Gunman may have planned sex assault on girls

NICKEL MINES – The man who stormed an Amish school and killed five girls had confessed to his wife he molested two girls 20 years ago, and police said he may have planned to sexually abuse his 10 hostages.

Charles Carl Roberts, a 32-year-old dairy truck driver, was also haunted by the death of his daughter who died 20 minutes after her premature birth nine years ago, police said on Tuesday after examining suicide notes he left before Monday’s rampage. Roberts dropped his older children off at a school bus stop on Monday morning, then armed himself with three guns, 600 rounds of ammunition and an array of tools and headed for the Amish school.He had planned for a long siege by preparing to barricade himself and his hostages inside the one-room Georgetown School in rural Lancaster County, 100 km west of Philadelphia.Police say he chose the Georgetown School because it was an easy target rather than out of any grudge against the Amish.He also had two tubes of sexual lubricant and a set of boards, wire, tape and bolts that could have been used to tie up and torment the girls, Commissioner Jeffrey Miller of the Pennsylvania State Police told a news conference.Although there was no evidence of sexual assault, “it’s very possible that …he intended to victimise these children in many ways prior to killing them and killing himself,” Miller said.The third deadly US school shooting in a week shattered the calm of an Amish farm community where there is virtually no crime.The town is full of horse-drawn carriages, bearded men in straw hats and women in bonnets.The Amish, descendants of Swiss-German settlers, are a traditionalist Christian denomination who place particular importance on the Gospel message of forgiveness.They believe in non-violence, simple living and little contact with the modern world.In Strasburg, Pennsylvania, 15 km from the scene of the shooting, an estimated 350 non-Amish people gathered at a candlelight vigil on Tuesday night to express their shock at the killings and to show support for the bereaved families.Nampa-ReutersRoberts dropped his older children off at a school bus stop on Monday morning, then armed himself with three guns, 600 rounds of ammunition and an array of tools and headed for the Amish school.He had planned for a long siege by preparing to barricade himself and his hostages inside the one-room Georgetown School in rural Lancaster County, 100 km west of Philadelphia.Police say he chose the Georgetown School because it was an easy target rather than out of any grudge against the Amish.He also had two tubes of sexual lubricant and a set of boards, wire, tape and bolts that could have been used to tie up and torment the girls, Commissioner Jeffrey Miller of the Pennsylvania State Police told a news conference.Although there was no evidence of sexual assault, “it’s very possible that …he intended to victimise these children in many ways prior to killing them and killing himself,” Miller said.The third deadly US school shooting in a week shattered the calm of an Amish farm community where there is virtually no crime.The town is full of horse-drawn carriages, bearded men in straw hats and women in bonnets.The Amish, descendants of Swiss-German settlers, are a traditionalist Christian denomination who place particular importance on the Gospel message of forgiveness.They believe in non-violence, simple living and little contact with the modern world.In Strasburg, Pennsylvania, 15 km from the scene of the shooting, an estimated 350 non-Amish people gathered at a candlelight vigil on Tuesday night to express their shock at the killings and to show support for the bereaved families.Nampa-Reuters