Six dead in amish school shooting

[{DSG}DarkRaven]

NICKEL MINES, Pa. - Six people were shot to death at a one-room Amish schoolhouse in Pennsylvania's bucolic Lancaster County Monday, and at least three young girls were hospitalized in critical condition, authorities said.

It was the nation's third deadly school shooting in less than a week, and one of the deadliest in U.S. history.

"So far, six confirmed dead, and the helicopters are pulling into (Lancaster General Hospital) like crazy," Coroner G. Gary Kirchner said.

It wasn't immediately clear if the shooter was among the six. State Police Cpl. Ralph Striebig said earlier that the shooter was dead, but he released no details about that person or a possible motive.

Three girls, ages 6-12, were admitted to Lancaster General Hospital in critical condition with gunshot wounds, spokesman John Lines said. Officials at the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center confirmed that victims also were being admitted there.

Police late Monday morning surrounded the one-room schoolhouse, a tiny building surrounded by a white fence and farm fields in southeastern Lancaster County. The Lancaster County 911 Web site reported that dozens of emergency units were dispatched to a "medical emergency" at 10:45 a.m.

Hours after the attack, about three dozen people in traditional Amish clothing, broad-brimmed hats and bonnets stood nearby speaking to one another and authorities. Others gathered with a group of children at a nearby farm while investigators stretched out in a line across a field searching for evidence.

The school is just outside Nickel Mines, a tiny village about 55 miles west of Philadelphia.

It was the third small community to be shocked by a deadly school shootings in just the past week.


This was posted on Y! News about ten minutes ago. Crazy, isn't it? Of all the places for something like this to happen, I certainly wouldn't expect it to be in an Amish school.

Brings up an interesting question, though. How did he get a gun capable of killing six people in rapid succession? How exactly does an amish kid get his hands on a semi-automatic weapon? I'm willing to guess that the percentage of amish people with anything more than a hunting rifle is extremely small.

[Archibaldo]

Brings a new meaning to amish paradise.

But seriously, that's the last place I'd expect to have a school shooting.

[Tygore]

Brings a new meaning to amish paradise.

Combined with the way your Weird Al avatar is looking at me, I seriously got creeped out by that.

[MottZilla]

Who said he needed a semi-automatic? All he needed was a good old revolver. Never underestimate a revolver as being an effective weapon.

[Rainman]

Could have been done with a rifle/shotgun for all we know from that article.

[Aegix Drakan]

MORE school shootings? :disgust: I don't know how much more of this crap I can take!

all this does is hurt innocent people and does nothing to furhter these demented killer's cause!

-_- why do I even have any hope for humanity?

[MacWeirdo42]

It wasn't a kid... It was some nut job who lived nearby, had a wife and kids. The guy wasn't even Amish. Saw this story on CNN... Freakin' crazy, but no, it wasn't some Amish kid going on a rampage.

[Mitsukara]

-_- why do I even have any hope for humanity?

Forgive me if this is cheesy and off-topic and stuff, but I wanted to say it.

Yes, people do terrible, rotten, disgusting, horrible things. And have for a very, very long time, countless times.

But there's a couple things worth noting: for one thing, the fact that despite this having nothing to do with you, you see this as disgusting and terrible. Just the fact that you are apalled means something, in my opinion.

Second, do you do this? Would you do this? What would it take to make you do this, or would you ever?

Most importantly: everyone, rather they realize it or not, is constantly able to make choices, and is making choices. No, they might not be able to control what happens to them or to others or to anything. But they are making choices even so. Even when choices are denied to a person, they still have a degree of options even if they aren't useful.

Therefore, while some people are utterly bombarded with terrible things and feel like their only choice is to commit a rotten act that destroys others, and/or themselves... they had a degree of choice, though they might not have realized it or used it. If they'd really been able to clear their mind and think about it, and understand both sides of it, maybe they wouldn't have chosen to do what they did.

Regardless though, there is only one thing you can know, understand, and control completely: yourself. What you do with that affects everyone around you. Never let go of or forget your options or assume they're taken away from you, because if you really think clearly, you might realize you have more choices than you expected.

