Minutes before he started opening fire on students and staff at Perry High School, Dylan Butler made a racist post on an online forum, according to a report by NBC News.
The 17-year-old gunman died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after killing 11-year-old Ahmir Jolliff and shooting seven other people at the rural school on Thursday.
In a Discord group, a user named “tooktoomuch”—the same username Butler used on a since shuttered TikTok account and that NBC verified through the platform—said he was ready for “what’s to come” before he made a racist remark.
He then wrote, “I’m fucking nervous, I’m [in] the bathroom gearing up.” Butler, who was white, followed up two minutes later with, “There’s a n—– in the bathroom, I need him to leave so I can assemble my guns.”
Jolliff, who was Black, was the only person who was killed during Butler’s attack. The Perry School District is a minority-majority district.
NBC News also reported that Butler was in a Discord group called “School Massacre Discussion” which was closed after someone reported it to the FBI.
The Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation said it is investigating Butler’s social media activity and that “investigators have seized large volumes of digital and social media evidence that will take time to review.”
