UPDATE: Jan. 16, 2024: Perry High School Principal Dan Marburger died Sunday from injuries sustained in the Jan. 4 shooting at the school, according to an update from his wife, Elizabeth Marburger, on GoFundMe. In a Jan. 4 Facebook post, Marburger's daughter wrote that her father had attempted to talk the shooter down and distract him so more students and staff could escape the school's cafeteria.
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A 6th grade student was killed Thursday during a shooting at Perry High School in Iowa just as students were returning from winter break. Five others, including an administrator, were wounded in the attack, said Mitch Mortvedt, assistant director of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, during a Thursday afternoon press briefing.
Students of varying grades had been in the high school building as part of a breakfast program, Mortvedt said. Of the five wounded victims, one was reported in critical condition, and the other four were stable.
According to the Des Moines Register, two teachers said the injured administrator is Principal Dan Marburger.
A rudimentary improvised explosive device was also found in the school building and dismantled, said Mortvedt.
The shooter, a 17-year-old student at the school, is believed to have died from a self-inflicted wound, said Dallas County Sheriff Adam Infante during an earlier press briefing Thursday morning.
At the afternoon briefing, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds praised the immediate response of law enforcement and coordination by the Perry Police Department, the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office, Iowa State Patrol, FBI, first responders and healthcare providers.
“This senseless tragedy has shaken our entire state to the core, and I want this community to know that every Iowan stands with you,” said Reynolds. “It’s impossible to understand why anything like this happens, but again, I want you to know that we’ll work tirelessly to get the answers so we can prevent it from happening again.”
Just four days into 2024, the tragedy in Iowa is the fourth school shooting incident so far, as defined by the K-12 School Shooting Database. The privately maintained database counts any time a gun is fired or brandished with intent, or when a bullet hits school property, regardless of the number of victims, time, day or reason behind the incident.
At 346, the total number of school shooting incidents tracked by the database for 2023 hit a record high for a third year in a row.
