USA: Man who stormed Amish school confessed to his wife he molested two girls 20 years ago, shortly before killing 5 others
Record ID:
324619
USA: Man who stormed Amish school confessed to his wife he molested two girls 20 years ago, shortly before killing 5 others
- Title: USA: Man who stormed Amish school confessed to his wife he molested two girls 20 years ago, shortly before killing 5 others
- Date: 4th October 2006
- Summary: (W3) NICKEL MINES, PENNSYLVANIA, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 3, 2006) (REUTERS) JACK MEYER, BRETHREN ANABAPTIST (MENNONITE), TALKING TO REPORTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) JACK MEYER, BRETHREN ANABAPTIST AND RESIDENT OF THE COMMUNITY, SAYING: "I think the children that go back to the school will have a difficult time, but I think that the church as a whole will be very supportive, and I think they can overcome that."
- Embargoed: 19th October 2006 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Usa
- Country: USA
- Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
- Reuters ID: LVA229AV0668FEKW4J6TGS9TBOAJ
- Story Text: The man who stormed an Amish school and killed five girls had confessed to his wife he molested two girls 20 years ago, and police said Tuesday (October 3, 2006) he may have planned to sexually abuse his 10 hostages.
Charles Carl Roberts, a 32-year-old dairy truck driver, was also haunted by the death of his daughter who died 20 minutes after her premature birth nine years ago, police said after examining suicide notes he left before Monday's (October 2) rampage.
After Roberts dropped his older children off at a school bus stop on Monday morning, he armed himself with three guns, 600 rounds of ammunition and an array of tools and headed for the Amish school.
He apparently chose the Georgetown School because it was an easy target rather than out of any grudge against the Amish, police said.
Roberts had planned for a long siege by preparing to barricade himself and his hostages inside the one-room school in rural Lancaster County, about 60 miles (100 km) west of Philadelphia.
He also had two tubes of sexual lubricant and a set of boards, wire, tape and bolts that could have used to tie up and torment the girls, Commissioner Jeffrey Miller of the Pennsylvania state police told a news conference.
"On the bottom of one of the boxes that Roberts brought into the school - after we photographed everything at the scene and we began to remove all the contents of all the items he had put in the school - we discovered a bag of nails, chains, small clamps, and two tubes of KY Jelly. One of the two-by-four pieces of wood had ten large eye-hooks in the board spaced approximately ten inches apart. It's important to note that we had ten victims at that time that were in the school. Additional information that we have Roberts: There is no information from the family or co-worker that Roberts was going to commit this crime," Miller said.
The Pennsylvania State Police say that after Roberts helped his children go to school, he stopped at a hardware store to buy some of the supplies police found at the school. Later in the morning, Roberts called his wife from the school where the shooting occurred.
"At 1050 hours, Roberts calls his wife, and would not tell her where he is. Roberts stated to his wife, 'I am not coming home. The police are here.' Then he states, 'I molested some minor family members, family members that were three or four years old, twenty years ago.' It's unclear from his wife, but Roberts states that he's getting revenge for something that occurred in his life. Roberts then tells his wife where the suicide notes are located in the residence, and that's the last conversation that Roberts has with his wife. His wife finds the suicide notes. She read some of them, and then she called her mother and then called 9-1-1," Miller told reporters at a press conference.
Miller said that police have not yet been able to confirm that the alleged 20-year-old molestations had taken place.
The third deadly U.S. school shooting in a week shattered the calm of an Amish farm community where there is virtually no crime. The town is full of horse-drawn carriages, bearded men in straw hats and women in bonnets.
Jack Meyer, is a Mennonite, and not Amish, but he is familiar with the community. He said that the Amish were well-suited for coping with the senseless tragedy.
"I think the children that go back to the school will have a difficult time, but I think that the church as a whole will be very supportive, and I think they can overcome that," Meyer said.
The third deadly U.S. school shooting in a week shattered the calm of an Amish farm community where there is virtually no crime. The town is full of horse-drawn carriages, bearded men in straw hats and women in bonnets.
The Amish, descendants of Swiss-German settlers, are a traditionalist Christian denomination who place particular importance on the Gospel message of forgiveness. They believe in non-violence, simple living and little contact with the modern world.
Five girls aged 7, 7, 8, 12 and 13 were killed, including two sisters, and five survivors aged 6, 8, 8, 11 and 13 remain hospitalized, four of them in critical condition.
Miller said most of the victims were shot in the head at close range.
Roberts, who was not Amish, had no criminal record and showed no outward signs of being so deeply troubled. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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