A shooting on Thursday morning at a school in Iowa in the northern United States left one person dead and five injured, local police announced at a press conference.
Authorities confirm the suspect died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
“This morning at approximately 7:33 a.m. we received a report of an active shooter. Moments after we arrived, we found multiple shooting victims,” Dallas County Sheriff Adam Infante confirmed at a news conference. The latter did not confirm the number of injured or whether there were any deaths.
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The shooter, Dylan Butler, is believed to be a 17-year-old student at the same high school. According to police, he was armed with a pump-action rifle, often referred to as a shotgun, and a small-caliber handgun.
They also confirm that they found an “improvised explosive device” at the crime scene.
The crime scene is secured.
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“There were very few students on the faculty at that time,” Infante said.
Before the news conference, NBC News quoted a spokesman for MercyOne Hospital as confirming that the victims were headed there, without confirming the expected number of patients.
Shots were heard
Lori Meinecke, a teacher at the school, told local Raccoon Valley Radio that around 7:40 a.m. she heard “six or seven gunshots” and screams telling everyone to evacuate the place.
Around the same time, police were called to the scene and classes were canceled across the region.
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The evacuation was completed around 8:25 a.m. Officers from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) were also dispatched to the scene.
According to local station KCCI, parents reported that students were denied entry when they arrived at school. A mother told the same source that she was trying to find her boy and that her daughter was escorted from the scene around 7:45 a.m.
NBC News affiliate WHO reports that several police and even military vehicles were parked in front of the school building.
An ambulance was also seen.
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Perry is a city of about 8,000 residents located nearly 40 miles northwest of the capital, Des Moines.
The school district has a total of approximately 1,800 students. It was the first day of class as the second semester began.