Four Killed in Amish School Shooting
At least four people died after an armed man took hostages
and barricaded himself inside a one-room Amish elementary school in Nickell
Mines in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The shooter and three females,
including two young students, died at the scene and at least seven other
female victims were taken to area hospitals in critical
condition.
The gunman, identified as Charles Carl Roberts IV, shot the victims execution style in the head before apparently shooting and killing himself as state police stormed the building. The females were pronounced dead at the scene, three others died before arriving at local hospital.
The gunman worked his night shift job as a milk truck driver, came home and walked his children to the school bus stop, returned to his house and wrote suicide notes to his wife and two children.
Police said he then went to the nearby school bringing with him a shotgun and an automatic handgun as well as two-by-four and two-by-six boards to block the doors of the school. Police said he broght the materials to the school in a pickup truck that he borrowed.
He told everyone in the one-room schoolhouse to line up against the blackboard. He let the 15 boys in the school, ages six to 13, leave as well as all of the adult females. He tied up the girls of the school with plastic ties and wire bands that he also brought with him to the scene.
The school teacher went to a telephone and called police, who surrounded the building. As police tried to contact the suspect to negotiate, they heard gunshots from inside the building. They immediately stormed the school, finding the doors barricaded and entered by breaking the windows.
Revenge The Motive?
They found the suspect dead on the floor with the shotgun and handgun beside
him. They also found two students and a teacher's aide shot execution style
in the head. Seven other female students were shot and taken to area
hospitals, some in critical condition.
Earlier, a local coroner told reporters that six people had died as a result of the shooting, but later reports said only four people were dead, Roberts and the three females inside the school.
"He not only intended to not walk out of there alive, he intended to kill innocent victims," said state police spokesman Jeffrey Miller.
Miller said in a press conference that investigators believe that the gunman's action was motivated by revenge for something that took place 20 years ago, when the shooter would have been 12 years old.
See Also:
Milk Man Kills Girls at Pa. Amish School
Police: Pa. School Gunman a Truck Driver
Coroner: Shooting at Amish School Results Six Deaths
Comments
I would like to offer my deepest sympanthy to all that have lost a loved one in this horrible tragedy. I want to say why can we find security systems for all of our stores, homes, expensive vehicles? What about our schools across America? If there were schools that had security where you needed permission to gain entry …wouldn’t our children all be a little safer? So, dear Mr. President of the good ole USA you send money all across the world. What about saving our childrens lives with security system in each and every school across the states?
Concerned Citizen:
I went to a Public High School. Although I lived in a very wealth area, we still had Armed Police Officers patrolling our campus at ALL times. Some of my friends schools have metal detectors at the doors and armed guards, in addition to the Armed Police Officers. I do not think this is an issue of the money Mr. President is circulating, rather the Amish Community. I do sympathize with everyone who has lost loved ones, because I have lost someone dear to me recently, but how do you expect the Amish Community to have a security system without Electricity???