A World Apart, Shattered

The first thing Charles Carl Roberts IV did when he walked into the one-room Amish schoolhouse, police said, was to show the children his semiautomatic pistol.

He was talking, but he didn't make sense.

"Have you seen anything like this?" police say he asked. "Can you help me find it?"

Roberts let all 15 boys leave. A pregnant woman, too. Three adults were allowed to escape with their infant children.

He bound the girls with wire and plastic ties and lined them up at the blackboard. He called his wife to say that he wouldn't be coming home, that he loved her.

And then he began to shoot the girls.

A scene of carnage erupted in pastoral Lancaster County about 11 a.m. yesterday as a lone gunman with a 20-year-old grievance took his revenge on a room full of pupils at the West Nickel Mines Amish School, then turned the pistol on himself.

State police officers stormed the building at the sound of shots - some of the bullets were aimed at them - to discover the doors barricaded by desks and lumber. They broke windows and climbed inside to find Roberts and three girls dead, and eight children badly wounded.

It was the nation's third fatal school shooting in a week.

The murdered children were shot in the head, execution-style, police said. The survivors, many critically injured after being hit at close range, were taken to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and other medical facilities in the region.

Authorities have not released the names of the dead or wounded. A group of Amish families, the women in dark dresses and the men in straw hats, declined to comment as they entered the Philadelphia hospital last night. Their children, aged 8, 10 and 12, were listed in critical condition last night, following surgery.

"Clearly, he wanted to attack young female victims," said Col. Jeffrey Miller, commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police, who briefed reporters at a makeshift press center at the Nickelmines Auction House.

The father of three - who was not Amish - came prepared for a siege, Miller said. Found with Roberts' body were a 9mm pistol, purchased three years ago in a local gunshop; a shotgun; a rifle; a stun gun; two knives; smokeless powder, and 600 rounds of ammunition. He brought a five-gallon bucket filled with tools that included a hammer, a hacksaw, pliers and rolls of clear tape. He also brought a change of clothes.

"It is clear to us that he did a great deal of planning," Miller said last night.

Roberts' wife, Marie Roberts, issued a statement that described him as a loving spouse and caring father, not a homicidal killer. She asked people to pray for the families of the dead - and for her own family.

"Our hearts are broken, our lives are shattered, and we grieve for the innocence and lives that were lost today," she said.

The West Nickel Mines school is on East White Oak Road near Paradise, 12 miles southeast of Lancaster. It is a simple, cream-colored building, with two large doors at the front entrance, set back about 150 feet from the country road and surrounded by a white pasture fence.

The school, attended by 25 to 30 students, isn't far from the outlet malls that draw thousands of visitors. Tourists come from across the country to see the Amish farmers work their spreads with horse-drawn equipment. The county had only four murders in all of 2005.

Yesterday, horse-drawn buggies parked not far from giant TV satellite trucks, their dishes pointed at the stars. The sky above buzzed with the drone of news helicopters, replacing the roar of emergency medical choppers that had descended hours earlier.

"It's very sad," said Randy Gockley, emergency management coordinator for Lancaster County. "You don't find a more peace-loving people than the Amish."

Several Amish gathered at the scene last night to stare at the school, ablaze in the glare of police lights.

"One of my nieces is in Philadelphia hospital, one went to heaven today," an uncle of two of the victims said. He would not give his name.

Another man, 25-year-old John Stoltzfus, an uncle of one victim, said he was working at a warehouse at 11 yesterday when word arrived that something had happened. At noon, he learned his niece had been shot to death.

"I lost my little niece," he said. "I guess it can happen anywhere. It can happen at an Amish school. It can happen anyplace."

Police said that Roberts, of nearby Bart, worked as a truck driver, collecting milk overnight from local farms and delivering it to his employer, Northwest Food Products. Before proceeding to the Amish school, authorities said, he dropped his children at the school-bus stop.

Roberts left suicide-type notes for his children and his wife, police said. They described the contents as rambling and disjointed. "They don't make a lot of sense," Miller said.

