BREAKING NEWS: Police Surround One-Room Amish Schoolhouse

[mcornelio]

http://images.ibsys.com/2006/1002/9982087_320X240.jpg


Police have responded to reports of a hostage situation and multiple people shot in eastern Lancaster County at a small, one-room Amish schoolhouse.
The scene is along the 4800 block of Mine Road in Bart Township. Witnesses told News 8 reporter Anne Shannon that a man went into school and took hostages. Some people in the Amish community learned about the situation and contacted police. Witnesses told Shannon that this is a tragedy not ever seen before in Lancaster County.

Shannon also said that the hostage situation is over. Officials said the hostage taker is deceased.

"This is definitely an enormous scene," Shannon said.

Lancaster General Hospital has called in all available personnel. They have been told to be prepared for a large number of patients.

John Lines of Lancaster General Hospital said so far they have received three "pediatric" patients. He did not say what their injuries were.

Hershey Medical Center in Dauphin County has also been warned that they might be receiving patients.

News 8 is stressing that the situation does not involve the Faith Mennonite School or Bart-Colerain Elementary, which are near the scene.

[mcornelio]

This Looks Bad... Really Really Bad...

[Marklar MM]

WTF is wrong with people nowadays. How many school shootings has this been the last couple weeks? 2 or 3.

They got the shooter.

[mcornelio]

BREAKING NEWS
NBC, MSNBC and news services
Updated: less than 1 minute ago

NICKEL MINES, Pa. - A gunman killed “a number” of people at a one-room Amish schoolhouse Monday in Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County, state police said.

The shooter was among the dead, state police Cpl. Ralph Striebig said.

“There are a number of people dead,” Striebig said. “The exact number I do not know yet.”

State police later said it's possible that five people died.

About three dozen Amish people earlier were standing behind a police line, and at least two ambulances had left the scene, WGAL-TV said. Television news helicopters showed a person being taken away on a stretcher to a waiting medical helicopter.

The Lancaster County 911 Web site reported that dozens of emergency units were dispatched to a “medical emergency” at 10:45 a.m. Monday.

This report will be updated as information becomes available.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This Is Getting Out Of Hand...

[Marklar MM]

Reuters reports 7 killed, but exact number unknown.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=newsOne&storyID=2006-10-02T164619Z_01_N02360114_RTRUKOC_0_US-CRIME-SCHOOL-AMISH.xml

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Several people were shot and killed by a gunman who attacked an Amish school in Pennsylvania on Monday and was then either captured or killed, police said.

"There are a number dead. The exact number I am not sure at this point. There are also a number of wounded. And the shooter is not at large," said state police Corporal Ralph Striebig.

[mcornelio]

Do amish people use hospitals... arent they against anything technological

[baseline bum]

Fuck. I thought this was just an Onion article in bad taste when I saw the title.

[JoeChalupa]

sad

[mcornelio]

thats what it sounds like... police surround 1 room amish schoolhouse...

[thispego]

uh, amish don't use cars, and I don't think they even use guns, yet the news keeps implying it is an amish person that did this.....well, from the looks of the civilian truck outside I would say an outsider did this........which would be alarming and very distressing......by the way in china if you get caught smuggling drugs of any amount, you get the death penalty.................I have a feeling that life would be different in the US if 1st time DUI offenders would get a mandatory 20year sentence.

the problem in our society is that we are to lax. people don't fear the law or god........that leaves with a lot of lost people just itching to hurt people.
WTF!?!? you think 1st time dui offendors should get 20 years in prison??? what the hell does the death penalty in China for smuggling drugs have to do with this?

[ashbeeigh]

From what I heard on the news the Amish don't "conform" and that's why they live the way we see them. They however, do use hospitals, electricity, and phones. I mean, three people have been taken to the hospital (well that was thirty minutes ago). They go into more metro areas to sell their products and to make a living. We're just stereotyping if we assume those things. But what I am most worried about is everyone's mental health after, and during, this whole event.

[ashbeeigh]

They however, do use hospitals, electricity, and phones.

I should have been more clear... when needed.

[jman3000]

i had a line from Kingpin that i was gonna type... but n/m.

