Here we go again and again: Iowa Trans Shooter Was Known to Authorities
Last week, 17-year-old student Dylan "DJ" Butler shot multiple people. He also killed a sixth-grade student before taking his own life. As Mia and Matt highlighted, Butler's social media posts pointed to an interest in the LGBT movement and identified as "gender fluid," using "he/they" pronouns. Now, more tragic but sadly not surprising details have come out, which is that he was known to authorities.
The Libs of TikTok X account shared coverage from the Daily Mail on Monday, which noted that Butler had been posting about the attack on the Discord social media site. "Butler posted a video to TikTok from an account with the username 'tooktoomuch' in the minutes leading up to the shooting. A Discord account with a similar name, 'took2much' appears to also belong to the shooter. A Discord spokesperson told the outlet they believe the account belonged to Butler," the report mentioned. A TikTok post came "hours before."
Source: https://t.co/XVfVdOVRDy pic.twitter.com/vme7GR9QPh - Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) January 8, 2024
There were posts worthy of concern from much earlier, though, including ones that were reported to the FBI which the bureau failed to follow up on:
'The user was also part of a chatroom dedicated to discussing school shootings called "School Massacres Discussion,"' a Discord user who saw the user in the chat told NBC.
The Discord user said they had flagged the chatroom to the FBI in November, after which an FBI agent reached out over email and asked for more information.
The user emailed the FBI agent screenshots of the server but did not hear back. The chatroom was closed before the shooting.
'Our deepest sympathies are with the victims, their families, and the community in Perry, Iowa following yesterday's horrific shooting' a Discord spokesperson said.
'Discord has a zero-tolerance policy against content that glorifies violence and violent extremism, which is reflected in our Community Guidelines.
Adding: 'We took immediate action against the suspect and his content, and are currently cooperating with law enforcement to assist them in their continuing investigation.'
Discord has previously been used by mass shooters, including the convicted shooter in the Buffalo shooting in 2022.
Given that the platform has been used by other shooters, including from May 2022, it sounds like this was one that definitely needed to be flagged. Such tragedies become even worse, and inexcusable.
Butler is hardly the only suspect to have already been known to authorities. Last October, Robert Card killed at least 18 people in Maine. Just like so many other shooting suspects, he had a history of mental illness. He was also known to authorities, who were warned about him. in September, Madeline covered, with Matt highlighting how this has become a pattern. As Matt also covered just a few weeks ago, police had been afraid to confront him.
Such weren't the only shamefully unsurprising details about this shooting though. In addition to covering how Butler was known to authorities, our sister site of Twitchy highlighted how NBC News' Matt Lavietes, who has pronouns in his X bio, covered the tragic shooting with the headline "Musk and far-right figures seize on Iowa shooter's possible LGBTQ identity."
Despite levying such charges against these "far-right figures," Lavietes' piece is not only vague, but also factually incorrect when it comes to shooters like Audrey Hale:
After a 28-year-old shot and killed three people last year at a grade school in Nashville, Tennessee, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., suggested the shooter was medically transitioning and speculated that the treatment drove them to commit violence. Authorities initially identified the shooter, a former student who was fatally shot, as transgender. However, confusion and disagreement over the shooter's gender identity still linger.
Hale was confirmed by police to identify as transgender, but many outlets went with ridiculous narratives, which included a concern of misgendering Hale. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), a favorite boogeyman for the left and the mainstream media, was hardly the only one to speak out about how Hale was trans, or that she targeted a Christian school, a detail Lavietes conveniently leaves out there. More importantly, Hale killed six people, not three people. Three of the victims were children.
When mentioning a Colorado shooting from November 2022, Lavietes left out how Anderson Lee Aldrich, who ended up pleading guilty, identified as non-binary. "Most notably, a gunman opened fire on an LGBTQ club in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in November 2022, killing five people and injuring 17 others," he wrote. What should be considered "notabl[e]" is Lavietes' fact-challenged narratives.
The post, which Lavietes shared on Friday night, has been thoroughly ratioed, with 1,000 replies mocking the article. Of the 84 reposts, 68 of them are quoted reposts, also calling out Lavietes.
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