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NICKEL MINES, Pa. - A 32-year-old milk truck driver took about a dozen girls hostage in a one-room Amish schoolhouse Monday, barricaded the doors with boards and shot several people, killing at least three of the girls and apparently himself, authorities said.
It was the nation's third deadly school shooting in less than a week, and similar to an attack just days earlier at school in Colorado.
Lancaster County Coroner G. Gary Kirchner initially said six people were killed, but later said he wasn't certain. Police said they found four people, including the gunman, dead when they got inside.
The gunman, identified as Charles Carl Roberts, had been in the school about 45 minutes before police got the call, State Police Commissioner Jeffrey B. Miller said. Officers had to break windows to get into the school. By then, three young girls and the gunman were dead, he said.
Police said earlier the gunman sent the male students outside while keeping the girls in and blocking the doors.
It was the nation's third deadly school shooting in less than a week, and one of the deadliest in U.S. history.
"So far, six confirmed dead, and the helicopters are pulling into (Lancaster General Hospital) like crazy," Coroner G. Gary Kirchner had said earlier.
Three girls, ages 6-12, were admitted to Lancaster General Hospital in critical condition with gunshot wounds, spokesman John Lines said. Officials at the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center confirmed that victims also were being admitted there.
Police late Monday morning surrounded the one-room schoolhouse, a tiny building surrounded by a white fence and farm fields in southeastern Lancaster County. The Lancaster County 911 Web site reported that dozens of emergency units were dispatched to a "medical emergency" at 10:45 a.m.
Hours after the attack, about three dozen people in traditional Amish clothing, broad-brimmed hats and bonnets stood nearby speaking to one another and authorities. Others gathered with a group of children at a nearby farm while investigators stretched out in a line across a field searching for evidence.
The school is just outside Nickel Mines, a tiny village about 55 miles west of Philadelphia.
On Friday, a school principal was gunned down in Cazenovia, Wis. A 15-year-old student, described as upset over a reprimand, was charged with murder in the killing. Just two days earlier, an adult gunman held six girls hostage in a school at Bailey, Colo., before killing a 16-year-old girl and then himself.
Nationwide, the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in Littleton, Colo., remains the deadliest school shooting, claiming the lives of 15 people, including the two teenage gunmen. Last year, a 16-year-old shot seven people to death at a school on Minnesota's Red Lake Indian Reservation, then killed himself.
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WTF? Not even the Amish can hide from this psycho BS.
What the hell is the point of ending a kids life because yours is so f-ed up?
I really hate when they off themselves too. Talk about the lowest form of gutless scum. Doesn't even have the balls to stand up and say '"yeah I did it".
Philly media are reporting that the gunmen let the male students and adult females go, lined the girls up against the chalkboard and shot them in the head execution style.
I really freaking hate people. Just off yourself and leave everyone else alone you sick psychopath.
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Sometimes you just gotta remember ...
[b]The gunman, identified as Charles Carl Roberts, had been in the school about 45 minutes before police got the call, State Police Commissioner Jeffrey B. Miller said.
Someone has to buggy over to a pay phone a little faster than that.
Don't mean to sound critical in a dark hour, but maybe it's a sign for them to join the 21st century when it comes to communication and safety.
because all the technology in the world really helped those kids in CO
it's a really messed up situation and I hate seeing sickos take out their actions on kids - i've also been around my fair share of Amish and this is the type of thing that will both crush and galvanize them
they will continue to stick to their traditions though and I respect that
this has nothing to do with technology - it has everything to do with one sick bastard going nuts on a bunch on innocent girls
this has nothing to do with technology - it has everything to do with one sick bastard going nuts on a bunch on innocent girls
Why do you assume the 45 minute delay didn't effect the outcome here? There were three girls taken to OR in critical condition. Don't you think they would have preferred the cops to show up 30 minutes earlier?
Tradition is fine, but to me it is torture and borderline criminal to leave those helpless girls in there for so long when there is a little gadget called the telephone available that would have gotten cops there fast.
