Killings in Amish country

last updated 8 January 2015

Bart Township, Pa.

A heavily armed man commandeered a one-room schoolhouse in Pennsylvania’s Amish country this week and shot 11 girls, ages 6 to 13, killing five of them. Police say Charles Carl Roberts IV, a 32-year-old father of three, called his wife during the rampage and confessed he had molested two young female relatives 20 years ago and dreamed of doing it again. Roberts was “angry at life, he was angry at God,” said State Police Commissioner Jeffrey Miller. The assault began when Roberts, a truck driver, burst into the one-room Nickel Mines school during morning classes. After ordering all the boys and adults out of the room, he lined up the 11 girls, bound their ankles, and shot them. When police stormed in, Roberts killed himself with a bullet to the head. He may have intended to assault the girls sexually, but was thwarted by the police attack. One of the surviving girls is expected to make a full recovery. The condition of the other four is “not good,” Miller said.