AMISH SCHOOL SHOOTING
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The 'Amish school shooting' occurred on the morning of Monday, October 2 2006, when a gunman took hostages and eventually killed five girls (aged 7–13) and then killed himself at West Nickel Mines School, a one-room Amish schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, a village in Bart Township of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States.[1][2][3][4][5] Police report that the gunman was Charles Carl Roberts IV,[6] a 32-year-old milk-tank truck driver who lived nearby.
The Invasion
The school children had just finished recess and class resumed. The armed invader backed a pickup truck up to the front of the Amish schoolhouse and entered the school at approximately 10:25 a.m. EDT, initiating his terrible plan. He proceeded to ask the teacher and children if they had seen something missing along the road, similar to the rusty piece of metal that he was carrying? They said no. Survivors later recounted that Roberts was mumbling his words and was not making direct eye contact with anyone. Roberts walked out to his pickup and quickly returned holding a 9mm caliber handgun. He asked them if anyone had ever seen one of these before.
Robert's murderous plan continued. He ordered the boys to help him carry some items into the classroom from the back of the pickup. The female adult teacher took this opportunity to escape the scene and ran towards a nearby farm to get help. Roberts saw her leave, and ordered one of the boys to bring her back or he would shoot everyone.
Roberts and the boys carried in lumber, a shotgun, stun-gun, wires, chains, nails, tools and a small bag. Also brought into the classroom was a length of wooden board with multiple sets of metal eyehooks, presumably to be used for securing the ten little girls during the planned molestation and subsequent massacre. The contents of his bag included a change of clothes, toilet paper, candles, sexual lubricant, and flexible plastic ties. Using stout wooden boards, Roberts barricaded the front door. Fatal shooting at US Amish school He ordered the female children to line up against the chalkboard and sent away from the classroom a pregnant woman, three parents with infants, and all remaining male students. One female student escaped: nine-year-old Emma Fisher (whose two older sisters remained inside).[7] The nine-year old, who spoke only Pennsylvania Dutch, did not understand the order to remain and followed her brother out of the building.
The female adult teacher arrived at the nearby farm and 911 was called at 10:36am. As reported in ''Revisiting the Amish Schoolhouse Massacre''(published August 22, 2007 in PoliceOne.com) author Rick Armellino describes the situation prior to the arrival of police; "An Amish adult male from this farm, with his two large dogs, took the bold opportunity to stealthily approach the windowless back wall of the schoolhouse. Hoping for an opportunity to help the little girls, he slowly crept around one side of the wooden structure and positioned himself as an observer next to a side window." The detailed accounting of the police response continues, "Observing that the first police patrol vehicle to approach the scene was not slowing down to stop, the Amish man quickly withdrew from his strategic observational position and sprinted towards the roadway to wave down the trooper, who did a fast U-turn and parked. That would be the last successful attempt at an unnoticed move upon the building by anyone."
Police & Emergency Medical Personnel Arrive
The first trooper arrived at approximately 10:42am, and more arrived within minutes thereafter.
Roberts had commenced binding the arms and legs of the little girls with plastic ties at the front of the classroom. A group of troopers cautiously approached the schoolhouse. An agitated Roberts warned them to leave immediately, or else he would start shooting the children. The police officers immediately backed away and formed a nearby perimeter, but did not leave the premises as requested.
The police, while waiting for reinforcements, attempted to communicate with Roberts via the PA system in their cruisers. They asked Roberts to throw out his weapons and come out with his hands up. Roberts yelled again, ordering them to leave.
By 11:00 am a large crowd (including police officers, emergency medical technicians, and concerned friends and family) had assembled nearby. County and state police dispatchers had just established brief telephonic contact with Robert's wife and Roberts himself.[8]
Since this extreme type of random violence seldom occurs, most first-responding law enforcement agencies train their police officers to observe and relay vital information for the next group of better trained and equipped specialists to handle. If shooting begins before the better trained personnel arrive, the first responding police officers already present are then expected to intervene to stop the killing and save as many people as possible.
Everyone outside the Amish schoolhouse knew that the safety of these little girls remained totally under the control of this deranged sociopath. Police showed good faith and relied upon Robert's human goodness, silently hoping that he would not harm the little girls. Only the sound of gunfire would prove that he was not bluffing and would do what he was promising. And then the police would be obligated to stop this madman.
The anxious police waiting outside were expecting that Roberts would finally come to his senses and surrender. Nobody in their right mind would ignore the huge and formidable presence of armed police amassed just outside. Certainly Roberts would eventually become rational and surrender so that he could get the mental health services that he so obviously needed.
