The victim of the Iowa school shooting carried out by Dylan Butler has been identified as 11-year-old Ahmir Jolliff.
The deadly Iowa school shooting at Perry High School Thursday morning left one dead and five injured.
Dylan Butler, 17, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after killing Ahmir and wounding four students and the school's principal, Dan Marburger.
Law enforcement officials initially did not release the identities of the victims, but it has now been revealed that Ahmir, a student at Perry Middle School, lost his life in the shooting.
Ahmir was shot three times by Butler and the manner of his death was ruled a homicide.
The victim of the Iowa school shooting carried out by Dylan Butler has been identified as 11-year-old Ahmir Jolliff
Ahmir was shot three times by Butler and the manner of his death was ruled a homicide
Dylan Butler, a senior at Perry High School, was named as the shooter. Hours before the shooting at 7:37 a.m., Butler posted a TikTok of himself posing in what appeared to be the school's bathroom, writing, “Now we wait.”
Law enforcement officials initially did not release the identities of the victims, but it has now been revealed that Ahmir, a student at Perry Middle School, lost his life in the shooting
The victim's mother, Erica Jolliff, said Thursday that her daughter, who was in ninth grade, reported being rushed from the school grounds at 7:45 a.m.
Distraught, Jolliff was still searching for her son Ahmir an hour later.
“I just want to make sure he's safe and okay,” Jolliff said at the time. “They won't tell me anything.”
Classmates and people familiar with Butler claim that the shooter shot after being bullied, and that the final straw was when his little sister was also bullied.
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 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.
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. The FBI Omaha Des Moines was on scene, as was the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Dylan Butler, 17, is pictured with his sister
Director Dan Marbuger was among the dead and injured
In December, just weeks before the shooting, Butler posted another video to the same social media account of himself sitting on the children's playground equipment with a friend and pretending to be in a gunfight with sticks.
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.
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 7:37 a.m. shooting, Butler posted a TikTok posing in what appeared to be the school bathroom. The senior made a strange face as a blue duffel bag sat on the floor of the stall. The post was captioned: “Now we wait.”