Andy Starnes, Post-Gazette A state trooper walks from the one-room West Nickel Mines Amish School, the scene of a shooting that claimed the lives of five children and a gunman yesterday morning. Click photo for larger image. Related stories Lancaster gunman gave no hint of violent plan Amish one-room schools are plain, traditional, unguarded More pictures in the daily photo journal

NICKEL MINES -- It was a bloodbath, made even more horrible by its location and its innocent victims, who became targets of a lone gunman apparently because they simply lived near his home.

Charles Carl Roberts IV, 32, a rural milk truck driver and father of three, walked into West Nickel Mines School, the tiny schoolhouse less than 2 miles from his home that housed children in grades one through eight.

Armed with three guns and 600 rounds of ammunition, he ordered all but the girls to leave, then barricaded the doors with lumber, bound the children's legs and lined them up against the chalkboard.

He called his wife to say he was "angry at life, angry at God" then shot each girl, most of them in the back of the head and all at close range.

Police had arrived on the scene before the shots were fired and tried to hail Mr. Roberts using loudspeakers.

Mr. Roberts used a cell phone to call a 911 center and tell them he would begin shooting if state police did not leave. When police at the scene tried to call Mr. Roberts back, that's when they heard the sound of gunfire.

By the time police managed to break into the school, they found Mr. Roberts dead.

Mr. Roberts, apparently seeking revenge for a mysterious incident 20 years ago when he was a boy, had planned the slaughter for days, based on the weapons, tools and other equipment police recovered inside the school.

"It's clear to us he did a great deal of planning in this," said state police Commissioner Jeffrey Miller. "It was clear he intended to be prepared for a lengthy siege. It was not a spur of the moment thing. He intended to harm these kids and himself."

Andy Starnes, Post-Gazette An Amish woman looks at the scene of a multiple fatality shooting yesterday at the one-room West Nickel Mines Amish School. The car she was riding in was waved through police lines so she could get a better look at the murder scene. Click photo for larger image.

Two young girls and Mr. Roberts died inside the schoolhouse, a third female, a 15-year-old teacher's aide, died later at Lancaster General Hospital. Two died in separate hospitals early today, and five others were fighting for their lives at hospitals in Philadelphia and Hershey.

It was the nation's third deadly school shooting in the last week, and it prompted the Bush administration to call for a national conference next week on school violence.

"It would be a miracle if we were able to somehow not have any further loss of life," Col. Miller said before the overnight deaths were reported. Police did not release the names of the victims.

Two had such severe head wounds they could not be identified for hours. State police showed photographs of the wounded children to families of the victims so they then could be taken to the correct hospital to see their daughters.

"They were killed at close range, execution style," Col. Miller said. "I have never seen anything like this. This was a horrendous tragedy."

The incident did not appear to be related to the Amish. Mr. Roberts is not Amish.

Col. Miller would say little else about a motive except that something might have happened 20 years ago, when Mr. Roberts was 12. Col Miller refused to elaborate.

"It seems as though he wanted to attack young, female victims," Col. Miller said.

Eileen Blass, USA Today via AP Amish men wait behind police lines for more information about the school house shootings. Click photo for larger image.

He also said the death of Mr. Roberts' infant daughter in 1997 may have played a part in yesterday's tragedy.

"How these pieces fit together we don't know. We may never know," he said. "We believe he was going through some sort of personal strife, something from 20 years ago."

Neighbors and distant relatives said they did not know about any incident from 20 years ago.

"I completely don't know anything about anything like that," said Ken Scott, who used to work with Mr. Roberts.

"It appears this location was probably picked because it was close by. It was a target of opportunity," Col. Miller said. "He was able to locate individuals in the age group he was looking for."

Police say Mr. Roberts, who lived in the town of Bart, dropped off his children at a school bus stop, then drove a borrowed pickup truck to the school at about 9:45 a.m. Brandishing a semiautomatic pistol, he also carried a range bag containing a shotgun, a rifle, two knives, a stun gun, two cans of smokeless gunpowder, a change of clothes, a hammer, a hacksaw, tape and lumber, which he used to secure the doors and to prevent police from storming inside.

