West Nickel Mines School shooting

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Roberts backed a pickup truck up to the front of the Amish schoolhouse and entered it at approximately 10:25 a.m. EDT, shortly after the children had returned from recess. He asked the teacher, Emma Mae Zook, and the students if they had seen a missing clevis pin on the road. Survivors said he mumbled his words and did not make direct eye contact. After they denied seeing a clevis pin, he left to his truck and reentered holding a Springfield Armory XD 9mm handgun. He ordered the boys to help him carry items into the classroom from the truck. Zook and her mother, who was visiting, took this opportunity to escape and run toward a nearby farm for help. Roberts saw them leave, and ordered one of the boys to stop them, threatening to shoot everyone if they got away.[5]

They reached the farm, where they asked Amos Smoker to call 9-1-1. Meanwhile, the boys carried in lumber, a shotgun, a stun-gun, wires, chains, nails, tools, a small bag and wooden board with multiple sets of metal eye-hooks. The bag held a change of clothes, toilet paper, candles, and flexible plastic ties. Using wooden boards, Roberts barricaded the front door.[5]

Mugshot of Charles Roberts IV, the perpetrator

The gunman, identified as Charles Roberts IV, aged 32, was a milk tanker truck driver who served several Amish farms in the Nickel Mines area (including some of the victims' families). He had three children and a wife, for whom he left four separate suicide notes. When State Police Commissioner Jeffrey B. Miller interviewed Roberts' co-workers, they claimed to have noticed a "change" in him over the months leading up to the shooting. They also claimed that he seemed to return to normal in the week leading up to the shooting. Miller hypothesizes that this "calm" may have been when he (Roberts) decided to go through with the shooting. Miller also noted that Roberts' neighbors reported his mood as unusually upbeat and jovial during this time period.

Roberts was at the time a resident of nearby Georgetown, another unincorporated area of Bart Township.[12] His wife last saw him at 8:45 a.m. when they walked their children to the bus stop before she left. When Mrs. Roberts returned home a little before 11:00 a.m., she discovered four suicide notes; one addressed to herself and one to each of their three children. Roberts called his wife from the schoolhouse on his cell phone and told her that he had molested two young female relatives (between the ages of 3 and 5) 20 years previously (when he was 12) and had been daydreaming about molesting again. One note Roberts left behind indicated his despondency over a daughter who died approximately 20 minutes after birth nine years earlier. He stated that he had "been having dreams for the past couple of years about doing what he did 20 years ago and he has dreams of doing them again", according to State Police Commissioner Colonel Jeffrey Miller. On October 4, 2006, the two relatives whom Roberts said he molested 20 years ago told police that no such abuse had ever happened, throwing a new layer of mystery over the gunman's motive and mental state during the shooting.[13] K-Y Jelly, a lubricant most commonly used for sexual intercourse, was also found in the schoolhouse among Roberts' belongings, possibly suggesting multiple motives for the incident.[3]

Roberts' suicide note also spoke of the anger he had held against God.[14]

On October 10, 2006, the transcripts of the 911 calls made October 2, 2006, in connection with the attack were released. The callers identified in the transcripts were Amos Smoker, the same man who telephoned 911 reporting the armed invader at the school, Roberts, and Roberts' wife Marie. In some cases the transcript indicates the line went dead because the call was transferred to state police and was not recorded by Lancaster County.[5]

At 10:35, Amos Smoker placed the call on behalf of the school teacher, Emma Mae Zook, who had run to a nearby farm to summon help. About the time of this initial call for help, a pregnant woman, three parents with infants, and all 15 male students were told to leave the school by Roberts.[5] The first police officer arrived approximately six minutes later. As the first few troopers approached the building, Roberts ordered them to leave or else he would start shooting. An agitated Roberts continued to demand that police leave as the troopers attempted to communicate with Roberts via the PA system in their police cars.[5]

