PA - Five girls dead, 5 injured in Amish school shooting, 2 Oct 2006

[Texana]

That this chicken excuse for a man was homeschooled doesn't mean that homeschooling causes socialization issues, in and of itself.

It does mean that homeschooling is not a cure in and of itself, for the evils of mankind. That is hard news for homeschoolers, who believe that by doing so, they are controlling the character and futures of their children for the good...

LJWF22, I will keep you and your students in my prayers tomorrow and always.

 

[Shadow205]

A family friend of Charles Carl Roberts, the 32-year-old man accused of shooting students at an Amish school in Bart, Pa. Monday, read the following statement from Roberts' wife on News 8:

• "The man that did this today was not the Charlie I've beenmarried to for almost 10 years. My husband was loving, supportive and thoughtful -- all the things you'd always want and more. He was an exceptional father. He took the kids to soccer practice and games, played ball in the backyard and took our 7-year-old daughter shopping. He never said no when I asked him to change a diaper. Our hearts are broken, our lives shattered and we grieve for the innocent lives that were lost today. Above all, please pray. Pray for the families who lost children today. Please pray to for our family and children."

• http://www.wgal.com/news/9984739/detail.html

 

[Shadow205]

BART TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- The following is breakdown of what police said Charles Carl Roberts IV, 32, had when he stormed a one-room Amish schoolhouse Monday morning and shot 11 students, a teacher's aide and himself in Bart Township:

• 9 mm Springfield Arms semiautomatic pistol
• Browning Arms 12-gauge shotgun
• Ruger bolt-action 30.06 with ammo in a case
• Black range bag with 600 rounds of ammunition
• Two cans of smokeless powder
• Stun gun on belt
• Two knives
• Bucket
• Change of clothes
• Earplugs
• Hammer
• Hacksaw
• Pliers
• Wire
• Eyebolts
• Clear tape

Police said Roberts fortified doors within the schoolhouse and that he installed eyebolts on two-by-fours and two-by-sixes. Some of the lumber was nailed into doors

http://www.wgal.com/news/9985274/detail.html

 

[Beyond Belief]

OMG All that to attack some little kids.

I would very much like to stop crying now.

 

[Peter Hamilton]

This is a shocking crime---reminds me of Britain's "crime of the century" which happened about 10 years ago---A Scottish man entered a British kindergarten and shot to death 16 little girls and boys,all age 4--worse than Columbine--and worse than today's horror--and that Canadian school massacre in 1989 involving older femaale students--shows sadistic bastards can be found anywhere

 

[englishleigh]

I have daughters who are 13 and 8, so this hits home. This story just breaks my heart, thinking of those sweet, innocent little angels in their white Amish prayer kapps , sent to school this morning alive and well and happy.....how COULD he????? :banghead: :furious:

 

[Beyond Belief]

On the Record/Fox news is going to cover this at 10. They will discuss what his reasons may have been.

 

[Sundayrain]

Remember the shooter who they found out had a brain tumor...........
I so dislike this guy, that I want to blame it on some tumor in his head.
His wife said how wonderful he was as a father. It sounds like he was just
a great dad and family man.
So what cracks a man who has been normal all his life?
I am really wanting to know the 20 year old problem.......It had to be one horrific event, to all of a sudden make this guy go haywire.
To the sweet children that are taught not to be violent in anyway.......
The thought that they had to experience this!
PS Just before this occured today I was in the "What makes you Happy" thread...as if it was going to be a sunshine day. Very sad day it turned out to be.

 

[Beyond Belief]

They said another child died.
One of the girls got out when the boys left.
One girl was shot in the back and shoulder. They are confident she will be ok.
I think they said three were upgraded.
Three still critical.

 

[ljwf22]

LJWF22, I will keep you and your students in my prayers tomorrow and always.

Thanks, Texana. I just read another child has died. This is so sad.

 

[Peter Hamilton]

SundayRain,there was a shooter with a brain tumor back in 1966---Charles Whitman,the "Texas Tower KIller" shot 20 people from a school tower before eventually being killed himself---he had complained of severe headaches before but hated his dependence on his parents for financial help---but he was not the first mass killer in the US---Howard Unruh,in 1949,shot over a dozen people--a disturbed WW II veteran,he gave the infamous quote" I would have shot a hundred if I wasn't stopped"---Unruh lived a very long life in prison afterwards--no real motive was ever given

 

[Shadow205]

close range shots to the back of the head. He was a sick sob.