Roberts indicated he was "angry at life and angry at God."

Police believe he made the decision to attack the school several days ago, based on interviews conducted with coworkers. Colleagues said Roberts had been withdrawn, but during the last couple of days he seemed more relaxed.

Miller would not say what may have motivated Roberts, but said it was something that occurred about 20 years ago. That would have been when Roberts was about 12.

Roberts, who had no criminal record, did not appear to be seeking revenge on the Amish specifically, Miller said. They were "a target of opportunity," likely chosen because the school was close to his home and had no security - and because he knew there were girls inside.

Once Roberts arrived at the schoolhouse, events moved with deadly speed. He is believed to have entered shortly before 10 and spent about 45 minutes inside before a call for help reached police. It was placed at 10:36 from a nearby farmhouse where a teacher escaped after Roberts ordered the adults to leave.

The male pupils, ages 6 to 13, were freed. Eleven girls, roughly the same age, were lined up at the blackboard. Among them were three teenage teacher's aides. Some had their feet bound together, others were bound to each other.

State police arrived on the scene at 10:45 and troopers set up a perimeter. They held ballistic shields in preparation to rush the building.

Shortly before 11, Roberts' wife tried to call him on his cell phone. She had found at least one of his notes. He returned the call and reported that police were outside the schoolhouse.

Roberts hung up, then called Lancaster County emergency services. If the police didn't back away in 10 seconds, he warned, he would begin to shoot the children. Authorities quickly relayed Roberts' cell number to a police hostage-negotiator at the scene.

Troopers had already attempted to engage Roberts by calling out on the public-address systems in their police cruisers. There is no phone in the school.

The police negotiator frantically dialed the cell number, but could not get through.

Within seconds, police heard several shots in rapid succession. The 10-trooper assault team stormed the school as Roberts fired at them.

At some point in the morning, Roberts had barricaded the school's doors with lumber he brought in a relative's borrowed pickup truck. Police said he fired three shots from the shotgun and at least 13 rounds from the handgun, the last into his own skull.

When police entered through a window they found two students and a teacher's aide mortally wounded. One of the girls died in the arms of a state trooper, who Miller said is "having a tough time with it. "

At present, Police did not immediately find evidence that do not believe any ofthe children were sexually assaulted. One trooper was injured slightly by broken glass.

Late yesterday afternoon, Dwight Lefever, a friend of the Roberts family, read Marie Roberts' statement to reporters: "The man who did this today is not the Charlie that I've been married to for almost 10 years. My husband is loving, supportive, thoughtful, all the things you'd always want and more."

"He was an exceptional father. He took the kids to soccer practice. He played ball in the backyard and took our 7-year-old daughter shopping. He never said no when I'd ask him to change a diaper. . . . Please pray, especially for the families who lost children. And please pray, too, for our family and children."

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Contact staff writer Jeff Gammage at 610-313-8110 or jgammage@phillynews.com.

Staff writers Kera Ritter and John Sullivan contributed to this story.

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He Dropped Off His Children, Then Went to Kill - A Timeline

About 8:45 a.m. - Charles Carl Roberts IV drops his three children off at their school bus stop.

Shortly before 10 a.m. - Roberts enters the West Nickel Mines Amish School.

10:36 a.m. - A teacher who manages to escape calls police.

10:45 a.m. - State troopers arrive at the school.

Shortly before 11 a.m. - Roberts' wife tries to call him after she finds suicide-type notes. She cannot get through to his cell phone.

11 a.m. - Roberts returns his wife's call. He tells her that he loves her and that he can see police outside the school. He then calls Lancaster County emergency management services and warns that he will start shooting the children. A hostage negotiator tries to call Roberts on his cell phone, but cannot get through. Roberts starts to shoot, and police storm the school in response.

* Roberts fired 13 rounds from a 9mm pistol and at least one more shot after reloading - possibly the round used to kill himself. He also fired three blasts from a shotgun, at least one of them at the troopers outside the building. Police did not return fire.

SOURCES: Pennsylvania State Police; Associated Press