HARRISBURG, Pa. - The first state trooper to breach the Amish school where 10 girls were shot last year got inside by ripping out part of a window frame with his bare hands, helping save the lives of five of them, the state police chief said. The trooper used a ballistic shield to batter a window at West Nickel Mines Amish School, then pulled out part of the frame, injuring himself, and dove through to find the gunman still alive, Commissioner Jeffrey Miller said Thursday. Charles C. Roberts IV had just shot 10 young girls. Five of them died.

By MARK SCOLFORO, Associated Press Writer
Fri Sep 21, 3:48 AM ET

"At the time, he was reloading. I have no question about what he was going to do, which is finish these kids off that were still alive," Miller told The Associated Press in his first in-depth interview about the shootings since shortly after the Oct. 2 massacre.

He said that when Roberts saw the trooper, "instead of shooting these girls again, he shoots himself and he's dead on his feet."

In the chaotic aftermath of the darkened classroom, it took police a few moments to realize Roberts had bound the children together.

Troopers cut the ties and carried nine girls outside, some of them unconscious. They stanched the children's wounds, administered intravenous fluids and provided comfort.

"Some were obviously not going to make it, but they didn't leave them there," Miller said. "One girl who was alive, one of our troopers was with the entire time until she passed. I think her last moments were a lot better than they would have been if not for what our people did."

Roberts, a 32-year-old father of three who worked as a milk truck driver, walked into the one-room schoolhouse with a gun, ordered everyone out but the 10 girls and barricaded the building. He apparently planned to sexually assault the children.

The first troopers to respond wanted permission to enter the building, but Miller said their commander did the right thing and denied the request. Troopers then took tactical positions during a brief standoff before they heard gunfire erupt and dashed instantly to the building.

"They were heroes," Miller said. "They reacted as we would want them to. They immediately charged and tried to get into the school."

It took about 2 1/2 minutes for police to force their way into the building once the gunfire erupted, state police Sgt. Douglas Burig, who was in command during the standoff, said last month. That highlighted the need for better training and equipment to deal with barricaded gunmen, Burig said, but he added that every bullet Roberts fired came in the first eight seconds — except the one he used to kill himself.
Shotgun

Miller said Roberts fired a "head-high" shotgun round through the barricaded door, where three troopers were trying to enter. The round ended up getting lodged in Roberts' pickup truck, which was parked outside the school.

"If that truck wouldn't have been there, we probably would have had a trooper or troopers that were shot," Miller said. "The troopers didn't hesitate, but they kept on coming."

The teacher's split-second decision to run for help also saved lives, he said. Three other adults were at the school that day to celebrate teacher Emma Mae Zook's birthday, something that also may have caught Roberts off guard.

Zook later helped authorities identify the victims by examining photos e-mailed from the various hospitals where the girls had been taken.

"I can't say enough about her," Miller said. "For a 20-year-old young lady, she did things that we would never ask a grizzled veteran to do."

Roberts was apparently tormented by the death of an infant daughter in 1997, and had been having nightmares about molesting two young female relatives when he was much younger, a memory investigators have not substantiated.

"It's my opinion that he was intending to get back at God by sexually assaulting and executing these innocent children of God, if you will, and then taking himself out," Miller said.

Miller said he remains inspired by the grace and dignity with which the Amish have coped with the tragedy. They gave him a Bible in Pennsylvania German, and have invited him to visit with the families soon.

"I don't think I can come up with the words to describe what I saw from the Amish community," he said. "I was left in awe of how they responded, and I was hopeful that — and am still hopeful — that maybe their actions will be kind of a guide for others."

 

The gunman, Charles Carl Roberts, backed a pickup truck up to the front of the Amish schoolhouse and entered the school at approximately 10:25 a.m. EDT, shortly after the children had returned from recess. He allegedly asked the teacher, Emma Mae Zook, and the students if they had seen a clevis missing along the road. Survivors later recounted that Roberts was mumbling his words and was not making direct eye contact with anyone. After the occupants of the classroom denied seeing any such object, Roberts walked out to his truck and reappeared in the classroom holding a 9mm caliber handgun. He ordered the male students to help him carry items into the classroom from the back of his pickup.

 Zook and her mother, who was visiting the schoolhouse, took this opportunity to escape the school and ran towards a nearby farm to get help. Roberts saw the women leave, and ordered one of the boys to stop them, threatening to shoot everyone if the women got away. Still, Zook and her mother managed to reach the farm, where they called 911.

Roberts and the young boys carried lumber, a shotgun, a stun-gun, wires, chains, nails, tools and a small bag. Also brought into the classroom was a length of wooden board with multiple sets of metal eyehooks, presumably to be used for securing the victims. The contents of the bag included a change of clothes, toilet paper, candles, sexual lubricant, and flexible plastic ties. Using wooden boards, Roberts barricaded the front door. [7]


[edit] Hostages taken
He ordered the female children to line up against the chalkboard and allowed a pregnant woman, three parents with infants, and all remaining male students to exit the building. One female student also escaped: nine-year-old Emma Fisher (whose two older sisters remained inside).[8] The nine-year old, who spoke only Pennsylvania Dutch, had not understood Robert's order and followed her brother out of the building. Roberts now held ten young females hostage within the confines of the small schoolhouse.


