School Shooting Investigation Closes, Some Information Remains Confidential • Iowa Capital Dispatch

“There is no evidence that any other person knew of the shooter’s specific intentions on January 4,” he said. “Others were aware of the shooter’s general interest in school shootings. Others were aware of his fascination with violence. Others were aware of his troubling behavior. The evidence proves this. These concerns – along with a number of other warning signs – went unreported or were otherwise unrecognized. But we can say that the shooter in this case had extensive behavioral issues and had extensive mental health concerns, and that many of those concerns existed years before the January 4th shooting.”

Butler entered Perry High School at 7:12 a.m. on the morning of Jan. 4 armed with a shotgun, a revolver and a rudimentary explosive device. He shot and killed 11-year-old Ahmir Jolliff and principal Dan Marburger and wounded two staff members and four students before taking his own life.

The summary of the investigation into the case was released Thursday after state lawmakers, open government advocates and school employees objected to Dallas County District Attorney Jeannine R. Ritchie’s decision last month to keep all findings confidential.

At a news conference Friday, Bayens reiterated much of the information released Thursday. He said that while the DCI’s investigation was now officially closed, there were four reasons to continue to keep some information confidential. He cited privacy laws, Butler’s desire for notoriety, the possibility of copycat shootings and his respect for the victims’ families.

“The shooter in this case wanted notoriety,” Bayens said, “and I am not inclined to be a tool in that.”

He added that he felt that by disclosing some of the withheld information he would dishonor the victims’ families and also “glorify a day of evil.”

Bayens said that while the shooting lasted 4 minutes and 21 seconds, the DCI’s investigation into the incident was among the largest in the department’s history and included 180 interviews with law enforcement officers, multiple search warrants and subpoenas, and agents who threw “every rock imaginable.” turned around.” in their search for answers.

“The number of hours they put into this case was staggering,” Bayens said. “This investigation is one of the largest and most complex investigations conducted by the DCI in its 100-year history.”

Since Butler was identified as the shooter just minutes after the shot was fired, the subsequent investigation focused on Butler’s motives and plans. Bayens said the evidence showed Butler was not ideologically motivated or triggered by bullying, but was suicidal and driven by a desire for fame while remaining “disjointed, broken and inconsistent in thought.”

He said the evidence also suggests that while Butler expressed to others his fascination with violence and interest in school shootings, he did not express to anyone a plan to actually engage in a shooting. Signs of his interest in violence appeared a year before the shooting, Bayens said, but the evidence suggests he began planning the shooting about six weeks before the event and began preparing for it four weeks in advance.

“There was evidence of careful, weeks-long planning rather than an unprepared emotional reaction,” Bayens said. “He said that with his own hand. We have secured writings from the shooter that indicate exactly this. He wanted to be famous. He wanted to commit suicide. He wanted to take others with him. He told us that too.”

Bayens said the shooting victims were not targeted and appeared to have been shot because of their physical location as Butler moved through the building.

Ritchie and Bayens said investigators have not been able to determine where Butler got the shotgun from which he fired 23 shots, although Bayens said it may have been taken from the home of a member of his extended family without the owner’s knowledge.

The revolver, which Butler carried but did not use, was left “unsecured” in his family’s home and was accessible to him, Ritchie said.