A gunman has opened fire on a US high school leaving one dead and multiple injured.
A sixth-grade student was killed on Thursday morning and five other people wounded when a teenager opened fire at Perry High School, in Iowa.
The suspect was identified as Dylan Butler, a 17-year-old student at Perry High School, officials said at a news briefing.
He was found with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound by responding officers.
Emergency services are at the scene
Reuters
According to the school district's calendar, the shooting took place at Perry High School on what was meant to be the first day of the spring semester.
Perry, a town of about 7,900, is about 40 miles (64 km) northwest of Des Moines, the state's capital city.
Dallas County Sheriff Adam Infante said that school had not yet started when the shooting began. A sixth-grader (ages 11-12), believed to be a student, died in the shooting.
Assistant director of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation Mitch Mortvedt said Butler appeared to have acted alone and was armed with a pump action shotgun and a small caliber handgun
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Dallas County Sheriff Adam Infante spoke to the media following a shooting at Perry High School in Perry, Iowa
Reuters
At a press conference Sheriff Infante said: "Luckily, so there were very few students and faculty in the building, which I think contributed to a good outcome in that sense."
Student Ava Augustus said through tears that people were calling their parents and friends when they heard, “He’s down, you can go out...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."
Mortvedt said four other students were injured as well as a school administrator and they are being treated at area hospitals.
He added said one of the injured victims was in critical condition with what appeared to be non-life-threatening injuries.
Emergency services are still in attendance at the High School
Reuters
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy wrote on social media: "Pray for the community in Perry, Iowa this morning."
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis offered his support for Iowa after the school shooting at Perry High School on Thursday.
However, he said that dealing with such shootings “is more of a local and state issue,” declining to suggest any changes to federal law he’d support that would make them less frequent.
It comes just days before the Iowa caucuses, which will launch the 2024 Republican presidential primary process on January 15.