[DirkAB]

...by the way in china if you get caught smuggling drugs of any amount, you get the death penalty.................I have a feeling that life would be different in the US if 1st time DUI offenders would get a mandatory 20year sentence.

the problem in our society is that we are to lax. people don't fear the law or god........that leaves with a lot of lost people just itching to hurt people.


Wow, that is really deep! Looks like you have it all figured out. Will you please save us from ourselves?

[mcornelio]

Truck driver kills three girls in Amish school shooting POSTED: 2:36 p.m. EDT, October 2, 2006


var clickExpire = "-1"; PARADISE, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- A man apparently targeting young girls walked into a one-room Amish schoolhouse and shot three students to death before killing himself, police said Monday. Seven others were wounded in the attack.

"It seems as though he wanted to attack young female victims, and this is close to his residence, that's the only reason we can figure that he went to the school," said Comm. Jeffrey Miller, Pennsylvania State Police.

The shooting took place at Wolf Rock School in Paradise, a school run by the Amish community with about 27 students in grades 1 through 8.

The gunman, Charles Carl Roberts IV, 32, was a truck driver, said Miller.

At least five young girls with gunshot wounds were taken to area hospitals, a spokeswoman said.

Gunman let boys go

Miller said that during the attack, Roberts apparently told students to line up in front of the blackboard. He began to tie his female captives' feet together. Then he let the boys in the classroom leave.

Miller said Roberts also allowed an adult female who was pregnant to leave and three other adult females who had infant children with them.

At the time he let them leave, the teacher was able to get out of the schoolhouse and alert authorities, Miller said. (Watch police investigate shooting scene -- 1:00 (javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/us/2006/10/02/vo.pa.amish.school.shooting.aerials.wbal','2006/10/09');))

Miller said Roberts called his wife while he was inside the school. She said he didn't know where he was but that he couldn't go on any more and he was getting revenge for something that happened 20 years ago. (Watch aftermath of deadly school shooting -- 2:00 (javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/us/2006/10/02/lewis.pa.amish.school.shooting.wtxf','2006/10/09');))

Lancaster General Hospital initially received three young patients, ages 6 to 15 -- one in critical condition -- and expects to receive three more patients soon, spokeswoman Kim Hatch told CNN.

Two were transferred to Hershey Medical Center and another to Children's Hospital in Philadelphia, while the fourth remains at Lancaster General, she said.

Another young female suffering from a gunshot wound to the head and right hand was taken to Reading Hospital and Medical Center, where she was in critical condition before she was transferred to Children's Hospital, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Lancaster County's 911 Web site reported dozens of emergency vehicles -- including at least nine ambulances -- were dispatched to Bart Township shortly before 11 a.m. for a "medical emergency." The Lancaster County emergency communications Web site showed 20 incident calls listed to the normally quiet Bart Township at 10:48 a.m.

Shortly after the attack, men, women and girls in traditional Amish clothing gathered in small groups outside the country schoolhouse along a dirt road. Horse-drawn carriages could be seen in a nearby parking lot.

The attack was the nation's third deadly school shooting in a week.

On Wednesday, a 53-year-old man entered a high school in Bailey, Colorado, where he held several female students hostage at gunpoint. He shot one girl before killing himself seconds after a SWAT team stormed inside the classroom.

A high school student near Madison, Wisconsin, is suspected of fatally gunning down his principal on Friday, after he was disciplined for carrying tobacco and being bullied.

Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press (http://www.cnn.com/interactive_legal.html#AP) contributed to this report.

[2Blonde]

On ABC they said apparently he left a note to his wife and indicated he was doing it for revenge for something happened a long time ago (like 20 years ago)...?????? It was some guy that hauled milk from a dairy farm or something like that.

That's f****ed up!!!

[mcornelio]

si wtf was it that happened? he got raped buy an amish chick?... i was going to make a joke but this isnt right... dude goes killing little inocent girls fucking son of a bitch...

[ComfortablyNumb]

Unstable mind to say the least.

[dimsah]

This is literally about 3 miles from my house. I have never met an inconsiderate Amish person. They've all been very kind to me.