During interviews conducted later it became clearly apparent that all the little girls knew their fate and accepted it bravely. Some of the girls conversed among themselves throughout the ordeal. Just before the shooting two girls negotiated with Roberts recommending the order of who was to be killed first, then second.[9]
A child's loud screaming was heard from within the school. A team of officers was positioned just behind a shed attached to the rear corner of the schoolhouse and they requested permission over the radio to approach the windows. The permission was denied.
The Shooting Begins
Suddenly, at approximately 11:05 am, shots rang out. Roberts was rapidly firing a weapon inside the schoolhouse. The heroic troopers, who had been poised and ready for action for nearly half an hour, immediately approached as bullets were flying in all directions, including theirs. As the first trooper in line reached a window, the shooting abruptly stopped. Roberts, in perfect conformance with the historical actions of most other armed school invaders, had predictably committed suicide.
The Rescue
It took the troopers about 2 1/2 minutes to bust into the school to assist those children who were not killed instantly. At 11:10 am a terrible message was broadcast over the airwaves. Recalls author Janet Kelley in her article titled ''Horror and Heroism'', "a mass casualty on White Oak Road, Bart Township, with multiple children shot." Kelley further reports another radio call quickly followed with more dreadful details, "at 11:11 am, police radioed dispatchers again, estimating 10 to 12 patients with head injuries. The first medical helicopter was dispatched."
Troopers selflessly assisted the surviving children, administering first aid as they carried them outside. These heroic troopers continued to tend to the girls, helping the Emergency Medical Technicians provide first aid on the school playground, which had become a hastily arranged triage site. The ambulances, which had been waiting nearby, arrived just as the wounded girls were being carried out of the schoolhouse. Helicopters landed shortly thereafter and those still living were wisked away for prompt medical treatment. The speed of and delivery of medical assistance to four of the surviving severely injured girls was outstanding and an important factor in their subsequent full recoveries.
As a result of their selfless courage displayed in the line of duty,''State Police Present Medals of Honor to 10'' awards were given out by the Superintendent of the state police in appreciation for their brave and heroic efforts to save the little girls.
Three little girls died at the scene and two more died early the next morning, with five more left in critical condition. Three of the children were admitted to Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, four to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and one to Christiana Hospital in Newark, Delaware, state police said. AMISH SCHOOL SHOOTINGS: 'ANGRY AT GOD' Chris A. Courogen
Reports have stated that most of the girls were shot "execution-style" in the back of the head. Five Killed at Pa. Amish School Raymond McCaffrey The ages of the victims ranged from six to thirteen.
The Victims' Selfless Plea
Roberts was quite organized has he proceeded with his murderous plan. Each victim was individually and methodically restrained and positioned at the front of the classroom. All preparations to assure a quick and brutal ending had been meticulously planned and completed.
The surviving witnesses to the carnage later recounted that Marian Fisher, age 13, had pleaded with Roberts to "shoot me first," in a noble and selfless effort to buy extra time for the younger girls to live. Following Marian's lead, Fisher's younger sister Barbie, who survived, volunteered to be shot second.
The brave and sacrificial negotiation activity conducted by these two little girls as they delayed their ultimate fate was heroic and was received as comforting news by friends and family members.[10]
Aftermath Details
The Amish plan to leave a quiet pasture where the schoolhouse once stood. Workers demolish school where Amish girls were killed
According to the Washington Post, Police and coroner accounts of the children's wounds differed dramatically; Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Jeffrey Miller said Roberts shot his victims in the head at close range, with 17 or 18 shots fired in all, including the one he used to take his own life as police stormed into the school by breaking through the window glass. However, Janice Ballenger, deputy coroner in Lancaster County, Pa., told The Washington Post in an interview that she counted at least two dozen bullet wounds in one child alone before asking a colleague to continue for her.
The bullet wound count discrepancies were later cleared up due to the fact that some of the girls were shot with a 12 gauge shotgun which fires multiple pellets with each pull of the trigger.
Inside the school, Ballenger said, "there was not one desk, not one chair, in the whole schoolroom that was not splattered with either blood or glass. There were bullet holes everywhere, everywhere." [11]
The school was demolished on October 12, 2006[12] and a new school, the New Hope School, has since been built near the original site, It opened on April 2, 2007, precisely six months after the shooting. Bart Twp. Amish school reopens
Not surprisingly, some of the Amish parents from this region remain afraid to send their children to the new school and instead prefer to educate them at home.