At 10:41, a second caller reported the incident, and was transferred to the State Police. At 10:55, Roberts was reaching the final stages of his plan. He had arranged the bound girls at the front of the classroom, near the chalkboard. Roberts made two cell phone calls, one to his wife and the next to police. He warned the 911 dispatcher that if state police were not off the property in two seconds, he would kill the children. The dispatcher attempted to delay him and put him in touch with the State Police, but Roberts ended the call. Two of the girls then began negotiating with Roberts. They pleaded for him to shoot them first. This allowed the girls a little extra time for possible rescue. At approximately 11:07 a.m., Roberts followed through with his threats and the sound of rapid gunfire was heard. At 10:58, Mrs. Roberts called 911 after arriving home from a prayer study group meeting. She had discovered a suicide note left on the kitchen table and had received a brief and disturbing emotional phone call from her husband. The 911 dispatcher put her in touch with State Police.[5]

After the police entered the schoolhouse, all of the wounded girls were taken to hospitals. Two had died at the school house, one was pronounced dead on arrival at Lancaster General Hospital, and two sisters survived until the early hours of October 3 when they were taken off life support. The surviving victims of the immediate attack were brought to Lancaster General Hospital, stabilized, and then transferred to hospitals with pediatric trauma care. Three children were admitted to Penn State Children's Hospital, four to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and one to Christiana Hospital in Newark, Delaware, reported a state police spokesman.[15] One child was initially transported to the Reading Hospital and Medical Center via helicopter, and then transported to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia after being stabilized. Reports stated that most of the girls were shot "execution-style" in the back of the head.[15][16]

The ages of the victims ranged from six to thirteen.[3] According to The Washington Post, police and coroner accounts of the children's wounds differed dramatically; Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Jeffrey B. Miller said Roberts shot his victims in the head at close range, with 17 or 18 shots fired in all, including the one he used to take his own life as police stormed into the school by breaking through the window glass. Janice Ballenger, deputy coroner in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, counted at least a dozen shotgun pellet inflicted wounds in one child alone before asking a colleague to take over and continue for her.[7]

Inside the school, Ballenger said, "there was not one desk, not one chair, in the whole schoolroom that was not splattered with either blood or glass. There were bullet holes everywhere, everywhere."[17] As a result of their actions in the line of duty, State Police Commissioner Jeffrey B. Miller presented the State Police Medal of Honor to ten Pennsylvania State Troopers in appreciation for their efforts to assist the victims. Local police officers and emergency personnel were presented commendations by the Bart Township Fire Company.[18]

The West Nickel Mines School was demolished the following week, on October 12, 2006.[32] The site was left as a quiet pasture.[33] The New Hope School was built at a different location, near the original site. It opened on April 2, 2007, precisely six months after the shooting.[34] The new school was intentionally built as "different" as possible from the original, including the style of the flooring.[22]

After the tragedy, several funds were established to assist the survivors.[49] The Nickel Mines Children's Fund was established to aid the families of the children who had been shot, especially since the Amish had no medical insurance to pay for medical care. By 2007, some 4.3 million dollars was reported to have been donated to this fund. The Roberts Family Fund, also administered by the Amish, was set up to provide money for Roberts' widow.[50]

• Donald Kraybill, Steven M. Nolt, and David L. Weaver-Zercher: Amish Grace - How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy, Jossey-Bass, 2007; ISBN 978-0-7879-9761-8.
• John L. Ruth: Forgiveness: A Legacy of the West Nickel Mines Amish School, Herald Press, 2007; ISBN 978-0-8361-9373-2.
• Harvey Yoder: The Happening - Nickel Mines School Tragedy, TGS International, 2007; ISBN 978-1-885270-70-2.
• Marie (Roberts) Monville, Cindy Lambert: One Light Still Shines - My Life Beyond the Shadow of the Amish Schoolhouse Shooting, Zondervan, 2013. (Written by the wife of the school shooter with a co-author)