Iowa principal who risked his life to protect students during high school shooting dies

A heroic Iowa principal who risked his own life to help students flee during a deadly school shooting in early January has died, his family said.

Principal Dan Marburger died Sunday morning, the Caldwell Parrish Funeral Home & Crematory confirmed, days after a shooter opened fire during breakfast in the Perry High School cafeteria on Jan. 4.

“Dan lost his 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.

Marburger reportedly confronted the shooter, 17-year-old Dylan Butler, and tried to distract and calm him down so students could flee to safety.

Butler opened fire, critically injuring Marburger, wounding six others, and killing 11-year-old middle schooler Ahmir Jolliff with three gunshots.

The shooter, who was armed with a pump-action shotgun, a handgun, and an explosive, later took his own life.

Marburger was hailed as a hero following the shooting, with the Iowa Department of Safety saying he “acted selflessly and placed himself in harm’s way in an apparent effort to protect his students.”

A spokesperson for the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation said Marburger did “pretty significant things” to protect his students, while Perry Superintendent Clark Wicks called him a “hero.”

His daughter, Claire, called her father a “gentle giant” in a heart wrenching post the night of the incident, and said she knew the moment she heard of the shooting that her father had fought to protect his students.

“As I heard of a gunman, I instantly had a feeling my Dad would be a victim as he would put himself in harms way for the benefit of the kids and his staff,” Claire wrote. “That’s just Dad.”

Condolences flooded into the Perry Facebook page after news of Marburger’s death broke, with over 200 people posting within an hour.

The principal had held his post at the Perry High School since 1995.

Butler began shooting just after 7:30 a.m. on Jan. 4, the first day back from winter break.

The shooting spilled out from the cafeteria, but the early hour meant fewer students and staff were in the building, “which contributed to a good outcome in that sense,” according to Dallas County Sheriff Adam Infante.

The motivation behind the shooting remains unclear, but classmates have said Butler was the target of bullying and that his younger sister had recently begun to be picked on, too.

With Post wires