Possible Motives
Roberts was last seen by his wife at 8:45 a.m. when they walked their children to the bus stop before leaving. When his wife returned home at 11:00 a.m., she discovered four suicide notes — one addressed to his wife, and one to each of his children.
Roberts reportedly contacted his wife while still in the schoolhouse and stated that he had molested two young female relatives (between the ages of 3 and 5) twenty years ago, and had been daydreaming about molesting again.
One note Roberts left behind indicated his despondency over his daughter who died shortly (roughly 20 minutes) after birth nine years earlier, and cryptically stated that he had "been having dreams for the past couple of years about doing what he did 20 years ago and he has dreams of doing them again", according to State Police Commissioner Colonel Jeffrey B. Miller, apparently alluding to his later phone admission to sexually molesting two family members when he was younger.
On October 4, 2006, the two relatives whom Roberts said he molested 20 years ago told police that no such abuse had ever happened, throwing a new layer of mystery over the gunman's motive and mental state during the shooting. Revelations cast doubt on killer's motive Ralph R. Ortega
Miller said there was no evidence any of the Amish children had been molested. Police Say Shooter Dreamed of Molesting
Roberts was a resident of nearby Georgetown, another unincorporated area of Bart Township. Family man who killed little girls Douglas Birch
Victims
Fatalities
★ Naomi Rose Ebersol, aged 7, died at the scene October 2, 2006. Naomi Rose Ebersol A Solemn Farewell Jack Brubaker
★ Marian Stoltzfus Fisher, aged 13, died at the scene October 2, 2006. Marian S. Fisher
★ Anna Mae Stoltzfus, aged 12, was declared dead on arrival at Lancaster General Hospital, Lancaster, Pennsylvania October 2, 2006. Anna Mae Stoltzfus
★ Lena Zook Miller, aged 7, died at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania on October 3, 2006. Hundreds line roads to pay respects Janet Kelley
★ Mary Liz Miller, aged 8, died at Christiana Hospital in Newark, Delaware on October 3, 2006. Mary Liz and Lena Z. Miller
Injured
All of the hurt Amish schoolgirls were hospitalized.
★ 6 year old female (Rosanna King)[13] was removed from life support at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and sent home at the request of her family on October 4, 2006. Some reports claim the child showed signs of recovery and was sent back to the hospital. Hope for Healing Cindy Stauffer
★ 8 year old female (Rachel Ann Stoltzfus)[14]
★ 10 year old female (Barbara Stoltzfus "Barbie" Fisher) [15]
★ 12 year old female (Sarah Ann Stoltzfus)
★ 13 year old female (Esther King)
Rachel Ann Stoltzfus, Esther King and Barbara Stoltzfus "Barbie" Fisher returned to school in the fall of 2006, although some have had to miss class time due to rehabilitation or surgeries. Sarah Ann Stoltzfus returned to school just before Christmas and despite a serious head wound, she is doing well in school. The youngest victim, Rosanna King, 6, remains in a semicomatose state although she appears to be improving. [16]
Amish Respond With Forgiveness
CNN reported a grandfather of one of the murdered Amish girls said of the killer on the day of the murder: "We must not think evil of this man."
Jack Meyer, a member of the Brethren community living near the Amish in Lancaster County, explained: "I don't think there's anybody here that wants to do anything but forgive and not only reach out to those who have suffered a loss in that way but to reach out to the family of the man who committed these acts," he told CNN.[17]
The Amish have reached out to Roberts' family. Dwight Lefever, a Roberts family spokesman said an Amish neighbor comforted the Roberts family hours after the shooting and extended forgiveness to them.
An article in a Canadian newspaper the ''National Post'' stated that the Amish have set up a charitable fund for the family of the shooter.
The Amish do not normally accept charity, but due to the extreme nature of the tragedy, donations were being accepted. Richie Lauer, director of the Anabaptist Foundation, said the Amish community, whose religious beliefs prohibit them from having health insurance, will likely use the donations to help pay the medical costs of the hospitalized children.[18]
Also amazing to some was that the fathers of the Amish girls who had been shot went to the killer's parents and asked what they could do to help them.
A talk was given by the late President James E. Faust, former member of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, detailing the forgiveness of the Amish people after this event. It can be found here[[1]], or listened to here [[2]]
911 Transcripts
On October 10, 2006, the 911 transcripts were released.
Transcript of 911 calls made October 2, 2006 in connection with gunman Charles Carl Robert IV’s siege at an Amish schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pa. The callers identified in the transcript are Amos Smoker, who first reported the presence of a gunman at the school;
Roberts; and Roberts’ wife, Marie.
