This article documents a current event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses.

Charles Carl Roberts IV
Born	December 7, 1973 Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, USA
Died	October 2, 2006 Bart Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, USA

Charles Carl Roberts IV (December 7, 1973 – October 2, 2006) was an American milk truck driver who killed five students and himself in an Amish school in the hamlet of Nickel Mines, in Bart Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on October 2, 2006. Image File history File links Current_event_marker. ... December 7 is the 341st day (342nd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... Lancaster County is a county located in the south-central portion of the state of Pennsylvania in the Susquehanna Valley. ... October 2 is the 275th day (276th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 90 days remaining. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Bart Township is a township located in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. ... Lancaster County is a county located in the south-central portion of the state of Pennsylvania in the Susquehanna Valley. ... December 7 is the 341st day (342nd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... October 2 is the 275th day (276th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 90 days remaining. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A glass of cows milk Milk is the nutrient fluid produced by the mammary glands of female mammals (including monotremes). ... A trucker is a person who is employed as the driver of a truck. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Students attending a lecture at the Helsinki University of Technology The word student is etymologically derived through Middle English from the Latin second-type conjugation verb stÅ­dÄ“rÄ•, meaning to direct ones zeal at; hence a student is one who directs zeal at a subject. ... The Amish, pronounced ä mǐsh, or äm ǐsh, are an Anabaptist Christian denomination found primarily in the United States and Ontario, Canada, that are known for restrictions on the use of modern devices such as automobiles and telephones. ... Students in Rome, Italy. ... Location of Nickel Mines Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania is a hamlet in Bart Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. ... Bart Township is a township located in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. ... Lancaster County is a county located in the south-central portion of the state of Pennsylvania in the Susquehanna Valley. ... October 2 is the 275th day (276th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 90 days remaining. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Personal life

Charles Carl Roberts IV was born December 7, 1973 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania^[1]. His father is retired from the local police force. In 2004, his father applied to the state for a special license to provide paratransit service to the Amish. His mother works at Sight & Sound Theatres, a Christian organization that stages Bible plays in Strasburg, Pennsylvania.^[2] He did not attend public schools, instead earning a diploma through a home-school association.^[3] Neither he nor his family were Amish. December 7 is the 341st day (342nd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... Lancaster County is a county located in the south-central portion of the state of Pennsylvania in the Susquehanna Valley. ... For the band, see The Police. ... It has been suggested that Licensing (strategic alliance) be merged into this article or section. ... Paratransit is an alternative mode of passenger transportation that does not follow fixed routes or schedules, like a bus line. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Christianity. ... For other uses, see Bible (disambiguation). ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Strasburg is a borough located in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. ... The term public school has different (and in some cases contradictory) meanings due to regional differences. ... Thomas Edison attended compulsory school for only three months, after which he was taught at home by his mother and a tutor. ...

Roberts drove a milk truck for Northwest Food Products Transportation in East Earl Township. He shared a home in Georgetown, an unincorporated area of Bart Township, with his wife and children, a daughter, 7, and sons, 5 and 18 months. Their first child, a daughter named Elise Victoria, died twenty minutes after birth on November 14, 1997.^[4][3] East Earl Township is a township located in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. ... In United States law, a region of land is unincorporated if it is not a part of any municipality. ... Bart Township is a township located in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. ... November 14 is the 318th day of the year (319th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 47 days remaining until the end of the year. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Amish school shooting

