Shooting at Amish One-room Schoolhouse

[Christine N.]

Reported here first, since we're almost 'local' but some jackass walked into a one room Amish school house and shot a bunch of kids. Killed at least three, then himself.

Coulda saved everyone a lot of grief if he just did the last part first.

So I ask again -what is WRONG WITH PEOPLE! These Amish folks are just living their lives, not hurting anyone.

Jackass.

[AnneMarble]

I'm at work with just the radio, so I don't know if this is being covered yet. It sounds absolutely horrid. There are reports that the local hospitals are on alert and that one has already received three "pediatric" patients.

http://www.thewbalchannel.com/news/9982037/detail.html?treets=bal&tml=bal_break&ts=T&tmi=bal_break_1_11480410022006

What is happening?!

[brianm]

I have the news on right now and it is reported multiple deaths from the shooter who is also, they believe, among the dead.

[Christine N.]

Yeah, I already had this - but it's the 'what is WRONG with people' thread. Also one is Las Vegas today too, but no reports on that one. Whoops, I didn't see this was in the Current events forum.

[cree]

I am curious to see what link this shooter had to the school.
I am not too far from the recent Montreal school shootings.
What is the source of this trend to shoot school children? It's mind-boggling to me. I don't recall anything like school shootings happening, 15, 20, 25 years ago.
Am I just forgetting, or is this a bizarre new method of expressing insanity?

[JennaGlatzer]

I merged the threads.

[stormie]

Yeah, an Amish one-room schoolhouse is the last place I'd expect a shooting to take place. Any word on who did it?

[Sheryl Nantus]

it's just heartbreaking.

[maestrowork]

That's just horrible. First Colorado, and now this. People are going on shooting school children rampant... What's going on?

[alleycat]

That's just horrible. First Colorado, and now this. People are going on shooting school children rampant... What's going on?
One does it . . . then it's all over the news . . . then someone else does it to get their 15 minutes of fame.

[AnneMarble]

There is a press conference going on now. Before it, they were reporting that at least six people are known dead. I don't know if that number includes the shooter -- but I wouldn't include him in the "person" category. Now they seem to have a lower (thank God!) number. Earlier reports said the shooter was named Roy, but they gave a full name during the press conference.

He was a truck driver from the area (who drove a milk truck that picked up milk from farms). He left suicide notes for his wife and kids implying that he was going to kill himself and that this was all in revenge for something that happened 20 years ago. And he only shot girls, so we don't know if this guy was boiling over something that happened to him when he was a kid (what an idiot) or was just imagining that he was taking revenge on these poor girls.

It has been reported that police are also scouring the surrounding area to look for victims who might have fled after being wounded.

[maestrowork]

Another one in Vegas... people are going nuts!

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/02/lasvegas.schools.ap/index.html

[SpookyWriter]

Another one in Vegas... people are going nuts!

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/02/lasvegas.schools.ap/index.htmlAnd people wonder why I want to return to Holland where they don't have guns. I just hope that none of those guys returning from Iraq start going ballistic like some Vietnam vets did.

[Christine N.]

I merged the threads.

thanks Jenna. :)

Yes, this jerkoff a-hole did the world a favor and shot himself. If only he would have done that and left the girls alone. The details are still sketchy, but apparently this guy just went off his rocker. Left notes to his kids and wife, ranting about taking revenge for something that happened 20 years ago.

He let the boys go, and the pregnant teacher and the teachers with infants. Then he tied up the girls and executed them.

Let me ask - what kind of thing could AMISH people have done to this jerk two decades ago that warrants killing an innocent six year old girl??? 6-13 were the ages of the victims. These gentle people who never hurt anyone, and this.. .I don't even have enough curse words for him... goes in and ties them up and shoots them. For 'revenge' for something that happened before these girls were even born. The jack *** was 12 when whatever happened happened. What so some little Amish girl turned him down for a date? I can't imagine what an Amish girl did to him to make him crazy 20 years later.

I don't really believe in hell, but I hope his sould is reincarnated as a dung beetle. In a Pennsylvania cow pasture.

His name, if anyone cares, is Charles Carl Roberts IV. Oh, and for a trucker he had an enormous house. Just 'cause they're showing it here.

[aadams73]

This is really disgusting. Children have a right to be safe in school.

[cree]

One does it . . . then it's all over the news . . . then someone else does it to get their 15 minutes of fame.

I know alot of people think this is the source, and I guess it could be...but I personally don't think it is. I categorize that theory in the same vein as kids will commit suicide because they hear rap music, or all the other claims society has placed on the various forms of media...
This is something different, a trend that had developed in the last decade (I think, don't quote me) for crazy people with guns to prey on the most vulnerable and innocent, at a time where they are congregated and free of parental protection. There's got to be more to the pyschology of this then some cretin saw some other cretin do it, so they want to do it too.

It is such a strange crime.

[Christine N.]

I really, REALLY wanna know what his reason was, what he was 'taking revenge for'. Because there IS no excuse.

