherriff Adam Infante said at an 11 a.m. news conference that police officers arrived at the high school seven minutes after the first call was made.

First responders found “several gunshot victims” inside the school – and at a press conference at 3 p.m., police confirmed the number of injured was five.

Adam Infante said there were few people in the building at the time of the shooting because the school day had not yet started.

Today is the first day after winter break for the 1,785 students attending the Perry Community School District.

Tearful parents went to the McCreary Community Building to be reunited with their children after the shooting this morning.

Carlos, a student at Perry High School, told WHO 13 that he and his friends initially thought the “loud bangs” were part of a prank – before a teacher began yelling at the students to “go away, go away, go away '.

He said: 'I heard a few bangs but they weren't loud. We saw a lot of people running away. We thought it was a joke or something. We didn't think it was real at first.'

Erica Jolliff said her daughter, who was in ninth grade, reported being rushed off school grounds at 7:45 a.m.

Distraught, Jolliff was still searching for her sixth-grade son Amir an hour later.

“I just want to make sure he's safe and okay,” Jolliff said. “They won't tell me anything.”

Zander Shelley, 15, was sitting in a hallway waiting for the first day of school after recess to start when he heard gunshots and burst into a classroom, said his father, Kevin Shelley.

The teenager was grazed twice and hid in the classroom before texting his father at 7.36am.

Kevin Shelley, who drives a garbage truck, told his boss to run. “It was the most scared I've been in my entire life,” he said.

Rachael Kares, an 18-year-old senior, was practicing with a jazz band when she and her bandmates heard what she described as four gunshots, some distance 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 were running past the soccer field when she heard people shouting, “Go away! Out!'

She said she heard more shots as she ran, but didn't know how many. She was more concerned about getting home to her three-year-old son.

“At that point, I had no choice but to leave because I had to get home with my son,” she said.

Ava Augustus, a senior at Perry High School, broke down in tears as she remembered what she saw this morning.

She was in a counselor's office and said she saw blood everywhere, glass on the floor, and saw a girl being taken from the room with gunshot wounds to her leg.

She said: 'I'm running and you see glass everywhere, blood on the floor. I walk to my car and they take a girl out of the room who has been shot in the leg.'

Perry Elementary School and Perry Middle School — which are located near the high school — were evacuated at 8:32 a.m. and buildings were evacuated.

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.

Linda Andorf, board president of the Perry Community School District, said, “It's absolutely terrible. People have to figure out their lives.

'This is just disgusting. It's terrible.'

The shooting took place in the background of the Iowa caucuses and not far from where Republican candidates were campaigning.

Vivek Ramaswamy, who has a campaign event planned in Perry today, wrote on X: “Praying for the community in Perry, Iowa this morning.”

Senator Chuck Grassley said in the aftermath of the shooting, “Today's horrific violence at Perry HS is heartbreaking Barbara + I am grateful for the quick response of school officials and law enforcement to protect students + restore safety.

“The Perry community is strong and will unite in difficult times. I'm here to help if additional resources are needed.”

Perry is a very diverse working class neighborhood of Des Moines.