Charles Carl Roberts

Roberts ended his work shift at 3 a.m. on 2 October 2006 and returned home for a few hours of sleep. Following the normal family routine, Roberts and his wife got their children ready for school and the family walked to the local bus stop. They parted at 8:45 a.m.

At 9:51 a.m., driving a borrowed pickup truck, Roberts entered the West Nickel Mines Amish School in Lancaster County, about 60 miles west of Philadelphia. He was armed with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun; a 12-gauge shotgun; a bolt-action rifle; around 600 rounds of ammunition; a stun gun; and two knives.

Roberts also had a supply of other items, including cans of black powder; a change of clothes; a box containing a hose, hammer, hacksaw, pliers, wire, screws, eyebolts and tape; sexual lubricant and some sort of truss board, suggesting he had planned some form of sexual activity.

When he entered the school building, Roberts barricaded the school doors using 2x6-inch and 2x4-inch wooden boards with eyebolts and flex ties. There were 26 pupils at the school and Roberts kept the 11 girls, aged six to 13, in the room, sending out the 15 boys, as well as the teacher, a pregnant woman and three parents with small babies. Roberts made his young female hostages line up against the blackboard, where he bound their hands and feet.

As soon as she was free, the schoolteacher contacted the police and the 911 call, logged at 10:36 a.m., stated that a white male had entered the one-room school building and taken some pupils hostage. The first police officers arrived at the school at 10:45 a.m. and began trying to get Roberts to talk to them. They used the PA broadcasters on their police cars but Roberts did not respond. At 11:00 a.m., emergency vehicles, including at least nine ambulances, were dispatched to Bart Township.

It transpired that upon Marie Roberts’ return home at around 11:00 a.m., she had discovered four apparent suicide notes Roberts had written to her and their children. She immediately called her husband, who didn’t answer. A short while later Roberts called Marie from the school, using his mobile phone, and said, “I’m not coming home. The police are here.” He also said he was “acting out to achieve revenge for something that happened 20 years ago,” and that he loved her. It was to be the last time the couple would speak to one another.

State Troopers had surrounded the schoolhouse and were ready to close in on Roberts. He began to become agitated and called 911, telling the operator that if the State Troopers did not leave the property, he would start shooting people within 10 seconds. He had meant what he said and the sounds of rapid firing began to ring out. The police had to break windows to gain access to the school building and according to Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Jeffrey Miller, Roberts shot at least one shotgun blast at the police before becoming “disorganised” and shooting himself in the head. Roberts died instantly.

Police were faced with a grisly scene in the classroom. Roberts had fired at least 13 rounds from his 9mm semi-automatic handgun and had shot at the girls, killing five. Three died at the scene and two died in hospital of related injuries the following morning. The victims were Naomi Rose Ebersole, 7; sisters Lena Miller, 7 and Mary Liz Miller, 8; Anna Mae Stoltzfus, 12 and Marian Fisher, 13. The girls had all been killed “execution style”, with a single close-range shot to the head. The other six girls from the class were taken to hospital in critical condition.

A police search of the truck Roberts had used to drive to the school revealed a checklist he had made in obvious preparation for his planned attack. Many items had been ticked off the list and matched items Roberts had taken with him into the school building. The list included binoculars, flashlights, earplugs, a hose, hammer, hacksaw, pliers, wire, screws, eyebolts, tape, candles and toilet paper, leading police to believe that Roberts had anticipated a prolonged siege and had carefully prepared for it.

In the rambling and largely nonsensical notes Roberts left for his wife, he spoke of the death of his daughter Elise, who had been born prematurely in 1997 and died only 20 minutes after birth. He claimed this was the reason for his anger at God and his feelings of overwhelming emptiness and despair.

Roberts also wrote about something he had done 20 years earlier, when he was 12 years old. He claimed he had molested two young female relatives, then aged between three and five, and that he had been fantasising about repeating the crime. When police questioned the two alleged victims, who were adults by then, both denied that they had been abused.

Despite Roberts having packed lubricant and only keeping the girls hostage while allowing the boys to leave, no evidence of sexual abuse was found. Criminologists believed Roberts was likely to have had violent erotic fantasies, or “rehearsal fantasies”, for some time before the shooting. All evidence pointed to a carefully considered and cold-blooded plan of violence and death.

On the day of the shooting, Marie Roberts made a public statement: “The man that did this today was not the Charlie I’ve been married to for almost 10 years. My husband was loving, supportive, thoughtful. All the things you’d always want and more. He was an exceptional father. Our hearts are broken, our lives are shattered, and we grieve for the innocents and lives that were lost today. Above all, please pray. Pray for the families who lost children today, and please pray too for our family and children.”

Roberts’ funeral was held on 7 October 2006. Although neither Roberts nor his family were Amish, the funeral was attended by many shocked Amish neighbours who were determined to forgive him for his terrible actions. He was buried in his wife’s family plot behind the Georgetown United Methodist Church, only a few miles from where the shootings occurred. The one-room West Nickel Mines Amish School in Lancaster County was torn down 11 days after the tragedy.

In the aftermath, police searched for clues that might explain what had driven Roberts to kill. They interviewed his parents and other relatives and discovered no known family history of violence or abuse. Roberts had no criminal record and had never been wanted by authorities for any crime.

According to forensic psychologist Dr Katherine Ramsland, Roberts behaved similarly to other mass murderers who believe that the only way to end their pain and bitterness is through a final display of public violence. She believed Roberts was filled with self-hatred, intended to die, and selected symbolic victims as targets for his rage.

Dr Ramsland explained that this pattern can develop when a person experiences trauma during childhood but is unable to process it at the time. Fear and anger may become suppressed before eventually emerging through fantasies of revenge or punishment against others.

Police investigators believed Roberts may have been influenced by other crimes of a similar nature. In particular, two fatal school shootings had occurred in the week before his attack.

On Wednesday, 27 September 2006, Duane Morrison, 53, entered a classroom in Bailey, Colorado. He forced the boys to leave and kept six girls hostage, making them line up at the front of the classroom. Morrison later released four girls and sexually assaulted the remaining two before a SWAT team entered. He shot one of the girls, Emily Keyes, 16, and then killed himself.

Two days later, on Friday, 29 September 2006, a high school student in Madison, Wisconsin, fatally shot his principal after complaining about being bullied and being disciplined for carrying tobacco at school.

Three days after that, on Monday, 2 October 2006, Roberts carried out his attack.

Other crimes that may have influenced Roberts occurred many years earlier. On 6 December 1989, Marc Lepine, 25, carried out a shooting at the University of Montreal’s Engineering School. He targeted women, blaming feminism for his lack of opportunities and miserable life. Lepine had planned the attack for months and was heavily armed. He killed 14 people and wounded 15 before taking his own life.

In 1966, Charles Whitman shot 44 people from a tower in Austin, Texas, killing 14. He prepared for a prolonged siege by taking barricades, a change of clothing, a large supply of ammunition, and even toilet paper.

No one will ever know with certainty what mental and emotional factors caused Roberts to commit his seemingly senseless act of violence against innocent schoolchildren. However, perhaps society can attempt to emulate the Amish community in forgiving such a tortured individual.