I, for one, would rather, and hope, that I would kill myself before anyone else. But I don't have to do that either. I try to keep to myself, ask questions, bring questions to other people's minds, and offer genuine help where it's appreciated/wanted to others when I can. I may or may not succeed, but I am no serial killer. If I ever became one, I would no longer be myself, but rather something which I feel is disgusting.

I'm not saying my view or way or method is right; not by any means. What I'm saying is that even one single person trying to do better is enough reason to have hope.

And there are a lot of people trying, and some succeeding.

[erm2003]

Here is another article that has more recent information about this. How absolutely horrible.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061002/ap_on_re_us/amish_school_shooting_53

The killer keeps on taking about getting his revenge. What could have possibly happened to him that led to this event?

[MottZilla]

It is horrible, esspecially for the amish people. They never did anything to anyone.

[Kairyu]

The killer keeps on taking about getting his revenge. What could have possibly happened to him that led to this event?
The usual. Dementia, paranoia, insanity. He wasn't after the Amish, he just wanted to (apparently) kill and rape some young girls before he killed himself. The Amish ones just happened to be easier to reach.

[MottZilla]

Ya they were preyed apon because they don't have armed security guards or anything so it was easy. Pathetic.

[Aegix Drakan]

At Jennifer: :) thanks, I feel so much better now.


It is horrible, esspecially for the amish people. They never did anything to anyone.

yeah, I just did a bit of resaerch on the Amish culture, and was a bit surprised. They are the most innocent people on the face of the planet. No technology whatsoever. In the end, all I can chalk this down to is large-scale bullying. I mean, the amish don't fight back, do they? That makes them an easy target...

[Lilith]

Brings a new meaning to amish paradise.

But seriously, that's the last place I'd expect to have a school shooting.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/02/amish.shooting/index.html

note location

:(

[moocow]

yeah, I just did a bit of resaerch on the Amish culture, and was a bit surprised. They are the most innocent people on the face of the planet. No technology whatsoever. In the end, all I can chalk this down to is large-scale bullying. I mean, the amish don't fight back, do they? That makes them an easy target...

Yeah, they don't believe in violence or war or anything like that, at all. The most violence they see is when they're slaughtering their dinner....

[Dechipher]

Yeah, they don't believe in violence or war or anything like that, at all. The most violence they see is when they're slaughtering their dinner....

I'm not sure if that was supposed to be sarcasm or not, as the internet is not ideal for conveying tone, but there IS a difference between violence and neccesary destruction.

[moocow]

I'm not sure if that was supposed to be sarcasm or not, as the internet is not ideal for conveying tone, but there IS a difference between violence and neccesary destruction.

I know that :p I was just trying to make a point, but apparently it didn't work very well so................................................ ......


Disregard that.

[mikeron]

Let's see, this was "a heavily armed truck driver who was prepared for a long standoff".

I'm guessing:

meth addict
sexually abused as a child
couldn't afford a plane ticket to Thailand

[Breaker]

-_- why do I even have any hope for humanity?

better question would be, why should you?

[{DSG}DarkRaven]

I'm not sure if that was supposed to be sarcasm or not, as the internet is not ideal for conveying tone, but there IS a difference between violence and neccesary destruction.

It may have a bad connotation, but the word slaughter is perfectly acceptable when referring to the killing of livestock for food. It's still commonly used by people who rely on freshly butchered farm animals for their food. Is butchering an unacceptable word too? Should butchers be instead called Animal Processing Technicians?

Mooie obviously knows the difference between violence and necessary destruction. The only thing wrong here is political correctness.

[Aegix Drakan]

better question would be, why should you?

:P Don't worry Breaker. I have absolutely no hope at all for you!

[likesallusions]

This morning they were mentioning that he was having dreams about something he did 20 or so years ago. Apparently, he raped some young (3 or 4 or something) relatives, and since he was having dreams about it, decided to do it again. The Amish just happened to be an easier target. Correct me if the info is off or wrong, please.