© APAn active shooter was reported at Perry High School in Iowa early Thursday.
The principal of Perry High School, 40 miles northwest of Des Moines, was reportedly among what police said were "multiple gunshot victims" as the mass shooting unfolded at 7:47 a.m.
The rampage came before the opening bell when "very few students and faculty" were in the building "which contributed to a good outcome in that sense," Dallas County Sheriff Adam Infante said at a press conference later in the morning.
Rachael Kares, an 18-year-old senior, said she was practicing with the school's jazz band when she said she heard four gunshots spaced apart.
"We all just jumped," Kares said. "My band teacher looked at us and yelled, 'Run!' So we ran."
The shooter, who Infante said had been identified, was dead, law enforcement officials told CNN. Initial reports said that first responders indicated on police radio that the individual appeared to have killed themselves.
Infante declined to say exactly how many were shot or if there were any fatalities or give details on the shooter.
"There are a bunch of speculative numbers floating around," said Dirk Cavanaugh, Perry's mayor. "We have no confirmed numbers of who was involved yet."
Two gunshot victims were taken by ambulance to Iowa Methodist Medical Center in the state capital, a spokesperson for its network UnityPoint Health confirmed.
"There is no further danger to the public [and] the community is safe," Infante said.
The shooting occurred on a campus shared by the middle and high school in the town of 8,000.
A first responder told dispatchers there was a "male subject down in the hallway — appears to be self-inflicted" and that he was "shooting other victims," according to the Des Moines Register.
The "subject that's down is deceased," the responder reportedly added.
Parent Kevin Shelley told the paper that his 15-year-old son Zander Shelley was in a school hallway when he was grazed by a bullet in the back and arm before taking shelter in a classroom.
Two teachers told the paper that principal Dan Marburger got shot, something that Shelley said Zander also saw.
"My son was inside, said he heard gunshots and immediately started running," Shelley said. "They got into a classroom with a teacher that kept them hidden and safe."
The injured sophomore was reunited with his dad outside the school and was recovering at home, as throngs of parents met with students outside the school for "tearful" reunions after the campus was cleared and evacuated, the local station reported.
© REUTERSThe first officer arrived seven minutes later and located “multiple gunshot victims,” Dallas County Sheriff Adam Infante said.
"It was the most scared I've been in my entire life," he said.
Some high school kids initially thought the rampage was a prank, according to WHO 13.
"I heard a couple of bangs, they weren't loud. We saw loads of people run out. We thought it was a prank or something. We didn't think it was real at first," a student named Carlos said.
"That's when a bunch of cops started coming and we knew it was serious and we were told to leave. One of our teachers started screaming at us — that's when we knew it was serious — he was telling us to 'leave, leave, leave,'"
As Kares and her fellow students ran past the football field, she said she heard additional shots in addition to people yelling, "Get out! Get out!"
"At that moment I didn't care about anything except getting out because I had to get home with my son," the student said.
One parent, Erica Jolliff, said her ninth grade daughter got rushed from the school grounds at about 7:45 a.m.
The distraught mom said she was still trying to locate her sixth-grade son an hour later.
"I just want to know that he's safe and OK," Jolliff said. "They won't tell me nothing."
Some students took shelter at an assisted living community near the school, Holly Killmer, a teacher for Perry Middle School told The Register.
"I work in the school ... and two of my three children were supposed to be in the high school at that time," said Killmer.
"How do you wrap your mind around sending them back into that environment? How do they do that? It's just so traumatic."
"We were told to go home, but we were also told we could get our cars out which is not true — we can't get our cars out," Killmer said. "Watching parents come up .... as we're (evacuating) over here — within minutes, parents pulling in here and screaming and crying and hugging their kids. It was more than I can handle."
The district canceled classes for the remainder of the day and Friday amid the ongoing investigation.
The incident came as presidential candidates and the national media descended on The Hawkeye State ahead of the Iowa caucuses, 11 days away.
Officials said the White House had been informed of the shooting and was monitoring the response.
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