The 11-year-old sixth grade student killed in a mass shooting at an Iowa high school on Thursday has been identified, as authorities increased the number of victims reported in the “horrific” incident, according to reports.
Ahmir Jolliff was shot three times in the shooting at Perry High School, the Iowa Department of Public Safety said in a release on Friday.
The Perry Middle School student was one of eight victims in the shooting, the Iowa Department of Public Safety said Friday, increasing the previously reported number of victims by two.
Seven people, three staff members and four students, “received wounds or injuries of varying degree,” the agency said.
Perry High School Principal Dan Marburger, one of the staff members injured in the shooting, remains in critical condition, according to the Iowa Department of Public Safety.
The principal has been hailed as a hero.
“The investigation thus far confirms Principal Marburger acted selflessly and placed himself in harm’s way in an apparent effort to protect his students,” the Iowa Department of Public Safety said.
Two other students remain hospitalized while the other victims have since been treated and released, the agency said.
The suspected shooter, 17-year-old Dylan Butler, a student at the high school, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said.
He was found dead by responding officers with a pump-action shotgun and a small-caliber handgun, according to Mitch Mortvedt, assistant director of the Iowa Department of Public Safety’s Division of Criminal Investigation.
A “rudimentary” explosive device was also located in the school and rendered safe, Mortvedt said.
Authorities have not commented on a possible motive.
The investigation remains ongoing.
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