I would not be against taking legal action against schools such as this in order to force them to install telephones for use in case of emergency.
how do you know what they had or didn't have nearby?!
you must also remember that many Amish communities are very rural - even some non-Amish communities would face the same difficulties
there is a school near where I grew up, has phones in place, etc - with no police of their own and limited local resources as is, you are looking at a good 20 minute response time
you don't know what was nearby, what the best case response time would be, how long it took to alert authorities, etc - nor do I, but i'm not the one condemning them
because all the technology in the world really helped those kids in CO
it's a really messed up situation and I hate seeing sickos take out their actions on kids - i've also been around my fair share of Amish and this is the type of thing that will both crush and galvanize them
they will continue to stick to their traditions though and I respect that
this has nothing to do with technology - it has everything to do with one sick bastard going nuts on a bunch on innocent girls
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Sometimes you just gotta remember ...
you don't know what was nearby, what the best case response time would be, how long it took to alert authorities, etc - nor do I, but i'm not the one condemning them
We do know that it took 45 minutes just to alert authorities. You are correct that we do not know the best case response time.
I'm not condemning them. I just think it's unnacceptible and unneccessary for 45 minutes to go by while these girls were being held hostage, shot and left to die on the floor. I get angry when I think of the innocent victims. I wonder if any of the now dead had survived the initial shooting but bled to death waiting for help. I wonder if the three survivors in ER would have a better chance of living if they were to have been rescued earlier.
Last edited by Rivercard; October 2nd, 2006 at 05:42 PM.
most reports i've been reading seem to have pretty good response time all considered
he may of been in the building for that amount of time, but as soon as the teacher escaped and the boys were freed they ran to a farm and called police
at that point one report says the response time was only 9 minutes (which would be excellent given it's location and lack of local police force)
also most reports i've been reading say the shooting started after police were on the scene
so it may of been 45 minutes from the time he entered school - but by most accounts he hadn't shot anyone yet
it's going to take a long time to clear all this up - but I still think it's crazy to blame this on them maybe not having a phone in the school (maybe they did - either way I'm sure he wasn't exactly allowing phone calls)
Quote:
Once inside the school, Roberts talked to the students and teachers and showed them a handgun, according to Miller. He then let the 15 male students and four adult females go, lined up the female students and classroom aids along the blackboard and bound their feet. Sometime after that, police said, he blockaded the doors with desks as well as bolted wood he brought with him and nailed across the doorways.
The teacher was able to escape when the students and adults left and she called police.
Miller said troopers arrived at the scene within nine minutes and set up a perimeter around the school. A negotiator tried to contact the man with a speaker system, since the school does not have a phone.
Police said Roberts called Lancaster County radio and said that he would start shooting within 10 seconds if the troopers did not move back. As word was spread to the officers and the negotiator tried to call Roberts' cell phone, the shooting started.
Quote:
Miller said Roberts shot the girls at the blackboard execution style. He then shot himself. Police found a handgun and a shotgun near his body.
Quote:
He fired at least 16 shots, including two after reloading the automatic pistol, and some at police headed toward school.
Imagine being that teacher and feeling like she was unable to protect those students. She must be racked with guilt.
I cant even imagine what it must have been like to be in that room. 6 year olds shot execution style in front of eachother? That is the sickest thing I have ever read in my entire life. I am literally sick to my stomach right now.
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I.D. badges are long overdue. Security in this office park is a joke. Last year, I came to work with my spud gun in a duffel bag. I sat at my desk all day, with a rifle that shoots potatoes at 60 pounds per square inch. Can you imagine if I was deranged? - Dwight K. Schrute
I cant even imagine what it must have been like to be in that room. 6 year olds shot execution style in front of eachother? That is the sickest thing I have ever read in my entire life. I am literally sick to my stomach right now.
Yeah me too. I go crazy inside when innocent children are being harmed in this manner. That is the worst.
I refuse to put this on the feet of the Amish community
I'm not putting this at their feet either. School violence seems like it will be around for a while and it can happen anywhere. Just want to learn from these types of cases and be proactive so we can protect the innocent in the future.
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