Courtesy of the Perry Iowa Community Page

The Iowa Department of Public Safety Commissioner Stephan Bayens acknowledged the brave response displayed by three prominent individuals during the January 4th shooting in Perry.

The department recently held a press conference this past Friday, October 18th, to address more details regarding the tragedy at the high school. Bayens took a moment to thank all the courageous men and women who sacrificed themselves to prevent more lives from being lost. He specifically named then Assistant High School Principal Brad Snowgren, Perry Police Officer Micaela Zagar, and Principal Dan Marburger. 

Bayens described that Snowgren activated the school safety radio to alert everyone of the danger. He says from that call, Officer Zagar was on scene in less than three minutes and entered the school without any backup. Bayens then pointed to Marburger’s humanitarian attitude in attempting to stop the shooter, 17-year-old Dylan Butler, by calling out his name twice, pleading to talk with him, which in turn saved countless lives.

“And each time Principal Marburger called that name out, and diverted that attention, it bought those students another two seconds, another three seconds, another five seconds. And when we’re talking about school shootings, those sorts of seconds matter. And in this case, they did matter, and it made sure that those kids got out of that commons area around the corner and off to safety. He (Marburger) was an absolute hero.”

Marburger was shot prior to exiting the school, where he succumbed to his injuries 10 days later on January 14th. Sixth grader Ahmir Jolliff was also killed in the tragedy as six others were wounded.