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

[Sundayrain]

10:36 was the time.
Bart township Lancaster Cty.
1 Room school.......Males 6 to 13
Females 6 to 13 and teachers aids.
They were there at 10:45
Could not communicate to the suspect......he warned them they had 10 seconds to move out. Troopers tried to reach his cell phone. The trooper called the suspect. Shots then started......automatic gun and shotgun.
They stormed the school......all the exits were blocked by wood.
They had to go in the windows. He was found dead.'
3 females were killed at that scene.
He tied the females feet together.......He told 15 boys they could leave and a adult female who was pregnant to leave....and adults with children. It was the teacher who was allowed to leave that made the calls to police.
Victims mostly shot in the head. Some other areas also. Suspect Charles Roberts 1V was a milk deliverer, of the area. Took his own kids to bus stop in the morning. His wife saw notes to their kids when she got home.
She spoke with him and he told her he was not coming home and that the police were there......Holy.......what made him snap?
He said he wanted revenge for 20 years ago........to his wife.
He wanted to attack young female victims........
This reported on CNN......also he was due for a random drug test today

 

[Peter Hamilton]

he has three kids of his own!---apparently he shot 10 little girls,3 dead,7 injured--then killed himself--sick --revenge for something 20 years ago

 

[Annie]

It is sad that someone can't let go of something that happened 20 years ago and takes it out on innocent children. Makes you wonder what you might have done to someone within the past 20 years, maybe even something you were not aware of that they took wrong. Scary! How sad for those children and those families. We have some sick people in this world. Thankfully he is dead so we don't have some lawyer thinking up excuses for him.

 

[SadieMae]

Goodnes!!! He had 3 children of his own! Judging from his reported age, 32, they are probably still young kids. Why or why would he kill little girls????!!!

 

[SoccerMom]

Not long ago,someone who lived on a main road in Lancaster, killed his family. So they do need police there, like all towns need. Looks like this man killed himself. He will then never serve time for this horror he bestowed.

Lancaster does have a police force. It's quite a large area, actually. The shooting took place in Bart Township, which is closer to Strasburg than to Lancaster City.
And the family killings were in Leola, another nearby town. I agree with you about how sad this is. :*( Those poor babies.

 

[GlitchWizard]

I grew up in Indiana, around a large Amish community. If I remember correctly, they aren't really big on our modern science and medicine. So, even the parents of the children who are in the hospital are not only sufferring that their children are hurt, but their very core of their faith is being shattered because they have to accept that their children are in a hospital. How much sufferring for one jerk to die.

Good Lord, why can't people just go off in the woods and shoot themselves in the head without taking people with them?

 

[Texana]

Awful, just awful. I'm sure the Amish will have even less trust of "Englishers" now--what a tragedy for any school of children!

Charles Whitman, the University of Texas tower sniper (he shot what, 17 people?) had a benign brain tumor. Wonder if this guy had some kind of organic brain disease as well.

Or if he just boiled over one day into an evil rage.

Is the day coming when all schools have limited access like prisons?

 

[Peter Hamilton]

was a milkman--he was due for a drug test today

 

[GlitchWizard]

Looks like this man killed himself. He will then never serve time for this horror he bestowed.

Many people believe he will serve an eternity for this horror. On days like this, I like to think that's true.

 

[Sundayrain]

Lancaster does have a police force. It's quite a large area, actually. The shooting took place in Bart Township, which is closer to Strasburg than to Lancaster City.
And the family killings were in Leola, another nearby town. I agree with you about how sad this is. :*( Those poor babies.

I thought I heard the small town didn't have a police force, as someone reported on TV that it had no crime.(maybe they meant Bart) But, I know Lancaster City does have police. We call the entire Lancaster area ...... Rather then say we are going to this town or that......Its always a trip to Lancaster. Or a bus trip to Lancaster.....even though the show might be in Ronks LOL......
Leola is very close to the main local also. As you said, we drove by that home on the main road .
Family has stayed in the Strasburg train motel while in Lancaster area.
I'm sure you've seen those actual real train cabins. Cute, idea.

 

[Sundayrain]

He was 32........and 20 years ago he said something bothered him......So he was 12!
What happened when he was only 12??? And its female related........

