LANCASTER, Pa.-
The Amish schoolhouse gunman threatened to kill his hostages “in two seconds” if authorities did not leave the property, according to a 911 transcript released Tuesday.
“Don’t try to talk me out of it, get them all off the property now,” Charles Carl Roberts IV told a Lancaster County dispatcher in a call that came in at 10:55 a.m. Oct 2.
The dispatcher then asked Roberts to stay on the phone so he could be transferred to state police. Roberts replied: “No, you tell them and that’s it. Right now or they’re dead in two seconds.”
The 911 dispatcher sought to transfer the call and told Roberts, “Hang on a minute,” Roberts replied again: “Two seconds, that’s it.” The line then went dead.
Roberts, a 32-year-old milk truck driver and father of three, stormed the West Nickel Mines Amish School on Oct. 2 armed with a shotgun, a handgun and a stun gun. He ended up killing five girls and wounding five others.
Teacher Emma Mae Zook, 20, and her mother, who was visiting the schoolhouse, darted out of the building when they saw one of the weapons. They ran to a neighboring farm that had a telephone.
According to the transcript, first released to The Associated Press, the initial 911 call about the siege came in to Lancaster County emergency authorities at 10:35 a.m. from a man named Amos Smoker, according to the transcript.
“There’s a, there’s a guy in the school with a gun,” Smoker said.
After determining the location, the dispatcher transferred the call to state police but the line went dead when Smoker identified himself.
