A heroic Iowa school principal who risked his life to help students evacuate during a school shooting in early January has died, his family announced.
Days after a gunman opened fire during breakfast in the Perry High School cafeteria on Jan. 4, Principal Dan Marburger died Sunday morning, Caldwell Parrish Funeral Home and Crematory confirmed.
“Dan lost the battle. He fought hard and gave us 10 days that we will treasure forever,” Marburger's family wrote in a post on a GoFundMe page early Sunday morning.
Marburger reportedly confronted the gunman, Dylan Butler, 17, and tried to distract him and calm him down so the students could escape to safety.
Butler opened fire, seriously injuring Marburger, injuring six others, and killing 11-year-old middle school student Amir Jolliff with three gunshots.
The gunman was armed with a pump-action shotgun, a handgun and explosives, and later took his own life.
After the shooting, Marburger was hailed as a hero, with the Iowa Department of Safety saying he “acted clearly selflessly and put himself in harm's way to protect students.”
A spokesperson for the Iowa Bureau of Criminal Investigation said Marburger did “some pretty significant things” to protect students, and Perry Superintendent Clark Wicks called Marburger a “hero.”
His daughter Claire called her father a “gentle giant” in a heartbreaking post the night of the incident, and said the moment she heard about the shooting, she knew he was fighting to protect his students. said.
“When I heard about the shooter, I immediately felt that he was willing to put himself at risk for the benefit of the children and staff, and that my father would also be a victim,” Clare wrote. “That's just Dad.”
After news broke of Mahlberger's death, Perry's Facebook page was flooded with condolences, with more than 200 people posting within an hour.
The principal had held the position at Perry High School since 1995.
Butler began filming just after 7:30 a.m. on January 4, his first day back from winter break.
The gunfire escaped from the cafeteria, but because it was early in the day, fewer students and staff were in the building, “which contributed to the positive outcome in that sense,” Dallas County Sheriff Adam Infante said.
The motive for the shooting is unknown, but classmates said Butler was a target of bullying, and that his younger sister had recently been bullied as well.
with post wire
