A sixth-grade student is dead and five others are injured after a shooting by a 17-year-old student at a high school in Perry, Iowa, on Thursday, police say.
Police say the suspected shooter was found in the school with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to police. They were armed with a pump action shotgun and a small calibre handgun, investigative police officer Mitch Mortvedt said in an afternoon press conference.
Although identified by police, Global News is not naming the shooter as the person is a minor.
The shooting occurred around 7:37 a.m. local time, before classes had begun, according to police, when there were multiple 911 calls and police were notified of an “active shooter situation” at the high school. The first officers arrived within minutes and found students and faculty fleeing or sheltering in place and multiple gunshot victims, police said.
Authorities quickly found what appeared to be the shooter with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Police said they do not know the motive but it doesn’t appear racially motivated. They said the shooter made multiple social media posts at the time of the shooting and appeared to work alone.
Four of the victims are students and the fifth is an administrator, Mortvedt said. The shooter was also found with an improvised explosive device that he said was “rudimentary,” and which was disabled by authorities.
A massive amount of law enforcement descended on the school complex, which also includes a middle school and elementary school. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) was also dispatched to the scene from nearby Kansas City, and FBI agents from the Omaha-Des Moines office were on scene to help with the investigation led by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.
Perry is about 64 kilometres northwest of Des Moines, the state’s capital, and is a town of about 8,000.
Police said that there were “very few” students and faculty in the building when the shooting started, but there may have been a breakfast program going on. Thursday was the first day of classes after the holiday break.
Zander Shelley, 15, was in a hallway waiting for the school day to start when he heard gunshots and dashed into a classroom, according to his father, Kevin Shelley. Zander was grazed twice and hid in the classroom before texting his father at 7:36 a.m.
Kevin Shelley, who drives a garbage truck, told his boss he had to run when he heard the news. “It was the most scared I’ve been in my entire life,” he told The Associated Press.
The shooting occurred as Republican candidates were campaigning not far away in the town ahead of the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 15.
Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy had a campaign event scheduled in Perry at 9 a.m. local time about 2.4 kilometres from the high school, but cancelled it to have a prayer and discussion with area residents.