The tapes of the calls were transcribed by Lancaster County District Attorney Don Totaro.
In some cases where the transcript indicates the line went dead, it is because the call was transferred to state police and was not recorded by Lancaster County, the prosecutor’s office said.
10:35:29- The school teacher, Emma Mae Zook, had just ran to a nearby farm to summon help. Amos Smoker placed the call on her behalf. About the time of this initial call for help; a pregnant woman, three parents with infants and all fifteen male students were told to leave the school by Roberts. The first police officer arrived approximately six minutes later. Police attempted to communicate with Roberts via the PA system in their cruisers after they were ordered to leave the property by an agitated Roberts who was threatening to kill the children if they didn't immediately "go away".
911 Dispatcher: Lancaster County 911, do you need police, fire
or ambulance?
Mr. Smoker: Yes, this is Amos Smoker.
911 Dispatcher: OK.
Mr. Smoker: There’s a, there’s a guy in the school with a gun.
911 Dispatcher: OK, what, what, what school, where at?
Mr. Smoker: White Oak Road.
911 Dispatcher: What city, township or borough is that in?
Mr. Smoker: How’s that?
911 Dispatcher: What city, township or borough is that in?
Mr. Smoker: Bart Township.
911 Dispatcher: OK, stay on the line, it’s state police.
Mr. Smoker: OK.
(Call being transferred to State Police)
State Police PCO: State Police Dispatch Center.
Mr. Smoker: Yes, this is Amos Smoker. (Line goes dead)
10:41:35
911 Dispatcher: Lancaster County 911.
Caller: Did someone call in for police at a school?
911 Dispatcher: What school, what school was it?
Caller: West Nickel Mines School.
911 Dispatcher: Nickel Mines School, somebody with a gun?
Caller: Yes.
911 Dispatcher: Hold on one second, did you call before? We
transferred to State Police.
Caller: OK, someone’s coming out.
911 Dispatcher: Well, I don’t know, I’m going to transfer you,
OK, I don’t dispatch them here, hold on, does anybody need an ambulance do you know?
Caller: I don’t know.
911 Dispatcher: OK, hold on, is he in the school?
Caller: I don’t know nothing, I don’t know.
911 Dispatcher: Alright, hold on.
(Call being transferred to State Police)
911 Dispatcher: Is this Amish school?
Caller: Yes it is.
911 Dispatcher: In Bart Township?
Caller: Yes.
Pennsylvania State Police PCO: Pennsylvania State Police, PCO
Campbell, hello..
911 Dispatcher: Go ahead sir.
PCO Campbell: Sir, go ahead, State Police. (Line goes dead)
10:55:38- During this time Roberts was reaching the final stages of his murderous plan. The bound girls had been neatly arranged at the front of the classroom, near the chalkboard. Roberts makes two cell phone calls. One to his wife and the next one to police. He informs the 911 dispatcher that if state police were not off the property in two seconds, he would kill the children. Two little girls begin negotiating with Roberts. They plead for him to shoot them first. This action buys the girls a little extra time for possible rescue. At approximately 11:05am, he follows through with his threats as the sound of rapid gunfire is heard.
911 Dispatcher: Lancaster County 911, do you need police, fire
or ambulance? Hello.. Your cell phone is cutting in and out. Do you have an emergency?
Mr. Roberts : Yes.
911 Dispatcher: OK, what’s the address of the emergency?
Mr. Roberts : It’s on White Oak Road. I just took, uh, ten girls
hostage and I want everybody off the property or, or else.
911 Dispatcher: OK, alright.
Mr. Roberts: Now.
911 Dispatcher: Hold on a second.
911 Dispatcher: Hello.
Mr. Roberts : Yeah.
911 Dispatcher: OK, what’s the problem there?
Mr. Roberts: Don’t try to talk me out of it, get em all off the
property now.
911 Dispatcher: Sir, I want you to stay on the phone with me, OK? I’m going to let the State Police down there, I need to let you talk to them, OK, can I transfer you to them.
Mr. Roberts: No, you tell them and that’s it. Right now or they’re dead, in two seconds.
911 Dispatcher: (To unidentified person at County-Wide Communications): He won’t let me transfer.
(To Mr. Roberts): Hang on a minute, we’re trying to tell them, OK.
Mr. Roberts: Two seconds that’s it.
911 Dispatcher: Sir, listen to me. Listen... (Line goes dead)
10:58:39- At this point Mrs. Roberts called 911 after arriving home from a prayer study group meeting. She has just discovered a suicide note left on the kitchen table and had received a brief and disturbing emotional phone call from her husband.