If someone assaulted you, you take it up with that individual, not innocent children.

I can't remember the last time I was so mad and heartbroken at the same time. These people don't even have phones - who knows how far the teacher had to run to find a phone to get help.

[cree]

Odd. I just saw for myself the news account for this out of Philly. They said the shooter has a wife and children. They did an aerial shot of the shooter's home, and it appears quite lovely. I know appearances aren't that relevant, but still...Unlike Colorado and Montreal and others, this does not appear to be a guy on the brink of society with nothing to lose....

[Christine N.]

Thinking about it, I've come to the conclusion that that sh!thead was nothing more than a coward. Shooting young girls that weren't even born when whatever 'incident' took place he was taking revenge for.

Not a man, just a coward. Sh!thead. Now he leaves his wife and children behind to deal with this - like he didn't just scar them for life. I feel bad for his family, and my heart aches for that poor Amish community.

That house the news had on earlier was not the shooters; his house is much more modest.

[Christine N.]

Update - the act for which the revenge was taken had nothing to do with the Amish.

SO, why in Dog's name, WHY????

[stormie]

Thinking about it, I've come to the conclusion that that sh!thead was nothing more than a coward. Shooting young girls that weren't even born when whatever 'incident' took place he was taking revenge for.

Not a man, just a coward.
Yes. He thought this whole thing through precisely and he took others down with him. I mean, this guy had 2x4's and 2x6's to shut the doors and windows. He had twist-ties and rope to bind their ankles. He wrote several notes. And he took other's lives as retribution for what happened to him so many years ago. A coward who was thinking clearly and knowingly of what he was doing, and chose children in a quiet area to carry out his misplaced anger.

[AnneMarble]

Update - the act for which the revenge was taken had nothing to do with the Amish.

SO, why in Dog's name, WHY????
Maybe because he was too cowardly to try this at a school that had better security. Or too lazy to go somewhere else? Can't rationalize the unrational. Like you said, he was a sh!thead.

[SpookyWriter]

The sad part of this tragedy is that "If our children are not safe in an Amish community school, then where?".

[DeniseK]

The sad part of this tragedy is that "If our children are not safe in an Amish community school, then where?".

That's what I thought.

[tiny]

This is really disgusting. Children have a right to be safe in school.


But they aren't safe. They aren't safe anywhere. It's sad that this country is in a place where we have to have someone come into the schools to explain to the children how to get out if a gunman breaks in.

I lived not far from Columbine and when it happened they locked down all the schools in the area. My son took weeks to recover from this even though he was not at Columbine High School. He couldn't bear to be at school, and when I finally took him back, the police presence that made me feel better scared the hell out of him.

I don't think there will ever be an explanation good enough to make any of us understand why. There can't be. But isn't it strange that we all want one?

[BradyH1861]

The sad part of this tragedy is that "If our children are not safe in an Amish community school, then where?".

You are so correct.

B.

[TheGaffer]

Yes, this jerkoff a-hole did the world a favor and shot himself.
Sorry but I don't buy it. He took the easy way out, and didn't have to face up for what he did. He just got to take his own life.

It's about the most awful thing I've heard in a long time. The premeditated aspect of it really sickens me. And little children. How do you do such a thing to little children. Not that anyone deserves to die horribly like this in any circumstance. But six-year-old girls. It doesn't get much more horrific than that.

[AnneMarble]

I've heard some of the updates, and this killer sounds like an even bigger monster than before. When I first heard that this all had something to do that happened to him 20 years ago, when he was 12, I thought, Oh great. Another idiot who blames all girls for something that happened when he was a kid. But it's worse! The incident he couldn't deal with was that he molested some of his young relatives when he was 12! And he had been thinking of molesting girls again. He probably invaded an Amish school house only because he knew they wouldn't have cops and metal detectors.

I know it's a cliche to ask "Why didn't he just get help?" But for God's sake, Why didn't he just get help?! If he had, those girls would not have gone through hell. Yes, yes, I know it's hard for some people to realize they need help, but come on! If you are thinking of molesting little girls, and find yourself buying supplies to take hostages at a one-room schoolhouse... it's time to get some freaking help!
:rant:

Interestingly, a reporter from a DC news station interviewed one of the Amish residents of the community (off-camera out of request for his beliefs). He said that they had already forgiven the killer for what he did. I don't think I could ever be that forgiving, no matter what my beliefs. But I do respect people who can stick to their beliefs like that. Anyway, it's not as if there will be a shortage of people hating the guy for what he did. Now I just hope that the killer's wife and kids don't get unfairly harrassed, and I know that might be too late for that hope.

[Sheryl Nantus]

I can only think to myself - thank GOD that the police presence made him rush straight to shooting the girls. It would have been unthinkable to leave them in the hands of this perv who would have sexually assaulted them until they were then killed. And more so the horror since they had little contact with the outside world and probably would have not even guessed the torture he was about to inflict on them.

at least they kept their childhood innocence unto death.

:(