Video: 'Nickel Mines Amish School Shooting: 5 Years Later'
(Monday, October 2, 2006, c. 10:25 – c. 11:07 a.m. EDT; during the West Nickel Mines School shooting) — A heavily armed milk truck driver stormed a one-room Amish schoolhouse in rural Lancaster County today, bounding hostages and opening fire on a row of young girls, leaving five children dead and five others critically wounded before turning the gun on himself.
The bloodbath in this quiet, pastoral farming village is the nation’s third deadly school shooting in less than a week.
State police officials confirmed that 32-year-old Charles Carl Roberts IV, a local father of three who was not Amish, targeted the West Nickel Mines School with clear intent. Armed with a handgun, a shotgun, a rifle, and a stash of ammunition, Roberts entered the building around 10:00 a.m. and ordered the adult teacher, assistants, and all fifteen male students to leave.
He then lined up the remaining ten female students against the blackboard and bound their feet, barricading the doors with wooden boards and metal chains.
Video: 'The Nickel Mines Tragedy: A timeline of events'
A teacher who escaped the building managed to call 911 at 10:35 a.m. Within minutes, state troopers surrounded the building and attempted to negotiate through a bullhorn. According to Lancaster County authorities, Roberts called his wife via cell phone from inside the classroom, stating he was acting out of revenge for an event that occurred twenty years ago.
Moments later, Roberts announced to dispatchers that he would open fire if police did not withdraw. Troopers rushed the building, breaching the windows as rapid gunfire erupted inside.
“The officers forced entry, but it was too late,” said Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Jeffrey B. Miller. “The shooter had already fired on the children before taking his own life.”
Three girls, aged 7, 11, and 12, along with a school assistant, were pronounced dead at the scene. Two other victims later succumbed to their injuries at nearby hospitals. Five remaining girls remain hospitalized in critical condition tonight, fighting for their lives.
As night fell over the cordoned-off valley, the shock of the violence stood in stark contrast to the surrounding countryside, where horse-drawn buggies navigated dark roads past police blockades. Neighbors described the community as completely devastated, yet local leaders are already urging a quiet path forward, signaling that the community will focus heavily on prayer, support for the grieving families, and forgiveness.
The attack follows a fatal school shooting in Colorado on Wednesday and another in Wisconsin on Friday, prompting federal officials to announce a national summit on school safety.