 

[SoccerMom]

I thought I heard the small town didn't have a police force, as someone reported on TV that it had no crime.(maybe they meant Bart) Family has stayed in the Strasburg train motel while in Lancaster area.
I'm sure you've seen those actual real train cabins. Cute, idea.

Sure have! I've lived in Lancaster since 1988. Most of the areas here in Lancaster County are broken into Townships, rather than citites/towns. Bart Township may not have had a dedicated police force, but often there is a police force that is responsible for 1-3 areas. There unfortunately is crime even within the Amish communities. Several years ago, there was a huge cocaine bust in this area involving the Amish and the Hells Angels. Very strange bedfellows.

 

[ljwf22]

What on earth could have happened 20 YEARS AGO that would cause someone to execute Amish schoolgirls? This breaks my heart.......

 

[ljwf22]

Sure have! I've lived in Lancaster since 1988. Most of the areas here in Lancaster County are broken into Townships, rather than citites/towns. Bart Township may not have had a dedicated police force, but often there is a police force that is responsible for 1-3 areas. There unfortunately is crime even within the Amish communities. Several years ago, there was a huge cocaine bust in this area involving the Amish and the Hells Angels. Very strange bedfellows.

Is there a sheriff department or state police that patrol? I think the major problem here (other that the complete, worthless ba$tard who did this) is lack of a phone to call help.

 

[jubie]

After a couple hours she called to say they were sending them back to the school, but she's checking out and going home!

Less, I'm glad she's ok and going home, she's probably stressed and being at home she can try to calm down.



My heart aches and I've been in tears. Those poor little girls, the terror they must have felt as their friends beside them were gunned down. How can a human being with three children of his own do such a thing? Am I undertsanding this correctly, did he let the boys run away?

I'll bet these kids have never even been in car, can you iagine how they'd feel being in a helicopter or speeding ambulances with sirens going? Oh my Lord, this is a sad sad day.


Jubie

 

[Shadow205]

According to the PA State Police, Chales Roberts IV was 32 years old and wanted revenge for an incident that happened 20 years ago That means that the incident occured for he was only 12 years old.

The spokesman said that the notes that he left did explain his actions and that they release those at a later time.

The amish are such peaceful people. Our familiy's farm in western PA is surrounded by Amish farms and I just love going there. They generally shy away from strangers but once they get to know you they are very warm friendly people. They will pull together and be strong through this, that is just there way.

 

[BarnGoddess]

Our Belgian draft horse mare is usually bred by an Amishman in Yoder, Kansas. We have formed friendships in that community and with other Amish who come regularly to the auctions where we buy and sell horses. I have many books on the Amish, some quite scholarly. Most will go to doctors and will also go to the hospital if it's vital. Others try to avoid it. There is a beautiful book written about the Amish by a Mennonite doctor who served one of their communities.

I'm curious about the shooter. I know the Amish around Lancaster produce and sell milk. The trucks come daily to pick it up. I wonder if that was the connection, but 20 years ago would have made him 12. I also know there are problems with some non-Amish kids around Lancaster. Not that long ago there was an entire family shot very near Lancaster, if I recall.

 

[englishleigh]

Guy was only 32...what happened to him when he was 12? Did he fall in love with an Amish girl and was rebuffed? Was he molested by an Amish person?

This is just horrifying....:*******(

 

[scandi]

Thank you for saying they will all pull together Shadow. I needed to hear that.

Three girls dead on the scene, one of which was an aid. Seven girls transported to hospitals. Coroners office reports 6 dead, which means 5 girls dead. Two girls taken to the hospital have died as well. Three of the seven girls transferred to finer medical facilities. That leave 2 girls that might not be as seriously injured, and possibly not shot in the head as almost all of them were.

I hope the three critical patients will come through. Think of this - 10 families in the immediate area are traumatized, five of them dealing with death, and five of them holding onto every bit of faith they have that their children will live.


Scandi

 

[SadieMae]

I can imagine the injured girls are terribly frightened also of being in ambulances and helicopters being transported. I wonder if any parents were able to travel with them to the hospitals. Poor babies!!!