[edit] Police notified
The 911 call from the farm where Zook and her mother sought help was recorded at 10:36 AM. In Revisiting the Amish Schoolhouse Massacrepublished August 22, 2007 on PoliceOne.com, author Rick Armellino describes the situation prior to the arrival of police:

At the window

"An Amish adult male from this farm, with his two large dogs, took the bold opportunity to stealthily approach the windowless back wall of the schoolhouse. Hoping for an opportunity to help the little girls, he slowly crept around one side of the wooden structure and positioned himself as an observer next to a side window."  The detailed accounting of the police response continues, "Observing that the first police patrol vehicle to approach the scene was not slowing down to stop, the Amish man quickly withdrew from his strategic observational position and sprinted towards the roadway to wave down the trooper, who did a fast U-turn and parked. That would be the last successful attempt at an unnoticed move upon the building by anyone."

[edit] Police & emergency medical personnel arrive
The first trooper arrived at approximately 10:42am. Additional troopers continued to arrive within minutes immediately afterwards.

Roberts was binding the arms and legs of his hostages with plastic ties. A group of troopers approached the schoolhouse. Aware of this, Roberts warned the troopers to leave immediately, threatening to shoot the girls. The police officers backed away and formed a nearby perimeter, but did not leave the premises as requested.

The police, while waiting for reinforcements, attempted to communicate with Roberts via the PA system in their cruisers.[7] They asked Roberts to throw out his weapons and exit the schoolhouse. Roberts refused, again ordering the officers to leave.

By 11:00am a large crowd --including police officers, emergency medical technicians, and residents of the village-- had assembled both outside the schoolhouse and at a nearby ambulance staging area. County and state police dispatchers had briefly established telephone contact with Roberts as he continued to threaten violence against the children.[9]

During interviews conducted later it became apparent that all girls knew of their fate. Some conversed among themselves throughout the ordeal. Shortly before Roberts opened fire, two sisters, Marian and Barbie Fisher, 13 and 11, requested that they be shot first and second. Barbie survived the shooting, while Marian did not.[10]

A child's loud screaming was heard from within the school. A team of officers was positioned just behind a shed attached to the rear corner of the schoolhouse and they requested permission over the radio to approach the windows. The permission was denied.


[edit] The shooting begins
At approximately 11:07am Roberts began shooting the victims. The troopers immediately approached. As the first trooper in line reached a window, the shooting abruptly stopped. Roberts had committed suicide.


[edit] The rescue
It took the troopers about two and a half minutes to bust into the school to assist those children who were not killed instantly. At about 11:10am a message was broadcast over the airwaves. Recalls Lancaster Newspaper reporter and author Janet Kelley in her article titled Horror and Heroism, "a mass casualty on White Oak Road, Bart Township, with multiple children shot." Kelley further reports another radio call quickly followed with more dreadful details, "at 11:11am, police radioed dispatchers again, estimating 10 to 12 patients with head injuries. The first medical helicopter was dispatched."

Troopers assisted the surviving children, administering first aid as they carried them outside. The troopers continued to tend to the girls, helping the Emergency Medical Technicians provide first aid on the school playground. Ambulances arrived just as the wounded girls were being carried out of the schoolhouse. Helicopters landed shortly thereafter and those still living were taken away for medical treatment.


[edit] Aftermath
Three girls died at the scene and
weapons

On 2 October 2006, Roberts entered the one-room West Nickel Mines School at approximately 9:51 a.m. with a 9 mm handgun, 12-gauge shotgun, .30-06 bolt-action rifle, about 600 rounds of ammunition, cans of black powder, a stun gun, two knives, a change of clothes, sexual lubricant, an apparent truss board and a box containing a hammer, hacksaw, pliers, wire, screws, bolts and tape. He used 2×6 and 2×4 boards with eye bolts and flex ties to barricade the school doors before binding the arms and legs of the hostages. He ordered the hostages to line up against the chalkboard and released the 15 male students present, along with a pregnant woman and three parents with infants. The remaining ten female students he kept inside the schoolhouse. The school teacher contacted the police upon escaping at approximately 10:36 a.m. The first police officers arrived about nine minutes later and attempted (unsuccessfully) to communicate with Roberts using the PA broadcasters in their cruisers.

Police had to break in through the windows when shots were heard. The gunman apparently killed himself along with four school girls. Three of the girls died at the scene, with one more dying the next morning from related injuries. Six girls were in the hospital in critical condition. Reports have stated that the girls were shot execution style in the head. The ages of the victims ranged from 6 to 13. Roberts fired at least 13 rounds from his 9-millimeter semiautomatic.[5]

Roberts was last seen by his wife at 8:45 a.m. when they walked their children to the bus stop to go to school [6] in Bart Township. When his wife returned home at 11:00 a.m., she discovered four notes he had left to her and their children. Roberts reportedly contacted his wife while still in the schoolhouse and stated that he had molested two young female relatives (between the ages of three and five) twenty years ago (when he would have been 12), and had been daydreaming about molesting again.[7] Both of the relatives in question have denied these claims. Among the items he brought to the school was a tube of KY Jelly, which investigators surmised he might have intended to use as a sexual lubricant.[7] His suicide notes stated that he was still angry at God for the death of a premature infant daughter nine years prior. [8]