Byline: Brian Niemietz, New York Daily News, (TNS)
Gunman Dylan Butler said online he was “gearing up” and used a racial slur on social media before killing 11-year-old Ahmir Jolliff and shooting seven other people at Perry High School in Iowa on January 4, 2024.
The 17-year-old mass shooter appeared to preview his plan on the social media platform Discord, where his username was “took2much,” according to NBC News. Discord told NBC “took2much” was likely Butler’s account on that platform.
Screenshots of messages posted to Discord before the shootings indicate Butler was nervous as he was “gearing up” in a bathroom believed to have been inside the high school.
“There’s a n—– in the bathroom,” he allegedly wrote. “I need him to leave so I can assemble my guns.”
Minutes before that mid-morning shooting spree, a TikTok account with the name “tooktoomuch” posted video filmed inside what appeared to be a school bathroom.
Another Discord user told NBC News “took2much” participated in a chat room where school shootings were discussed. That unidentified user, who is a minor, reportedly flagged the “School Massacres Discussion” board for the FBI late last year, but didn’t hear back. The chatroom was inactive at the time of the Iowa school shooting.
Armed with a pump-action shotgun and a small-caliber handgun, Butler reportedly shot Jolliff, four other students, and three faculty members before taking his own life in Des Moines, Iowa, according to police. An undetonated explosive was also found inside the school.
Discord didn’t address Butler’s alleged postings, but told NBC News the company enforces “a zero-tolerance policy against content that glorifies violence and violent extremism.”
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