Before securing the building, Mr. Roberts allowed 15 boys, a pregnant woman and three women with infants to leave the building, then lined up 10 girls, age 6 to 15, against a chalkboard, their feet bound with wire ties and flexible plastic ties, Col. Miller said.

It was about that time that the teacher and another adult at the school fled to a nearby farmhouse, and someone there called 911 around 10:30 a.m. to report a gunman holding students hostage.

Mary Altaffer, Associated Press Reporters talk to an Amish youth near the scene of the West Nickle Mines School. Click photo for larger image.

Most of the victims were shot in the back of the head, although some were hit in other parts of their bodies.

It was over in seconds.

Police could not easily enter the schoolhouse because Mr. Roberts "had taken extreme measures to fortify this location. He took two-by-sixes and two-by-fours and nailed them to the doors and then used flex-ties so there was practically no way we could get in quickly."

Police believe Mr. Roberts held the hostages for about 45 minutes before the teacher got away and reached a telephone to call for help.

About the same time, police received another call from Mr. Roberts' distraught wife, Marie, who had returned home to find suicide notes left by her husband for her and their children.

Most of the injured were badly hurt.

One girl remained in critical condition at the Penn State Children's Hospital in Hershey, while a 13-year-old girl was upgraded to serious condition after surgery, spokeswoman Amy Buehler Stranges said.

Three girls, ages 8, 10 and 12, were flown to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

The 8-year-old with neck and arm injuries, the 10-year-old with a head injury, and a 12-year-old with arm and leg injuries are all out of surgery and are in critical condition, the hospital reported.

	Andy Starnes, Post-Gazette State troopers maintain a police line a quarter mile from the West Nickle Mines School. Click photo for larger image.

One victim died at 1:30 a.m. in Christiana Hospital in Delaware. Another died at 4:30 a.m. today at the Hershey hospital.

The incident left the peaceful Amish farming community of about 300 looking for answers.

"Our children are defenseless. He picked an easy target. It takes a real target to do that," said John Fisher, 33, one of several dozen Amish men clustered at an informal state police command post, about 300 yards from the school.

"This is a sad day, something I never expected in this community," said another Amish man, Jacob King, a 31-year-old stonemason and lifelong resident.

Many of the Amish neighbors spent a lot of time being interviewed by reporters, although some objected to television interviews because they didn't want their pictures taken.

Some Amish and non-Amish residents speculated the incidents might affect relations between the cultures.

Daniel Beiler, 30, who is Amish, said it could make the Amish even further reject the outside world. But Mr. Fisher wasn't so sure.

"We have a very good relationship with the non-Amish. We get along very well," he said.

Longtime residents of the area were equally shocked.

"I can't believe anybody could do this to children," said Shirley Woerth, who has lived here for 53 years.

Mr. Roberts had no criminal history and no active warrants out against him. He grew up in the area, and his and his wife's families still live in the area.

State police were examining his milk truck, which was found parked several hundred yards from the shooting scene.

A family spokesman, Dwight LeFever, read a short statement from Mr. Roberts' wife that said, in part, "Our hearts are broken, our lives are shattered, and we grieve for the innocence and lives that were lost today. Above all, please pray for the families who lost children and please pray too for our family and children."

The Amish live among their own people and maintain a lifestyle that eschews modern conveniences, such as television and radio. They typically speak a German dialect known as Pennsylvania Dutch.

Land O'Lakes, based in Arden Hills, Minn., issued a statement confirming that Mr. Roberts was employed as a truck driver and assigned to Northwest Food Products, a wholly owned Land O'Lakes subsidiary.

The shootings were disturbingly similar to an attack last week at Platte Canyon High School in Bailey, Colo., where a man took several girls hostage in a school classroom and then killed one of them and himself. Authorities said the man in Colorado sexually molested the girls.

"If this is some kind of a copycat, it's horrible and of concern to everybody, all law enforcement," said Monte Gore, undersheriff of Park County, Colo.

Col. Miller, though, said he believed the Pennsylvania attack was not a copycat crime: "I really believe this was about this individual and what was going on inside his head."