Mourners fill church to remember the Iowa principal who risked life to save kids in school shooting

The longtime Iowa principal who risked his life to save students during a shooting earlier this month was remembered Saturday not only for his heroic actions that day, but also for the unconditional love and compassion he showed his family and students during his years at Perry High School.

Mourners filled the Lutheran Church of Hope in West Des Moines, just over 30 miles from where Dan Marburger had worked since 1995 and had been director since 1997. He died in hospital on January 14, ten days after the shooting.

Marburger, 56, was seriously injured in the Jan. 4 attack, which began in the joint cafeteria of the middle and high school as students gathered for breakfast before class. An 11-year-old sixth grader was killed in the shooting and six other people were injured. The 17-year-old student who opened fire also died from a self-inflicted gunshot.

Investigators said after the shooting that Marburger “acted selflessly and placed himself in harm’s way in an apparent effort to protect his students.” Perry Superintendent Clark Wicks said Marburger was a “hero” who intervened with the teenage shooter so students could escape.

But his family said at the funeral that what they will remember most will be how Marburger loved them.

Marburger’s daughter, Claire Marburger, said Dan’s five children “never had to doubt that Dad cared about us or was thinking about us.” She said he would always show his love through his presence at each of their events and his compassion.

And even if he couldn’t be there every day after his children left for college, Marburger would often give them a few dollars so they could eat outside the cafeteria or refill their gas tank. But he still tried to be there – regularly driving 3.5 hours each way on a school night to watch Claire Marburger play basketball in college.

“If I had a genie with one wish, it wouldn’t be a new car or a house or a dollar amount. It shouldn’t even have to be that way to have daddy back, because I know that’s a big wish,” Claire Marburger said as she choked up at the funeral. ‘My wish would be to get one of Dad’s hugs – just a few seconds to hold him. And he held me to kiss the top of my head and tell me he was proud of me.”

Elizabeth Marburger said she has experienced Dan’s unconditional love for 43 years since they first fell in love in eighth grade, but that still wasn’t enough.

“He modeled love and grace every day. My wish for all of you is to have someone – a parent, a spouse, a friend, a sibling – who will love you unconditionally, like Dan did for me,” said Elizabeth Marburger. “And my other challenge to you is to see the good in the world. This what we have experienced in recent weeks has been rotten. But the good is there and every day we have to look for the good.”

This was evident in the way the Perry community came together after the shooting to support everyone who was injured and raise money to help all the victims. Residents even arranged to prepare meals for the gunman’s family as they mourn the loss of a son in an act of violence that his parents said they never saw coming.

Authorities have said the suspect, identified as Dylan Butler, was carrying a pump-action shotgun and a small-caliber handgun when he emerged from the bathroom where he posted an ominous photo to TikTok that morning and started shooting. He was also carrying some type of improvised explosive device that had to be disarmed.

The town of about 8,000 residents had to say goodbye to Ahmir Jolliff several days before Marburger died in the hospital. But they were able to celebrate that everyone else injured in the shooting is now recovering at home.

Yet life is far from normal in Perry, now that the children are not yet in school. The district has announced plans to gradually bring students back, starting with elementary school on Wednesday and middle school on Thursday. High school students won’t return to class until the middle of next week.

The school district plans to further restrict access to the buildings and place uniformed police officers there when they reopen, but will not take more drastic measures that some have called for, such as installing metal detectors or requiring students to wear clear plastic to take bags with you. So many parents – especially in the families of the injured students – continue to worry about sending their children back.

The investigation into what prompted Butler to bring weapons to his school and open fire remains ongoing, with investigators reviewing all of his social media posts and reviewing evidence from the shooting and hours of witness testimony.