Remembering West Nickel Mines Amish School shooting: Lancaster County, Pennsylvania 2006

Last Updated: March 27, 2018

Date: October 2

Year: 2006

School: West Nickel Mines Amish School 

Location: Lancaster County

State: Pennsylvania

Wounded: 5

Fatalities: 6

Shots Fired: 17 (though some reports say there were bullet holes "everywhere")

Time lapsed: 42 minutes

Police response time: 6 minutes

How ended: Suicide

Civilians involved: No

Perpetrator: Charles Carl Roberts

Age: 32

Family history: Roberts was known as a church going family man and loving father who drove a milk tuck. He was home schooled as a child, and he home schooled his children.

Red flags: Unknown. First reported sign of trouble was when his wife found the suicide notes he had left for he family. She feared he was suicidal, and called police. By the time she found them the hostage situation was well in progress. 

Mental illness history: Unknown. Experts believe he suffered from severe depression. During shooting he called his wife and claimed he had molested to young relatives when he was 12, and they were 3 & 5. He said he was having those thoughts again, and couldn't stop them. The relatives denied this, leaving this a mystery.
None of the girls appeared to have been sexually assaulted at the schoolhouse, but he was found to have sturdy boards with eye hooks, sexual lubricant, restraint devices and gave all indications were that he intended to molest them.

Drug or medication use: Unknown

Inspiration: Unknown. Eerily similar to the Platte Canyon High School hostage crisis that took place in Bailey, Colorado on September 27, 2006, five days before in which multiple female students were molested by a gunman, and one was killed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platte_Canyon_High_School_hostage_crisis

Possible motive: Unknown. Indicated suicidality due to sexually violent fantasies and grief over the loss of a premature infant daughter 9 years before. Claimed he had molested 2 preschool aged relatives 20 years prior, and this was his "revenge?" (WTF?)

Weapons:
9 mm handgun
12 gauge shotgun
.30-06 bolt-action rifle
600 rounds of ammunition
black powder
a stun gun
two knives
Also brought boards and tools for barricades

Weapons obtained: Unknown

Training: Unknown

Aftermath: In the face of unspeakable tragedy the Amish and surrounding communities focused on healing. The Amish elders stressed forgiveness for the shooter, and the families who lost children attended the shooters funeral to support his wife and family. His wife reports that grieving families reached out to her and asked her what they could do to ease her burden.

The media attention was especially difficult for this usually private community. The Amish are not comfortable with cameras and so many outsiders flocked to the area that it was overwhelming. Many felt it disrespectful of the media and tragedy tourists to intrude on such a private lifestyle. This community is not alone, as any community that has endured a tragedy can confirm but here it was so much more noticeable, and as one resident noted, disrespectful.

Resulting actions: 11 days after the shooting the schoolhouse was torn down, a peaceful meadow in its place. Where the schoolyard used to be, 5 trees stand sentry. Even 10 years later they spoke of forgiveness

The community said they refused to let the actions of one man change their way of life, and are determined to heal.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/02/amish-shooting-10-year-anniversary-pennsylvania-the-happening

President Bush vowed to hold a panel on school safety after this horrific shooting. The panel was held on October 10, 2006.
https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2006/10/20061010-8.html

The Shooting: After his wife left for the day, he got his kids off to school and drove to the nearby Amish schoolhouse. Entering the schoolhouse and told hostages to lay on their bellies facing the chalkboard. He released all of the male students and several adults with young children but kept 10 female hostages ranging in age from 6 to 13, binding their arms and legs and their teacher. The teacher escaped and called police, who arrived minutes later. Police presence greatly agitated him, he told police to leave or he would begin shooting hostages. Two of the girls volunteered their lives hoping to offer more time for the others. Minutes later the gunshots began, execution style to the back of the head according to reports, though witnesses report there were bullet holes everywhere. By the time a police officer rammed the building with his car the shooter had committed suicide and several students were dead. Many more were wounded.

His wife found 5 suicide notes, that indicated his grief stemmed from the loss on their premature daughter 9 years prior and a sexual offense he committed 20 years prior that the alleged victims deny.

Victims:
Naomi Rose Ebersol, 7
Marian Stoltzfus Fisher, 13
Anna Mae Stoltzfus, 12
Lena Zook Miller, 7
Mary Liz Miller, 8

Conspiracy Theories: This isn't a theory I picked up online, just a question I have about this shooting. Some sources say there were less than 20 shots fired, some say the school was riddled with bullet holes. Which is it?

http://murderpedia.org/male.R/r/roberts-charles.htm
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2016/09/30/amish-school-shooting/