Barbaric! Death was too good for this guy.

[MaNuMaNiAc]

wow... something is terribly wrong with these people. Killing 3 girls ages 6 - 13, the dude couldn't have been sane. Insanity seems to be running rampant in the US now a days http://spurstalk.com/forums/images/smilies/smiembarassed.gif

[DoubtingThomas]

Welcome to The United States Of Demons, Devils and Pagans. Where executing young children is not just our motto , its our way of life.

we are society on the verge of self-destruction.....I can't see this country lasting another 100years..............can you.???


I am going to the book store and getting a book on Cantonese and Mandarin, then I will also grab the Koran on the way out.....the way things are going we are either going to be chinese or muslim in the next 100years.....no doubt about it.

I'm not so sure about that.

[ObiwanGinobili]

he tied thier feet together, lined them up against the blackboard and shot them execution style. :depressed :cry

[ShoogarBear]

You wonder if these guys are feeding off one another.

[GrandeDavid]

I cannot express how disheartened and saddened I am by this. At the same time I'm enraged and, to be honest, extremely worried. Sick, insane stuff like this is even going on in presumably safe, small towns inhabited by humble people. Just disgusting, demoralizing and unbelievable. :depressed

[King]

You wonder if these guys are feeding off one another.

Supposedly this one was 'planned' for a while. Or, a shooting was. Speculation is that this schoolhouse was chosen because it was closeby.

And a fourth girl just died.

[MaNuMaNiAc]

5 girls have died already... man I don't know why this whole thing affected me so much, but it just breaks my heart. I have a 10 year old niece and I love her to death, to think some fucker could do such a thing to someone like her is... well let me put it this way, I'm not catholic nor do I normally believe in god, but I found myself compelled to pray for these girls last night. This is some fucked up shit!

[ObiwanGinobili]

Supposedly this one was 'planned' for a while. Or, a shooting was. Speculation is that this schoolhouse was chosen because it was closeby.
And a fourth girl just died.


Yes. Apparently he lived across the street from it or right next door (or as next door as you can get out on a country road) and in his letters he made it very clear he wanted to harm very young girls.

[brian3]

damn amish folk

[ObiwanGinobili]

damn amish folk

The shooter was not Amish. He was american .. or "english" as the amish call non-amish folks.

[johnsmith]

Welcome to The United States Of Demons, Devils and Pagans. Where executing young children is not just our motto , its our way of life.

we are society on the verge of self-destruction.....I can't see this country lasting another 100years..............can you.???


I am going to the book store and getting a book on Cantonese and Mandarin, then I will also grab the Koran on the way out.....the way things are going we are either going to be chinese or muslim in the next 100years.....no doubt about it.


You're an idiot.

[velik_m]

You wonder if these guys are feeding off one another.

"The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, but I have promises to keep. And miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep. Remember. Miles to go before I sleep."

[JoeChalupa]

I just heard some of the shit this guy had with him. WTF were his real intentions!?!?

He had 2 tubes of KY Jelly. Scary as hell.

[MaNuMaNiAc]

then you proceed to make your prayers a mockery to God with your vile tongue.

this is what is wrong with society.you've got to be shitting me. Why don't you read the entire post before making stupid assumptions. I'm not Catholic, nor am I religious, what I meant was this thing is so tragic it almost feels like I should be praying for these girls, and I'm NOT EVEN RELIGIOUS! GET IT?? besides, I've never prayed in my life, so I wouldn't know how to start.

All I know is I was in my bed and thinking "if there is anything or anyone out there, I hope he helps those girls through the pain that lunatic put them through".

I guess the sentiment isn't what counts huh? its the wording http://spurstalk.com/forums/images/smilies/smirolleyes.gif

[sa_butta]

SICK MOTHERFUCKER!!!



http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2006/US/10/03/amish.shooting/newt1.amsh.13.tues.ap.jpg

(CNN) -- Pennsylvania schoolhouse killer Charles Carl Roberts IV said he molested minor family members 20 years ago and was dreaming about molesting again, police said Tuesday.

