Multiple victims and at least one killed during Iowa high school shooting

A 6th grade student was killed and five others injured by 17-year-old student Dylan Butler Thursday at Perry High School in Iowa, law enforcement authorities have said.

There was a heavy medical and police presence at the high school, about 40 miles north of Des Moines, said the local Des Moines Register.

AP wire photos at ABCNews showed at least a dozen law-enforcement vehicles outside the high school. 

The Register reports that audio between dispatchers and first responders indicate that a male subject was encountered in the hallway with what appeared to be a self-inflicted wound and that the subject was later described as “deceased.” 

Law enforcement later confirmed the shooter, identified as Dylan Butler, appeared to have killed himself, and among the injured is a high school principal.

One parent told the Associated Press that he received a text message from his child at school around 7:36 a.m. central time saying the student had been grazed twice and was hiding in a classroom. 

“It was the most scared I’ve been in my entire life,” parent Kevin Shelley told the AP. 

He then told his boss that he needed to go. 

Another parent complained to the AP that she could get no information about her son, a 6th grader, even one hour after arriving at the school.  

“I just want to know that he’s safe and OK,” Erica Jolliff told the AP. “They won’t tell me nothing.” 

Today marks the first day back to school after the winter holiday for Perry High students.  

CNN reports that local authorities will be holding a news conference at 10 a.m. central time and that classes at the high school have been canceled for the day. 

Parents have been arriving since just prior to 9 a.m. to pick up their children, said the Register.  

The local field agent for the FBI is assisting law-enforcement authorities along with agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. 

Perry is a small community of about 8,000 residents, according to the Register. 

The high school is part of the 1,785-student Perry Community School District, said the newspaper.  

Nearby Woodward-Granger School District also canceled classes for the day after schools were locked down because of the Perry shooting, said the Register.