RIJIMMY
10-02-2006, 02:43 PM
PARADISE, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- A 32-year-old truck driver walked into an Amish schoolhouse Monday, binding and shooting three girls execution-style before killing himself, police said Monday.
Seven other girls were wounded in the attack, which police said appeared to be a revenge killing for an incident that occurred two decades ago.
"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.
"It's a horrendous crime scene," he said. (Watch police investigate shooting scene -- 1:00)
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. (Watch how the gunman got in and what he did -- 7:44)
One of the children died in the arms of a trooper, Miller said.
The wounded girls were taken to several hospitals in the central Pennsylvania area, some of them with gunshot wounds to the head. The victims range in age from 6 to 13, he said.
The gunman, Charles Carl Roberts IV, drove a commercial milk truck, said Miller. He was not Amish, was not previously wanted by authorities and had no known criminal history. The Bart, Pennsylvania, resident had three children, and left several notes for his family "along the lines of suicide notes," Miller said.
The commissioner said Roberts had worked a shift that ended about 3 a.m. Monday and taken his children to their bus stop before beginning his rampage.
Police said he had barricaded himself in the schoolhouse with two-by-four and two-by-six pieces of lumber, which he brought to the scene in a borrowed pickup truck. He did not respond to efforts by police to make contact with him.
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. He let the 15 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.
The teacher who was released was able to alert authorities, Miller said. Miller said Roberts called his wife while he was inside the school. She said that he told her that he couldn't go on any more, and he was getting revenge for something that happened 20 years ago.
"Apparently, there was some sort of an issue in his past that for some reason, he wanted to exact revenge against female victims. That's all I can tell you right now," Miller 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.
Seven other girls were wounded in the attack, which police said appeared to be a revenge killing for an incident that occurred two decades ago.
"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.
"It's a horrendous crime scene," he said. (Watch police investigate shooting scene -- 1:00)
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. (Watch how the gunman got in and what he did -- 7:44)
One of the children died in the arms of a trooper, Miller said.
The wounded girls were taken to several hospitals in the central Pennsylvania area, some of them with gunshot wounds to the head. The victims range in age from 6 to 13, he said.
The gunman, Charles Carl Roberts IV, drove a commercial milk truck, said Miller. He was not Amish, was not previously wanted by authorities and had no known criminal history. The Bart, Pennsylvania, resident had three children, and left several notes for his family "along the lines of suicide notes," Miller said.
The commissioner said Roberts had worked a shift that ended about 3 a.m. Monday and taken his children to their bus stop before beginning his rampage.
Police said he had barricaded himself in the schoolhouse with two-by-four and two-by-six pieces of lumber, which he brought to the scene in a borrowed pickup truck. He did not respond to efforts by police to make contact with him.
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. He let the 15 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.
The teacher who was released was able to alert authorities, Miller said. Miller said Roberts called his wife while he was inside the school. She said that he told her that he couldn't go on any more, and he was getting revenge for something that happened 20 years ago.
"Apparently, there was some sort of an issue in his past that for some reason, he wanted to exact revenge against female victims. That's all I can tell you right now," Miller 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.