Roberts' assault Monday killed five girls and wounded five others, police said, before he killed himself. Police have been trying to determine the motive behind the attack by talking to family members and analyzing suicide notes.

Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Jeffrey Miller said Roberts may have targeted the school for its girl students and -- given the various items found in the school -- intended to molest the children. (Watch police describe the molestation confession -- 1:34 (javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/us/2006/10/03/sot.amish.shooting.molestation.wgal','2006/10/10');) http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/.element/img/1.5/main/icon_video.gif (javascript:cnnVideo('play','javascript:cnnVideo(' play','/video/us/2006/10/03/sot.amish.shooting.molestation.wgal','2006/10/10');','2006/10/03');))

He said KY Jelly lubricant was found in the schoolhouse where the assault occurred but there is no evidence that the victims were sexually assaulted in any way.

"It's very possible, when he talks about doing the things and having dreams for the last two years about doing things that he did 20 years ago ... he perhaps planned, with the kind of wood and eyebolts and flex cuffs and KY Jelly and other things, it's very possible that he intended to victimize these children in many ways prior to executing them and killing himself," Miller said.

Roberts also said he was mad at God for the death of his premature baby, Elise, born nine years ago, Miller said.

Miller said Roberts called his wife Monday morning and said, "'I am not coming home. The police are here.'" (Watch police describe timeline of crime -- 6:42 (javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/us/2006/10/03/sot.amish.shooting.timeline.wgal','2006/10/10');) http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/.element/img/1.5/main/icon_video.gif (javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/us/2006/10/03/sot.amish.shooting.timeline.wgal','2006/10/10');))

Then Miller said Roberts stated, "'I molested some minor family members, family members that were 3 or 4 years old, 20 years ago.'"

"Roberts mentioned in his suicide note that he was having dreams of molesting again," Miller said.

Miller said both sides of Roberts' family were interviewed, including his parents, and his wife, and they said they had no knowledge of any molestation by Roberts affecting any family member or anyone else.

Two of the girls died overnight from gunshot wounds suffered in the assault by the 32-year-old truck driver on students at the tiny farmland school in southeastern Pennsylvania. At least five other girls remain hospitalized.

Co-workers said Roberts had stopped chatting and joking in recent days.

The commercial milk truck driver lived in nearby Bart, Pennsylvania, with his wife and three children.

Roberts barricaded himself in the schoolhouse with a 9 mm pistol, a shotgun and a bolt-action rifle -- and more than 600 rounds of ammunition, police said. In another sign that Roberts was prepared for a long standoff, he also brought a roll of toilet paper, police said. He had no known criminal history, said Miller. (Watch the arsenal that Roberts brought to the school -- 2:23 (javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/us/2006/10/03/carroll.pa.another.school.shooting.victim.wtxf','2 006/10/10');))

During the attack, Roberts released 15 boys and three women with infants and then told remaining female students to line up in front of the blackboard, Miller said. Roberts then tied the girls' feet together, Miller said. A teacher who was released was able to alert authorities, Miller said, and police rushed to the school.

13-year-old victim's condition upgraded

Two girls critically injured in the attack died early Tuesday, hospital and state police officials told CNN. The other three victims -- two girls and a teenager -- died soon after the attack, Miller said. (Watch what happened in schoolhouse, community's reaction -- 2:21 (javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/us/2006/10/02/carroll.amish.school.shooting.cnn','2006/10/09');) http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/.element/img/1.5/main/icon_video.gif (javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/us/2006/10/02/carroll.amish.school.shooting.cnn','2006/10/09');))

At Hershey Medical Center, a 6-year-old girl remained in critical condition Tuesday and a 13-year-old girl was upgraded from critical to serious condition, said hospital spokesman Sean Young.

Families of both girls were maintaining a vigil at their hospital bedsides and the 13-year-old was "exchanging non-verbal communication" or "eye-communication" with her family, said another spokesman, Matt Wayne.

"There is reason for optimism, but at the same time it would be conjecture to say she's out of the woods, so to speak," Young said.

Three patients -- ages 8, 10, and 12 -- remain in critical condition at Philadelphia's Children's Hospital, officials told CNN early Tuesday.

