Iowa shooting: ‘Joyful’ 11-year-old victim mourned as bullying of Perry school gunman revealed

Ahmir Jolliff dashed out of his home in Perry Thursday morning, eager to see his friends on the first day back to school after winter break.

It was vintage Ahmir — known as “Smiley” around his house — an 11-year-old whirlwind of cheerful activity. He kept a trunk of toys unlocked in the front yard so anyone could play with them, his mother said. He loved soccer, played the tuba and sang in choir. He had a habit of touching people on their shoulder and asking them how their day was.

Ahmir was killed Thursday before class even started, when a 17-year-old student at Perry High School opened fire in the cafeteria. The sixth-grader, who attended the middle school that’s connected to the high school, was shot three times, authorities said. Seven others, including the school’s principal, two other staff members and four students, were wounded before the shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Ahmir’s mother, Erica Jolliff, said on that morning, her son couldn’t wait to get to school and left minutes ahead of his mom and sister, who is in ninth-grade. Jolliff soon found herself scouring the streets for her children when authorities sped into town and blocked access to the complex after the shooting. She found her daughter unharmed. But she couldn’t find Ahmir.

“I just had a feeling he was still in that building,” she said.

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While campaigning in Iowa on Friday — one day after the Perry, Iowa high school shooting occurred — Donald Trump offered his “deepest sympathies” to those affected just before telling the crowd “we have to get over it.”

Speaking at Sioux Center on 5 January, the former president said: “To the entire community, we love you, we pray for you, and we ask God to heal and comfort really the whole state and the pain that you have. This is something that’s very unique to your state.”

“That’s just horrible, so surprising to see it here, but we have to get over it,” Mr Trump said. “We have to move forward.”

Zander Shelley, 15, was in a hallway when he heard gunshots and dashed into a classroom, according to his father, Kevin Shelley. Zander was grazed twice and hid in the classroom before texting his father at 7:36 a.m.

Kevin Shelley, who drives a garbage truck, told his boss he had to run. “It was the most scared I’ve been in my entire life,” he said.

Meanwhile, Amber Ross told CBC her daughter heard three gunshots come from the school’s cafeteria as she walked through a hallway that connects the cafeteria to the middle school.

“It could have been her,” she said through tears. Ms Ross said her daughter called her as the shots rung out, “I thought she was exaggerating,” she said. “I was like, ’no way, that couldn’t have happened, you guys just heard something.’ But no.

“She heard three gun shots that could have been pointed in her direction,” she added.

Rachael Kares, an 18-year-old senior, also described hearing gunshots. She was wrapping up jazz band practice when she and her bandmates heard what she described as four gunshots, spaced apart. “We all just jumped,” Kares said.

“My band teacher looked at us and yelled, ‘Run!’ So we ran.” Kares and many others from the school ran out past the football field, as she heard people yelling, “Get out! Get out!”

She said she was more concerned about getting home to her three-year-old son. “At that moment I didn’t care about anything except getting out because I had to get home with my son,” she said.

One mother, Bobbi Bushbaum, posted on Facebook that her son Corey was shot multiple times, suffering a fractured femur and wrist. Bushbaum said Corey was able to stumble to a nearby field after being wounded, and when she arrived, he was being helped toward an ambulance. In the post, Bushbaum said her son underwent one surgery, but still had bullets in his body and won’t be able to walk for weeks.

Bushbaum expressed thanks to those who helped pull Corey to safety, saying: “I would like them to know my son wouldn’t be here without them.”

West Des Moines Police arrested an 18-year-old for allegedly threatening to “shoot up the school??” on Thursday (4 January), shortly after the Perry school shooting that killed a sixth grader and injured five others.

CBS 2 Iowa reports court documents as saying Lakeeve Fort posted a Snapchat saying “Should I shoot up the school??” with a thumbs up or down.

Mr Fort told police he initially posted it a year ago in a private chat (on January 4, 2023) and then reposted it on Thursday as a memory. He added that a few of the members of the private chat group were alarmed and told him to delete it.

West Des Moines Police worked with the FBI to arrest him on Thursday night and charge him with threat of terrorism.

The police department released the following statement: “The West Des Moines Police Department would like to take this opportunity to remind anyone who engages in or considers making threatening comments of violence towards others in any fashion, will be held legally accountable for such actions. Keeping our community safe and secure is our top priority.

“We will work tirelessly to make sure our schools, businesses, and neighborhoods are protected from such threats and violent actions. The West Des Moines Police Department will have no tolerance for these kinds of threats or actions in our community.”

Ahmir Jolliff dashed out of his home in Perry Thursday morning, eager to see his friends on the first day back to school after winter break.

It was vintage Ahmir — known as “Smiley” around his house — an 11-year-old whirlwind of cheerful activity. He kept a trunk of toys unlocked in the front yard so anyone could play with them, his mother said. He loved soccer, played the tuba and sang in choir. He had a habit of touching people on their shoulder and asking them how their day was.

Ahmir was killed Thursday before class even started, when a 17-year-old student at Perry High School opened fire in the cafeteria. The sixth-grader, who attended the middle school that’s connected to the high school, was shot three times, authorities said. Seven others, including the school’s principal, two other staff members and four students, were wounded before the shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Ahmir’s mother, Erica Jolliff, said on that morning, her son couldn’t wait to get to school and left minutes ahead of his mom and sister, who is in ninth-grade. Jolliff soon found herself scouring the streets for her children when authorities sped into town and blocked access to the complex after the shooting. She found her daughter unharmed. But she couldn’t find Ahmir.

“I just had a feeling he was still in that building,” she said.

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The Iowa school shooter who killed one sixth grader and injured five was bullied “relentlessly,” according to his former classmates.

Dylan Butler, 17, was named as the gunman who attacked Perry High School in Iowa on Thursday as students returned from their Christmas break.

His former classmates, sisters Yesenia Roeder and Khamya Hall, both 17, said that Butler had been bullied relentlessly since elementary school.

They added that the bullying had escalated recently, when his younger sister started getting picked on, too. Officials at the school didn’t intervene, they said, and that was “the last straw” for the shooter.

“He was hurting. He got tired. He got tired of the bullying. He got tired of the harassment,” Yesenia Roeder Hall said.

Was it a smart idea to shoot up the school? No. God, no,” she added.

Bulter was found dead at the scene by responding officers.

More than 500 gun purchases have been blocked since a new gun law requiring stricter background checks for young people went into effect in 2022, Attorney General Merrick Garland said Friday, the day after a school shooting in Iowa left a sixth-grader dead.

The bipartisan law passed in June 2022 was the most sweeping gun legislation in decades and requires extra checks for any gun purchases by people under age 21. Those denied a gun purchase include a person convicted of rape, a suspect in an attempted murder case and someone who had been involuntarily committed for mental-health treatment, according to the Justice Department.

President Joe Biden applauded the news, calling it an important milestone.

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