 

[Beyond Belief]

Neighbor from across the street from gunman. Says guy did normal things, played with his kids, mowed the yard, walked the kids to the bus stop. Talked to wife, never talked to husband. Just a normal family. Nothing out of the ordinary.

 

[luthersmama]

Total lunatic. He drives his tanker of milk on 3rd shift.... and then goes postal on the Amish.

These people don't even usually have cops in their towns.

What an .

"These people" don't participate much in local government. A few do, but the decisions about whether or not to have a local police force are made by the township supervisors, usually based on budgetary concerns. The Lancaster County townships populated by Amish have few, if any, Amish in their governing bodies. The towns we are talking about are no longer predominantly "dutch".

 

[Texana]

SundayRain,there was a shooter with a brain tumor back in 1966---Charles Whitman,the "Texas Tower KIller" shot 20 people from a school tower before eventually being killed himself---he had complained of severe headaches before but hated his dependence on his parents for financial help---but he was not the first mass killer in the US---Howard Unruh,in 1949,shot over a dozen people--a disturbed WW II veteran,he gave the infamous quote" I would have shot a hundred if I wasn't stopped"---Unruh lived a very long life in prison afterwards--no real motive was ever given

Yes, and Whitman also talked to pyschiatrist at UT about his violent wishes--but it was put down to just talk.

 

[kcksum]

this man did not target the school because amish people had anything to do with the 20 yr old grudge. It is confirmed (I guess through the notes he left) that he did this there because he knew there would be no security and they couldn't get to phones.

I don't care what this wife says.......anyone with an artillary that huge in their house(guns, automatic weapons, knives, 600 rounds of ammo etc.)and who would take time to barricade the windows and doors with two by fours and bolts is seriously disturbed. He planned this thoroughly!!!!! He tied those babies feet together so they couldn't run! How do you point a gun at a 6 yr old in an apron and bonnet and freaking blow her head off execution style when you have a 7 yr old daughter of your own? You don't do these things if your the family man of the year, you just don't man. I know his wife is embarassed and suffering and probably horrified, but to come out and say this man was a loving and great guy........come on! It's an oxymoron.....you can't slaughter babies and be a great guy all in the same morning.....no freakin way. I am so dissapppointed to be a fellow human being of this man today my heart aches. What a freakin chump, what a coward. To know his children will always see their dad as the boogy man he turned out to be....that's what his wife should be sad about, not about this sorry excuse of a human being dead.
I feel very sorry for the three children he left behind.....very sorry. Their dad is a baby killer.

 

[Texana]

Thanks, Texana. I just read another child has died. This is so sad.

I am so sad for the families and these children tonight. I was thinking as I put my youngest child to bed with nighttime prayers--how upsetting it must be for these Amish families just to be in the hospitals--it is upsetting for anyone but even more so for them--

It is an awful thing to kill a child and at the same time, steal the peace and trust of childhood from so many other children.

 

[txsvicki]

Geraldo was on a talk show just the other day after the Colorado freak molested and murdered the honor's English student. Geraldo warned that this would be the first of a rash of suicidal type killings where a sicko decides to act out on his fantasies in this way. I guess that he was right. Does anyone know what the killer's grudge was that caused him to decide to act on it?

 

[Texana]

Well, he either had an organic reason like a brain tumor or schizophrenia, or he had a long-simmering rage that boiled beneath the surface and boiled over finally...some triggering event set him off, perhaps, if that is the case.

He was so very well prepared and well thought out with his materials, weapons, and ammunition. He had planned this carefully. So he was either mentally ill, and hid it, or he was evil and his evil nature finally surfaced in rage and revenge.

One thing he was not, a good man at the end. You can't kill so many little girls and still be a good and normal man.

And to leave his own poor children such a legacy!

 

[luthersmama]

I lived in Lancaster County for 3 years. There's a lot more that goes on inside the Amish communties than building barns and making fudge.

Very true, Billy. People have an overly romantic view of the Amish. They have plenty of human issues and problems, just like everyone else. Their way of life certainly is interesting and people like to think of it as sweet and quaint, but for the girls in particular it can be pretty difficult.

Imagine not even having a high school diploma as an option. You can look forward to marriage, babies and farming, or maybe working in a quilt shop or other retail store. That's it. No matter what you might be interested in.

The closed doors in a closed community keep people in as much as they keep people out.

The Amish have also managed to get a number of exemptions from child labor laws so the young boys can work in occupations that are quite dangerous. Like sawmills and wood shops.

There is alot more to the picture than quilts and buggies.