Main article: Amish school shooting

On 2 October 2006, Roberts entered the one-room West Nickel Mines School at approximately 9:51 a.m. with a 9 mm handgun, 12-gauge shotgun, .30-06 bolt-action rifle, about 600 rounds of ammunition, cans of black powder, a stun gun, two knives, a change of clothes and a box containing a hammer, hacksaw, pliers, wire, screws, bolts and tape. He used 2×6 and 2×4 boards with eye bolts and flex ties to barricade the school doors before binding the arms and legs of the hostages. He ordered the hostages to line up against the chalkboard and released the 15 male students present, along with a pregnant woman and three parents with infants. The remaining ten female students he kept inside the schoolhouse. The school teacher contacted the police upon escaping at approximately 10:36 a.m. The first police officers arrived about nine minutes later and attempted (unsuccessfully) to communicate with Roberts using the PA broadcasters in their cruisers. The Amish school shooting occurred on October 2, 2006, when a gunman took hostages and eventually killed five girls (aged 7–13) and himself at West Nickel Mines School, a one-room Amish schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, a village in Bart Township, Pennsylvania of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States. ... A handgun is a firearm small enough to be carried and used in one hand. ... A pump-action and two semi-automatic action shotguns, 20 boxes of shotgun shells, a clay trap, and three boxes of clay pigeons. ... A rifle is a firearm with a stock and a barrel that has a spiral groove or grooves (rifling) cut into its interior. ... Boxes of ammunition clog a warehouse in Baghdad Ammunition is a generic military term meaning (the assembly of) a projectile and its propellant. ... Black powder - here a 100 grams container - can be freely bought in Switzerland. ... Timber in storage for later processing at a sawmill Timber is a term used to describe wood, either standing or that has been processed for use—from the time trees are felled, to its end product as a material suitable for industrial use—as structural material for construction or wood... A hostage is a person (sometimes another entity) which is held by a captor (often a criminal abductor) in order to compel another party (relative, employer, government. ... Blackboard Inc. ... A pregnant woman Pregnancy is the process by which a mammalian female carries a live offspring from conception until it develops to the point where the offspring is capable of living outside the womb. ... A live sound reproduction system has two main forms: A sound reinforcement system enhances the volume of the initial sound and will be designed so that as much as possible the listener will not realise that an artificial system is being used to make it easier for them to hear... Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor of the United States Federal Protective Service. ...

Police had to break in through the windows when shots were heard. The gunman apparently killed himself along with five school girls. Three of the girls died at the scene, with two more dying the next morning from related injuries. Five girls are in the hospital in a critical condition. Reports have stated that the girls were shot execution-style in the head. The ages of the victims ranged from 6 to 13.

Roberts was last seen by his wife at 8:45 a.m. when they walked their children to the bus stop to go to school ^[5] in Bart Township. When his wife returned home at 11:00 a.m., she discovered four notes he had left to her and their children. Roberts reportedly contacted his wife while still in the schoolhouse and stated that he had molested two young female relatives (between the ages of three and five) twenty years ago (when he would have been 12), and had been daydreaming about molesting again.^[6] Both of the relatives in question have denied these claims. Among the items he brought to the school was a tube of KY Jelly, which investigators surmised he might have intended to use as a sexual lubricant.^[6] His suicide notes stated that he was still angry at God for the death of a premature infant daughter nine years prior. ^[7] A typical bus stop in Singapore. ... Bart Township is a township located in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. ... K-Y Jelly is a water-based, water-soluble personal lubricant produced by Johnson & Johnson. ...

Amish response to the crime

The Rev. Schenck reports a grandfather of one of the murdered Amish girls said of the killer on the day of the murder: "We must not think evil of this man."

Jack Meyer, a member of the Brethren community living near the Amish in Lancaster County, explained to CNN: "I don't think there's anybody here that wants to do anything but forgive and not only reach out to those who have suffered a loss in that way but to reach out to the family of the man who committed these acts." ^[8]

Dwight Lefever, a Roberts family spokesman, said an Amish neighbor comforted the Roberts family hours after the shooting and extended forgiveness to them. ^{[citation needed]}

Dozens of Amish neighbors attended Charles Roberts' funeral on October 7, 2006 to mourn the quiet milkman who killed five of their young girls and wounded five more in a rampage. He was buried in his wife's family plot behind a small Methodist church, a few miles from the one-room schoolhouse he stormed Monday. About half of perhaps 75 mourners on hand were Amish. "It's the love, the forgiveness, the heartfelt forgiveness they have toward the family. I broke down and cried seeing it displayed," said a mourner who came from out of town to lend some support to the Roberts family and the Amish community. He stated that Roberts' wife was also touched by the outward gesture of forgiveness by the Amish community. ^[9] The Amish, pronounced ä mǐsh, or äm ǐsh, are an Anabaptist Christian denomination found primarily in the United States and Ontario, Canada, that are known for restrictions on the use of modern devices such as automobiles and telephones. ... The Methodist movement is a group of denominations of Protestant Christianity. ...

References

The Philadelphia Inquirer is one of a two Knight Ridder newspaper duopoly daily for the Philadelphia area. ... October 7 is the 280th day of the year (281st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... October 7 is the 280th day of the year (281st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The Herald Sun is a newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that is published by The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd, a subsidiary of Rupert Murdochs News Corporation. ... October 3 is the 276th day of the year (277th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... October 3 is the 276th day of the year (277th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... October 3 is the 276th day of the year (277th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... October 3 is the 276th day of the year (277th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... October 2 is the 275th day (276th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 90 days remaining. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... October 3 is the 276th day of the year (277th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ...

External links

• "Charles Carl Roberts suicide note" on Wikisource.