Tragedy at West Nickel Mines Amish School 15 years ago: Girls ‘were shot execution-style’

The youngest of the victims would be turning 22 years old this year, in the prime of their lives, perhaps married with children of their own.

But their lives were senselessly snuffed out 15 years ago in a horrific shooting that reverberated around the globe and shattered hearts in central Pa.

Five innocent girls were shot execution-style in the small West Nickel Mines Amish School in Lancaster County on Oct. 2, 2006.

The youngest in the classroom survived. She was 6 years old. The shooting left her confined to a wheelchair, unable to care for herself.

The oldest was a 13-year-old boy, still struggling to deal with the trauma.

Around 10 a.m. on that quiet Monday, Charles Carl Roberts IV entered the school in rural Bart Twp. and barricaded the door.

After ordering the male students to leave and allowing a pregnant woman and three women with babies to leave – he tied the girls’ feet together.

The women who were released called 911. State police arrived within minutes and tried unsuccessfully to talk to Roberts. Around 10:50 a.m. Roberts called his wife, Marie, and told her he is not coming home and that he left notes at the house for her and their children.

A little after 11 a.m. Roberts told state police he would shoot students if they didn’t leave in 10 seconds. A state police negotiator called him on his cell phone but within seconds police heard rapid shots being fired. According to police, many of the girls were shot in the head.

Roberts, 32, killed five girls and injured five others. He then killed himself.

Robert was armed with a semiautomatic handgun, a shotgun, a rifle, two knives, a stun gun and 600 rounds of ammunition.

At the time, state police Commissioner Col. Jeffrey B. Miller said, “They were shot execution-style. It was a horrendous crime scene.”

Police had speculated that the shooting was to avenge something that apparently happened to Roberts when he was 12 years old. Miller said Roberts discussed the matter in a phone call to his wife minutes before the shootings and mentioned it in a suicide note he left for her. Roberts also left notes for their three children.

Roberts also claimed he had molested some young family members long ago and was still haunted by the death of his he and his wife’s first child, a daughter who died 20 minutes after she was born in 1997.

Police said Roberts had planned the attack.

On the day of the shooting, Miller said, “He was an angry man - angry with life, angry at God.”

Roberts, a milk-tanker truck driver who lived near the school, dropped his three school-age children off at a bus stop, then drove a borrowed pickup truck to the school, arriving shortly before 10 a.m.

In the back of the truck was lumber, hardware and tools to barricade the doors and weapons and supplies he had assembled for what police said was planned to be a last stand. “He was going in there, and he was never coming out,” Miller said. “He had no intention of coming out alive.”

Police said Roberts was armed with a 9mm semiautomatic pistol, a 12-gauge shotgun and a 30.06 rifle. A stun gun and two knives were strapped to his belt.

The Patriot-News reported, “A range bag he carried was filled with 600 rounds of ammunition. Roberts also had synthetic black powder, which is used for reloading bullets, and two cans of smokeless powder. He carried a change of clothes, toilet paper and earplugs in a five-gallon bucket.

One box contained tools including a hammer, a hacksaw, pliers and wire. Wire ties, eyebolts, rolls of clear tape and other hardware were in another box. Eyebolts were screwed into some of the lumber recovered at the scene.

Most of the supplies had been purchased from a store nearby. ‘It appears he was prepared for a lengthy siege,’ Miller said. Instead, it was over within minutes after police arrived.

The shooting claimed the lives of Naomi Rose Ebersol, 7; Marian Stoltzfus Fisher, 13; Anna Mae Stoltzfus, 12; Lena Zook Miller, 8; and Mary Liz Miller, 7.

What followed with the intense grief, shock and horror was forgiveness and steadfast faith.

Media from around the nation swarmed the area. In addition to local media there were reporters from Montreal, the United Kingdom, Russia and Japan. CNN, MSNBC and Fox News followed the story all day. ABC recorded a “Good Morning America” segment. And, more than 50 trucks with satellites atop their roofs filled the roadsides and nearby parking lots.

Less than a year later, New Hope School opened 200 yards away from West Nickel Mines school, which was demolished.

In the ensuing years, there were two movies and several books written about the tragedy, including those written by Roberts’ widow, Marie Monville, and his mother Terri Roberts.