Nickel Mines, Pa. – The first thing Charles Carl Roberts IV did when he walked into the one-room Amish schoolhouse, police said, was to show the children his semiautomatic pistol.
He was talking, but he didn’t make sense.
“Have you seen anything like this?” police say he asked. “Can you help me find it?”
Roberts let all 15 boys leave. A pregnant woman, too. Three adults were allowed to escape with their infant children.
He bound the girls with wire and plastic ties and lined them up at the blackboard. He called his wife to say that he wouldn’t be coming home, that he loved her.
And then he began to shoot the girls.
A scene of carnage erupted in pastoral Lancaster County about 11 a.m. Monday as a lone gunman with a 20-year-old grievance took his revenge on a room full of pupils at the West Nickel Mines Amish School, then turned the pistol on himself.
State police officers stormed the building at the sound of shots – some of the bullets aimed at them – to discover the doors barricaded by desks and lumber. They broke windows and climbed inside to find Roberts and three girls dead, and eight children badly wounded.
Two more children died overnight..
It was the nation’s third fatal school shooting in a week.
The murdered children were shot in the head, execution- style, police said. The survivors, many critically injured after being hit at close range, were taken to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and other medical facilities in the region.
Authorities did not release the names of the dead or wounded. A group of Amish families, the women in dark dresses and the men in straw hats, declined to comment as they entered the Philadelphia hospital Monday night. Their children, ages 8, 10 and 12, were listed in critical condition Monday night after surgery.
“Clearly, he wanted to attack young female victims,” said Col. Jeffrey Miller, commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police, who briefed reporters at a makeshift press center at the Nickel Mines Auction House.
The father of three – who was not Amish – came prepared for a siege, Miller said. Found with Roberts’ body were a 9mm pistol, purchased three years ago in a local gunshop; a shotgun; a rifle; a stun gun; two knives; smokeless powder; and 600 rounds of ammunition.
He brought a 5-gallon bucket filled with tools that included a hammer, a hacksaw, pliers and rolls of clear tape. He also brought a change of clothes.
Roberts’ wife, Marie Roberts, issued a statement that described him as a loving spouse and caring father, not a homicidal killer. She asked people to pray for the families of the dead – and for her own family. “Our hearts are broken, our lives are shattered, and we grieve for the innocence and lives that were lost today.”
The West Nickel Mines school is located on East White Oak Road about 12 miles southeast of Lancaster. It is a simple, cream-colored building surrounded by a white fence.
The school, attended by 25 to 30 students, isn’t far from the outlet malls that draw thousands of visitors. Tourists come from across the country to see the Amish farmers work their spreads with horse-drawn equipment. The county had only four murders in all of 2005.
Horse-drawn buggies Monday were parked not far from giant TV satellite trucks, their dishes pointed at the stars. The sky buzzed with the drone of news helicopters.
“It’s very sad,” said Randy Gockley, emergency management coordinator for Lancaster County. “You don’t find a more peace-loving people than the Amish.”
Police said that Roberts, of nearby Bart, worked as a truck driver, collecting milk overnight from local farms and delivering it to his employer, Northwest Foods. Before proceeding to the Amish school, authorities said, he dropped his children at the school-bus stop.
Roberts left suicide-type notes for his children and his wife, police said. They described the contents as rambling and disjointed. “They don’t make a lot of sense,” Miller said.
Roberts indicated he was “angry at life and angry at God,” Miller said.
Police believe he made the decision to attack the school several days ago, based on interviews with co-workers. Colleagues said Roberts had been withdrawn, but during the past couple days he seemed more relaxed.
Miller would not say what may have motivated Roberts, but said it was something that occurred about 20 years ago. That would have been when Roberts was about 12.
Roberts, who had no criminal record, did not appear to be seeking revenge on the Amish specifically, Miller said. They were “a target of opportunity,” likely chosen because the school was close to his home and had no security – and because he knew there were girls inside.
School shootings
1999
April 20: Columbine High School, Jefferson County – Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, killed 12 students and one teacher and wounded 24 other people before committing suicide in the school library.
Nov. 19: Deming Middle School, Deming, N.M. – Victor Cordova, 12, shot and killed a 13-year-old classmate. He was sentenced to two years in juvenile detention.
2000
Feb. 29: Buell Elementary School, Mount Morris Township, Mich. – A 6-year-old boy, whose identity was not released, shot and killed 6-year-old playmate Kayla Rolland. He was not charged with a crime, but he was removed from his mother’s custody.
May 26: Lake Worth Community Middle School, Lake Worth, Fla. – After being sent home for misbehaving, Nathaniel Brazill, 13, returned to school and killed teacher Barry Grunow. Brazill was sentenced to 28 years in prison.
2001
March 5: Santana High School, Santee, Calif. – In a San Diego suburb, Charles “Andy” Williams, 15, killed two classmates – a 14-year-old and a 17-year-old – and injured 13. He was sentenced in 2002 to at least 50 years in prison.
April 26: Gutenberg High School in Erfurt, Germany – Robert Steinhaeuser, 19, a recently expelled student, entered his former school and methodically killed 16 people, going room to room with a shotgun and a handgun, before committing suicide.
2003
April 24: Red Lion Area Junior High School, Red Lion, Pa. – James Sheets, 14, brought three handguns to school and killed principal Eugene Segro before fatally shooting himself in the cafeteria.
Sept. 24: Rocori High School, Cold Spring, Minn. – Jason McLaughlin, 15, shot and killed 17-year-old Aaron Rollins, and critically wounded another student, who died of his injuries two weeks later. McLaughlin, charged as an adult, was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison.
2004
September: Beslan School No. 1, Beslan, Russia – On the first day of school in this southern Russian town, Chechen militants took more than 1,100 children, parents and staff hostage in the gym. After a three-day siege, 331 hostages died – including 186 children – during the explosions and gunfire that ended the standoff.
2005
March 21: Red Lake Senior High School, Red Lake, Minn. – Jeff Weise, 16, killed his grandfather and his grandfather’s girlfriend before driving to Red Lake Senior High School and killing five students, a teacher and a security guard. Weise fired on police as they entered the building, then retreated and killed himself.
Nov. 8: Campbell County Comprehensive High School, Jacksboro, Tenn. – A 15-year-old student shot a principal and two assistant principals before a teacher wrestled his weapon away. Assistant principal Ken Bruce was killed.
2006
Aug. 30: Orange High School, Hillsborough, N.C. – Former student Alvaro Castillo, 19, was arrested after opening fire in the school’s parking lot, wounding two. Police found Castillo’s father murdered at his home.
Sept. 13: Dawson College, Montreal – Kimveer Gill, 25, opened fire, authorities said, killing one person and wounding 20 others. He was killed in a shootout with police.
Sept. 27: Platte Canyon High School, Bailey – Duane R. Morrison fatally shot 16-year-old Emily Keyes and then himself.
Sept. 29: Weston High School, Cazenovia, Wis. – A 15-year-old student fatally shot his principal.