Wife: 'Not the Charlie I've been married to''

On Monday, a man who said he was a friend of the Roberts family, Dwight Lefever, read a statement attributed to the gunman's wife, Marie Roberts, according to CNN affiliate WGAL.

"The man that did this today was not the Charlie I've been married to for almost 10 years. My husband was loving, supportive, thoughtful. All the things you'd always want and more. He was an exceptional father," the statement said.

A White House spokesperson said the president was "deeply saddened and troubled by the recent school violence" and that the administration would convene a conference on the subject next week.

It was the nation's third deadly school shooting in a week, following the killing of a 16-year-old girl by a 53-year-old man in Bailey, Colorado, and the shooting death of a principal at a school in Madison, Wisconsin.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/03/amish.shooting/index.html

[boutons_]

"A White House spokesperson said the president was "deeply saddened and troubled by the recent school violence" "

aw, such a very senstive, touchy-feely guy, about US human beings, anyway. :lol

[MaNuMaNiAc]

WTF!? this dude seems taken out of a Stephen King novel

[MaNuMaNiAc]

"A White House spokesperson said the president was "deeply saddened and troubled by the recent school violence" "

aw, such a very senstive, touchy-feely guy, about US human beings, anyway. :loldude, no offence, but don't make this political alright!?, keep that shit to yourself once in a while bro, its not going to kill you

[boutons_]

"don't make this political alright!"

the WH has already made it politcal, alright?

[MaNuMaNiAc]

"don't make this political alright!"

the WH has already made it politcal, alright?it was an f'n statement for crying out loud. You really think they don't feel for those girls??

[boutons_]

The statement could have been with exactly the same pro-forma effect:

"dubya extends his deepest condoleances to the victims' families and their Amish communities"

... without the self-serving political crap about dubya's for-press-release emotions.

[Phenomanul]

The statement could have been with exactly the same pro-forma effect:

"dubya extends his deepest condoleances to the victims' families and their Amish communities"

... without the self-serving political crap about dubya's for-press-release emotions.


He certainly isn't looking for their party-line vote, in case you haven't noticed... the Amish communities abstain from voting in federal or state elections...

:wakeup

[Phenomanul]

Church members visited with the victims' families Tuesday, preparing meals and doing household chores, while Amish elders planned the funerals. An Amish woman who helped comfort family members said they were being sustained by prayer.

"It's a tragedy we've never seen before," said the woman, whose father was a church bishop. Like many Amish, she declined to give her name. "They said it was a happy school," she said. "The children were happy, the teachers were happy."

Roberts, from the nearby town of Bart, was not Amish and did not appear to have anything against the Amish, Miller said. He said Roberts was bent on killing girls and apparently figured he could succeed at the serene schoolhouse.

Dwight Lefever, a Roberts family spokesman, spoke at a community prayer service Tuesday evening and said he was at the home of Roberts' father when an Amish neighbor came to comfort the family.

"He stood there for an hour, and he held that man in his arms, and he said, 'We will forgive you,'" Lefever said. "He extended the hope of forgiveness that we all need these days."

Sam Stoltzfus, 63, an Amish woodworker who lives a few miles away from the shooting scene, said his grandchildren were full of questions when they came home from another Amish school.

"They were terrified," said Stoltzfus, whose son took the grandchildren to school Tuesday morning so they wouldn't have to walk by themselves. "They wanted to know: What was wrong with him? Why was he doing that?"

Stoltzfus said the victims' families will be sustained by their faith.

"We think it was God's plan and we're going to have to pick up the pieces and keep going," he said. "A funeral to us is a much more important thing than the day of birth because we believe in the hereafter. The children are better off than their survivors."

___

Associated Press Writer Michael Rubinkam contributed to this report.



There is much to learn from these communities... on a deeper humanistic level...

[1Parker1]

You wonder if these guys are feeding off one another.

You have to consider that. Didn't the same thing happen after Columbine? That triggered a whole series of other school shootings months after.

Very sad. I was watching the local news coverage. Our mayor was there and he said that the funeral for the two sisters will be today. They were only 7 or 8 years old I believe...:(