Charles Carl Roberts IV

Charles Carl Roberts IV: Father of three children, killer of five children

NICKEL MINES, Pa. -- Two more of the girls shot in a massacre at their Amish schoolhouse died early Tuesday, raising the death toll to six — five children and the 32-year-old gunman, who apparently was spurred by a decades-old grudge.

Five other girls remained hospitalized, four in critical condition, though state police spokeswoman Linette Quin said the survivors were "coming along very well."

The two girls who died, ages 7 and 9, had "very severe injuries," she said.

The attack on the tiny, one-room schoolhouse amid the farm fields of Lancaster County was the nation's third deadly school shooting in less than a week, and it led the Bush administration to call for a school violence summit within days to discuss possible federal action to help communities prevent violence and deal with its aftermath.

That's a waste of time.

How could this slaughter have been prevented?

What program, what federal action could have stopped this?

Will all schools be required to have metal detectors?

Will the National Guard be stationed at the entrances of every school in the country?

How does one prevent an individual from flipping out and committing unspeakable horrors?

Authorities said Charles Carl Roberts IV, a milk truck driver and father of three who lived in the area, wrote what appeared to be suicide notes before taking guns and an estimated 600 rounds of ammunition to the tiny school.

Roberts did not appear to be targeting the Amish, though, state police Commissioner Jeffrey B. Miller said Tuesday. He said Roberts apparently chose the school because he was bent on killing young girls as a way of "acting out in revenge for something that happened 20 years ago."

Would the five deaths of these little girls be any worse if Roberts had been targeting the Amish?

..."We know in speaking to the teacher that he walked in, he had a gun in his hand and he began to speak to the students: 'Have you ever seen this?'" Miller told ABC's "Good Morning America" Tuesday morning.

"Obviously the teacher was very concerned right away," Miller said. "He wasn't agitated, but he was very serious about what he was doing, and methodical in how he separated students, allowed certain people to leave, and then began to bind the female students he had at the blackboard.

"They weren't able to get away. They were basically standing, bound to each other, their legs were bound together. They couldn't run away from that location."

Roberts released about 15 boys, a pregnant woman and three women with infants, then barred the doors with desks and wood and secured them with nails, bolts and flexible plastic ties, police said.

The teacher and another adult fled to a nearby farmhouse, and authorities were called at about 10:30 a.m. Miller said Roberts apparently called his wife from a cell phone at around 11 a.m., saying he was taking revenge for an old grudge.

Shortly after police arrived, they heard gunshots. The girls had been shot execution style, and the gunman was dead, Miller said.

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

What a nightmarish scene!

Roberts was married with a family. He wasn't the weirdo loner with nothing to lose.

He had a life and people who cared about him, yet he chose to execute innocent girls.

...In a statement released to reporters, Roberts' wife, Marie, called her husband "loving, supportive and thoughtful."

"He was an exceptional father," she said. "He took the kids to soccer practice and games, played ball in the backyard and took our 7-year-old daughter shopping. He never said no when I asked him to change a diaper."

"Our hearts are broken, our lives are shattered, and we grieve for the innocence and lives that were lost today," she said. "Above all, please pray for the families who lost children and please pray too for our family and children."

Marie Roberts knew her husband as a "thoughtful" man.

Yesterday, he thought of no one but himself.

Now, Roberts' motive is becoming clearer.

QUARRYVILLE, Pa. -- A man who laid siege to a one-room Amish schoolhouse, killing five girls, told his wife shortly before opening fire that he had molested two young relatives decades ago and was tormented by "dreams of molesting again," authorities said Tuesday.

Charles Carl Roberts IV may have planned to molest the girls at the Amish school, but police have no evidence that he actually did, State Police Commissioner Jeffrey B. Miller said.

He said Roberts had sexual lubricant and flex-ties with him with he took the students hostage, and that he chained the girls together in a line at the blackboard after sending the boys and adults away. Roberts also had the weapons and supplies for [a] long stand-off, he said.

Roberts did so much damage. He ended the lives of five girls and crushed their survivors. He destroyed the lives of his own wife and children.

My heart goes out to all of Roberts' victims._______________________________


The Democrats are so hypocritical.

They are spending today exploiting instant messages between Mark Foley and a congressional page, all for their personal political gain.

If they truly care about children, why aren't they obsessing over the execution of these five little girls?

The Democrats' attack on Mark Foley in the name of the nation's children is ridiculous. They aren't making Foley's misdeeds an issue because they care about American kids. They are doing so because they care about themselves.