Shooting the Amish

[cfiler]

NICKEL MINES, Pa. - A milk-truck driver carrying three guns and a childhood grudge stormed a one-room Amish schoolhouse Monday, sent the boys and adults outside, barricaded the doors with two-by-fours, and then opened fire on a dozen girls, killing three people before committing suicide. Early Tuesday, two more children died of wounds, a hospital spokeswoman and state police said.

At least five other victims were critically wounded, authorities said.

It was the nation’s third deadly school shooting in less than a week, and it sent shock waves through Lancaster County’s bucolic Amish country, a picturesque landscape of horse-drawn buggies, green pastures and neat-as-a-pin farms, where violent crime is virtually nonexistent.

Most of the victims had been shot execution-style at point-blank range after being lined up along the chalkboard, their feet bound with wire and plastic ties, authorities said. Two young students were killed, along with a female teacher’s aide who was slightly older than the students, state police Commissioner Jeffrey B. Miller said.

“This is a horrendous, horrific incident for the Amish community. They’re solid citizens in the community. They’re good people. They don’t deserve ... no one deserves this,” Miller said.

The fourth victim, a 7-year-old girl, died about 4:30 a.m. Tuesday at Penn State Children's Hospital in Hershey, hospital spokeswoman Amy Buehler Stranges said.

"Her parents were with her," Buehler Stranges said. "She was taken off life support and she passed away shortly after."

Shortly afterward, state police announced the death of a fifth child at a hospital in Delaware, Pennsylvania.

'Acting out in revenge'
The gunman, Charles Carl Roberts IV, a 32-year-old truck driver from the nearby town of Bart, was bent on killing young girls as a way of “acting out in revenge for something that happened 20 years ago” when he was a boy, Miller said.

IMAGE: CHARLES CARL ROBERTS
Pennsylvania State Police
This undated handout photo shows Charles Carl Roberts, the man who carried out the deadly Amish school shooting.

Miller refused to say what that long-ago hurt was.

Roberts was not Amish and appeared to have nothing against the Amish community, Miller said. Instead, Miller said, he apparently picked the school because it was close by, there were girls there, and it had little or no security.

The attack bore similarities to a deadly school shooting last week in Bailey, Colo., but Miller said he believed the Pennsylvania attack was not a copycat crime. “I really believe this was about this individual and what was going on inside his head,” he said.

Miller said Roberts was apparently preparing for a long siege, arming himself with a 9mm semiautomatic pistol, a 12-gauge shotgun and a rifle, along with a bag of about 600 rounds of ammunition, two cans of smokeless powder, two knives and a stun gun on his belt. He also had rolls of tape, various tools and a change of clothes.

Roberts had left several rambling notes to his wife and three children that Miller said were “along the lines of suicide notes.” The gunman also called his wife during the siege by cell phone to tell her he was getting even for some long-ago offense, according to Miller.

From the suicide notes and telephone calls, it was clear Roberts was “angry at life, he was angry at God,” Miller said. And it was clear from interviews with his co-workers at the dairy that his mood had darkened in recent days and he had stopped chatting and joking around with fellow employees and customers, the officer said.

Miller said that Roberts had been scheduled to take a random drug test on Monday. But the officer said it was not clear what role that may have played in the attack.

Miller said investigators were looking into the possibility the attack may have been related to the death of one of Roberts’ own children. According to an obituary, Roberts and his wife, Marie, lost a daughter shortly after she was born in 1997.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15105305/

[Joey2ness]

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/US/10/03...tion=cnn_world

School gunman's suicide note says he was dreaming of molesting children again. Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Jeffrey Miller said Roberts may have targeted the school for its girl students and -- given various items found in the school -- intended to molest the children. KY Jelly found in classroom where he shot girls, five fatally, on Monday. The KY Jelly has no exact reason other than the potential for a sexual assault aid.

[cfiler]

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/US/10/03...tion=cnn_world

School gunman's suicide note says he was dreaming of molesting children again. Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Jeffrey Miller said Roberts may have targeted the school for its girl students and -- given various items found in the school -- intended to molest the children. KY Jelly found in classroom where he shot girls, five fatally, on Monday. The KY Jelly has no exact reason other than the potential for a sexual assault aid.

Why couldn't he just commit suicide. Sick f*ck had to ruin people's families.

I hope he's in hell right now.

[Kärnfysikern]

thats a sic ****ing individual.

[Kale]

Ah long live the right to bare arms !! One of the dumbest things the USA ever did IMO

[Teabagger]

Ah long live the right to bare arms !! One of the dumbest things the USA ever did IMO

So the ability to have a firearm made this sick fvck kill? Maybe you'd feel better if he had just stabbed them to death, or beat them to death with a ball bat? Lets get to banning knives, bats, and while we're at it better get rid of all automobiles...they kill more in a month than guns do in a year....Screwed up logic...but if it makes you feel better..ok.

[Kale]

So the ability to have a firearm made this sick fvck kill? Maybe you'd feel better if he had just stabbed them to death, or beat them to death with a ball bat? Lets get to banning knives, bats, and while we're at it better get rid of all automobiles...they kill more in a month than guns do in a year....Screwed up logic...but if it makes you feel better..ok.

Typical red neck response !!!! How many school masacres have you seen in the last 50 years that were caried out with knives and baseball bats Um....none !!!!!!

[Grappler13]

Typical red neck response !!!! How many school masacres have you seen in the last 50 years that were caried out with knives and baseball bats Um....none !!!!!!

But we see school shootings in Canada, France, England and other countries that have very restrictive gun laws. It's not the availability of guns IMHO, but something systemically wrong with society. Look at the "Happy Slapping" in the UK, and Bum fighting in the US. People are just immune to violence today and don't seem to have the tools to deal with their aggression in a way that doesn;t hurt others. Shit, the guy appeared to be planning on raping the girls before he shot them. One sick MF.

[cj1capp]

This Sick Fack Brought Ties And Ky Jelly To Rape And Molest As Many Young Kids A He Could. He Chickened Out When The Cops Got There In His Note To His Wife And Kids He Said He Was Going To Kill Him Self Because He Could Not Stop Him Self. He Should Have Killed Him Self Before Ever Going To The School.

[singern]

So the ability to have a firearm made this sick fvck kill? Maybe you'd feel better if he had just stabbed them to death, or beat them to death with a ball bat? Lets get to banning knives, bats, and while we're at it better get rid of all automobiles...they kill more in a month than guns do in a year....Screwed up logic...but if it makes you feel better..ok.

My response may be better in its own thread, but:
statistically firearms embolden people to commit acts of violence they would normally not be capable of. Guns allow people to hurt or kill others from a distance, removing the "man to man" factor and also physical and mental capability to perform the dirty deed.
So yes the ability to obtain and use firearms is certainly a huge factor in the high murder rate in the US.
Now having said that there is certainly a valid side to the NRA argument that if everyone was armed, the bad guys would be dissuaded.

Personally I dont want or need a gun, but I dont speak for everyone..

[RA]

Typical red neck response !!!! How many school masacres have you seen in the last 50 years that were caried out with knives and baseball bats Um....none !!!!!!

hmm, didnt we just have some planes hijacked? No guns. Didnt Canada just have a school shooting? Restrictive gun laws.

I'm so sick to fkg death of people ragging on America. How is it that the youngest country is kicking the rest of the worlds asses? We must be doing something right.

[RA]

Actually Ill tell you how we are doing it. All the adventurous go-getters left Europe...and came here All thats left is the snooty Im so much better than you crowd that doesnt really do anything.

[spywizard]

info on what happened



http://www.scaredmonkeys.com/2006/10...-school-girls/