Violence in Amish Country
A gunman has shot dead three girls and injured seven others before killing himself in an attack on an Amish school in the US state of Pennsylvania. The attack happened in a one-room school in the village of Paradise near Nickel Mines in Lancaster County.
The gunman entered the class and ordered all the boys and some adults to leave. He then tied up the girls and began shooting them in the head.
Police named the killer as 32-year-old truck driver Charles Carl Roberts IV.
The attack happened at a school for children aged six to 13.
In the classroom were 15 male pupils, 10-12 female pupils, one teacher and a number of assistants - older children and adults.
He told the boys to leave, along with a pregnant woman and three women who had young infants with them. The teacher also managed to leave the classroom and made a telephone call to the police at 1036 (1436 GMT).
‘Executed’
The gunman made the girls line up in front of the blackboard, where he tied their feet using wire or plastic cuffs.
The officers tried hailing the gunman on their car loudspeakers, but were unable to make contact, Col Miller said.
At this time an emergency operator in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, received a call from someone who said they had been called by the gunman.
In the phonecall, the gunman warned that if the police did not pull back from the area he would open fire on the hostages.
This message was relayed to the officers at the scene, Col Miller said, but as the message was going through shots fired in rapid succession were heard.
Police then stormed the building, breaking the windows to enter. But by the time they got there three girls and the gunman were dead.
Seven people were found injured, at least three of whom were shot in the head.
‘Normal behaviour’
Col Miller said the girls had been shot one-by-one “execution style”.The gunman was a local milk tanker driver who often picked up milk from Amish farms in the area.
A father of three, he had worked his night shift as usual on Sunday night, finishing at 0300 on Monday.
His wife said he had seemed perfectly normal as he walked his children to the school bus at 0845, as he did every day.
Suicide notes
However, when his wife returned to the family home around mid-morning she discovered suicide notes that he had written to each of his children.
At 1100 she received a call from Roberts in which he said he was “not coming home” and that the police were with him.
The police said there were indications that he was motivated by an incident that happened some 20 years ago, but refused to go into details.
BBC NewsÂÂ
October 2nd, 2006 at 4:45 pm
Thanks for the news. My sister lives in Lancaster and I’m from a place not too far from there. Very sad.
story
October 2nd, 2006 at 9:24 pm
Parke,
Yes, I thought of you and your beloved Pennsylvania. Comes as a shock, doesn’t it? I mean not that they don’t have their problems, same as any community; but ususally they deal with them quietly and privately. Something like this is simply unheard of. And why were they targeted? Because they were Amish? Or was it simply young girls in general were the target, and this school was picked because it was so relatively unprotected?
-Mel
October 3rd, 2006 at 7:52 am
Those are good questions. The reality is that that facade is really only so thick. Drug problems in the paper that involved Amish youth are not unheard of in Pennsylvania and its little secret in Pennsylvania that the bitter divisions between different groups of Amish and Mennonites can rival the vehemence our ancestors once had for denominational lines.
Now in this case it was an outsider who killed Amish schoolgirls so I don’t really know if there is any pattern to explain it yet. But yes, it is a shock to see people so violently hurt some of the most innocent. It seems there are more and more school shootings of varying stripes these days. I’m really at a loss to explain it in any meaningful sociological way.