"Things like this, you just can't comprehend," said one of the Amish, awaiting word on the victims Oct. 2. Photo by: Tim Shaffer / REUTERS |
Police soon discovered Roberts's attack had been carefully planned: There was evidence that he had purchased some of the items used in the attack a few days before, and investigators later discovered a checklist in his vehicle. He arrived at the schoolhouse driving a borrowed pickup truck and armed with a 9mm handgun, a shotgun and a bolt-action rifle. He walked in and showed the children his handgun and asked, "Have you ever seen one of these?" (Though the Amish are avid hunters, handguns are less common in their culture, and one of the children guessed the weapon was a horseshoe.) He then began the process of binding the feet of the girls with flex-cuffs and wire. One teacher who was released raced off to get help because there was no phone at the school, in keeping with Amish custom, which shuns most modern conveniences.
Meanwhile, Roberts was busy nailing lumber that he had brought with him across the doors as a barricade. Various items he carried in a bucket, including personal lubricant, suggested he had planned to molest the girls, as had happened in the Colorado attack. Police surrounded the building and tried to initiate negotiations. Roberts called his wife, who told police she could hear no sounds in the background. "We believe at this point that the kids were just quietly standing there," said Commissioner Miller.
Roberts called Lancaster county 911, demanding the police back off. A moment later police heard shots and stormed the school, but it was too late. The wounded girls ranged in age from 6 to 13; the dead were 7 to 13. "He had no intention of coming out of there alive," said Miller. "He planned this out meticulously."