911 Dispatcher: Lancaster County 911.
Ms. Roberts: Yes, my name is Marie Roberts, my husband just called me on his cell phone and told me that he wasn’t going to be coming home and that the police were there and not to worry about it. And I have no idea what he is talking about, but I am really scared. And I wondered if, how I find out what’s going on?
911 Dispatcher: OK, where are you calling me from?
Ms. Roberts: I’m calling from my home.
911 Dispatcher: And what’s that address?
Ms. Roberts: 1084 Georgetown Road.
911 Dispatcher: What township, city or borough is that?
Ms. Roberts: Bart Township.
911 Dispatcher: OK, and your husband didn’t tell you where he
was?
Ms. Roberts: No, he didn’t.
911 Dispatcher: He called you on his cell phone?
Ms. Roberts: Yes he did.
911 Dispatcher: OK, and, and all he said to you was that...
Ms. Roberts: I’m not coming home, um, he was upset about something that had happened twenty years ago, and he said he was getting revenge for it, I don’t think he was getting revenge on another person, I’m worried that maybe he was trying to commit suicide.
911 Dispatcher: OK, hang on the line, I’m going to transfer you to the State Police, OK?
Ms. Roberts: Thank you.
911 Dispatcher: Hang on a second..
(Call being transferred to State Police)
PCO Bowerman: State Police Dispatch PCO Bowerman
Ms. Roberts: My name is Marie Roberts, my husband just called me and said that he wasn’t coming home and that the police were there and that he left notes for myself and my children and I’m worried that he tried to commit suicide somewhere. And...
PCO Bowerman : What’s his name?
Ms. Roberts: Charlie Roberts.
PCO Bowerman: OK, what’s, let me ask you a question, hold on for
one second please.
Ms. Roberts: Yeah.
PCO Bowerman: You said your name again was?
Ms. Roberts: Marie Roberts.
PCO Bowerman: Marie Roberts, thank you.
PCO Bowerman: Ma’am, let me ask you a question, what kind of
vehicle does your husband drive?
Ms. Roberts: He was using my grandpa’s pick-up, it’s a GMC.
PCO Bowerman: Color.
Ms. Roberts: Blue.
PCO Bowerman: Blue GMC.
Ms. Roberts: Yeah.
PCO Bowerman: One second. OK. ma’am, what’s your husbands name?
Ms. Roberts: Charlie Roberts.
PCO Bowerman: Charlie Roberts. And what does he look like?
Ms. Roberts: He is six foot two, short brown, you know like buzzed brown hair, um, he is thirty-two years old, wears glasses, I guess he’s like maybe 195 pounds.
PCO Bowerman: OK, you say he left notes?
Ms. Roberts: Yes.
PCO Bowerman: What did the notes say?
Ms. Roberts: Like, the thought of not my children, not seeing them grow up, like, let’s see, uh, I’m not even sure, here it is, my daughter Abigail I want you to know that I love you and I’m sorry I couldn’t be here to watch you grow up, that’s how the notes start.
PCO Bowerman: OK, hold on one moment. (Line goes dead)
Other recent school shootings
This marked the third school shooting in the United States in less than a week after the Platte Canyon High School shooting on September 27, 2006 and Weston High School shooting two days later.
This was the twenty-fourth school shooting in the United States, according to the National School Safety and Security Services. The Bush administration held a conference to discuss the issue of school violence.[19]
References
1. Six killed in Pennsylvania school attack
2. 4 dead in Amish school shooting in Pa. Mark Scolforo
3. Gunman Opens Fire In Amish School 'Revenge'
4. Wife: Gunman Said He Molested Kids In Past
5. Police: School killer told wife he molested family members
6. Fifth girl dies after Amish school shooting
7. The awkward encounter that began Amish school nightmare
8. Gunman threatened to kill Amish children 'in 2 seconds'
9. Family friend:Amish girl asked to be shot to save others
10. "Shoot me first, Amish girl said to ask"
11.
Pa. Killer Had Prepared for 'Long Siege'
12. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061011/ap_on_re_us/amish_school_shooting Amish school razing set for Thursday
13. Four of Five Amish Shooting Victims Are Laid To Rest in Hand-Dug Graves
14. COVER STORY: Heartbreak In a Small Town
15. Schoolhouse killer haunted by guilt over abuse of young girls 20 years ago Suzanne Goldenberg
16. For Amish, New Hope is a reality Julie Scharper
17. Amish grandfather: 'We must not think evil of this man'
18. Donors Pitch in to Help Grieving Amish Community
19. Bush administration planning conference on school violence
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