Iowa school shooter showed 'warning signs' and 'copycat behavior,' police say

The student gunman in a small-town Iowa school shooting in January in which two people were killed and several others injured was known to have a fascination with school shooters and exhibited a number of unreported “warning signs,” the Iowa Public Safety Department said Friday.

The new details come from an investigation into the Jan. 4 shooting, in which 17-year-old Dylan Butler fired at students and staff at Perry High School before taking his own life.

Ahmir Jolliff, an 11-year-old sixth-grader, and Principal Dan Marburger, 56, were killed, and four students and two staff members were wounded.

“There is significant evidence of this shooter’s fascination with prior school shootings” and there was also evidence of “copycat behavior” in his actions, Stephan Bayens, commissioner of the Iowa Public Safety Department, said in a news conference.

Bayens said the investigation found that no one knew of the shooter's specific plans for that day. But, he added, “I can say that others were aware of the shooter’s general interest in school shootings, others were aware of his fascination for violence, others were aware of his concerning behaviors. The evidence bears that out.”

“Those concerns, along with a number of other warning signs, were unreported or were otherwise unrecognized,” Bayens said. He said the shooter exhibited “broad behavioral issues” and mental health concerns that were present years before the shooting.

He did not say who knew about the warning signs.

Bayens said that no prior reports were made to law enforcement officials regarding concerns about violence, but that some people had information that should have prompted them to contact police or school officials.

The shooter was “suicidal coupled with a homicidal intention to take others with him in an effort to gain notoriety,” Bayens said.

“He said as much in his own hand. We recovered writings from the shooter, who indicated just that he desired to be famous, desired to commit suicide, desired to take others with him,” he added.

The gunman attempted to livestream the shooting on Instagram, where it was up “for a very, very short period of time” before it was taken down by parent-company Meta, Bayens said.

Bayens said the shotgun that the shooter used likely came from “a large gun collection within the extended family” taken without the owner’s knowledge.

A revolver the shooter was carrying belonged to his father and had been unsecured in the family home, Bayens said, adding that the teenager also had a rudimentary improvised explosive device that “would have had a negligible impact on the surroundings” if detonated.

Bayens said Marburger, the principal who died from his injuries after the shooting, was “heroic” and “saved lives that day” by calling out the shooter by name and engaging him to speak, distracting the gunman from shooting others, “after being shot more than once.” 

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.