A sixth grade student was killed and four others, including three students and a school administrator, were injured in an attack School shooting in Iowa. Only one victim was identified by name.

Here are the details:

When did the shooting take place?

The shooting happened at 7:30 a.m. (1:30 GMT) Thursday at Perry Middle and High School in Perry, Iowa, before the first day of classes had even begun. The shooting prompted an immediate police response as emergency vehicles and armed units rushed to the school.

Responding authorities also found a “fairly rudimentary” improvised explosive device at the school, which they disabled.

Among the injured was a school administrator, later identified by his alma mater as Principal Dan Marburger. He is the only shooting victim to be identified by name.

Who was the shooter in Iowa?

Authorities identified the gunman, who was found dead at the scene, as Dylan Butler, 17, but have not released any information about a possible motive.

Authorities said Butler had a pump-action shotgun and a small-caliber handgun.

Butler is said to have shot himself. “Officers immediately attempted to locate the source of the threat and quickly located the perpetrator with a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” Mitch Mortvedt, deputy director of the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation, told reporters

Butler’s mother and two of his friends told The Associated Press that he was a quiet person who had been bullied for years.

Where in Iowa did the shooting take place?

Perry is located about 65 km (40 miles) northwest of Des Moines, on the edge of the state capital’s metropolitan area.

Here is a relatively diverse population of about 8,000 people, living in low, one-story houses among trees that have lost their leaves in winter. Census figures show that 31 percent of Perry residents are Hispanic. Statewide, it’s less than 7 percent.

The high school and middle school are connected and are located on the eastern edge of the city.

How did US Republicans react to the shooting in Iowa?

This shooting comes a week before the Iowa caucuses, a series of local meetings across the state where Republicans typically express their preference for a presidential candidate to represent the party in November’s presidential election.

The incident sparked reactions and prayers from Republican candidates, but no policy proposals were made. Guns are expected to be a hot topic of debate again this election cycle, with little legislative action expected.

Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy posted a video on X in which he meets two parents whose daughter was at Perry’s nearby elementary school that day.

We pray for the victims of the tragic high school shooting in Perry, Iowa. I happened to be there today, right after it happened, we canceled our event and turned it into a prayer and open conversation. Remarkably, the first two people who spoke to us said they were “not…”. pic.twitter.com/bw3VoXPvoF

– Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) January 4, 2024

“Our goal here was to pray and reflect to ensure that something like this never happens again,” Ramaswamy said.

Republican candidate Nikki Haley X also expressed her condolences. “My heart aches for the victims of Perry, Iowa and the entire community,” she wrote.

No parent, student or teacher should have to wake up and deal with the news of a school shooting. My heart aches for the victims of Perry, Iowa and the entire community.

— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) January 4, 2024

Gun violence in the USA

This is the fifth recorded incident of gun violence in the United States in 2024, according to the agency Gun Violence Archivesa non-governmental organization that defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more people are injured or killed.

Gun violence is omnipresent in the USA – there are more guns than people in the country. Attempts to contain the spread are often met with fierce political resistance. There were a total of 656 shootings last year. The news agency Education Week reported that 37 school shootings resulted in injuries or deaths in 2023.

The day before the shooting in Iowa, a 15-year-old allegedly shot a man outside a high school in Virginia. No one was identified in the case and it was not clear whether the two were students.

According to an Education Week database, the Perry incident is the second school shooting so far this year, bringing the number of recorded shootings since 2018 to 183.

As of July 2021, Iowa no longer requires gun owners to have a permit before purchasing a handgun or carrying a firearm in public. However, a background check is required for anyone purchasing a handgun without a permit.