On October 2, 2006, Charles Roberts fatally shoots five
female students and wounds five more at the West Nickel Mines Amish School in
Nickels Mines, Pennsylvania. Roberts, a 32-year-old milk truck driver from a
nearby town, entered the one-room schoolhouse at around 10:30 a.m. armed with
an arsenal of weapons. He forced all of the boys and several women with infants
to leave and made the 11 remaining girl’s line up against the blackboard. When police
arrived at the schoolhouse a short time later, Roberts had barricaded the
school doors and tied up his hostages. Roberts spoke briefly with his wife by
cell phone and said he was upset with God over the death of his baby daughter
in 1997. He also told her he had molested two girls 20 years earlier and was
having fantasies about molesting children again. At approximately 11 a.m.,
Roberts spoke with a 911 dispatcher and said if the police didn’t leave he’d
start shooting. Seconds after, he shot five of the students. When authorities
stormed the schoolhouse, Roberts shot himself in the head. Roberts had no prior
criminal record or history of mental illness. Additionally, his family knew
nothing about his claims that he had molested two young female relatives. The
Amish community, known for their religious devotion, consoled Roberts’ widow in
the wake of the tragedy; some members even attended his funeral. Ten days after
the shootings, the community tore down the schoolhouse and built a new one
nearby.
Michael Thomas Barry is a
columnist for CrimeMagazine.com and is the author of Murder & Mayhem 52 Crimes that
Shocked Early California
1849-1949. The book can be purchased from Amazon through the
following link:
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