Shooting Erupts at Amish Schoolhouse By JOHN HOLUSHA

A lone gunman walked into a one-room schoolhouse in a largely Amish community in southeastern Pennsylvania today and shooting erupted, killing several people including the shooter himself, according to preliminary reports.

So far six confirmed dead,” The Associated Press quoted a coroner, G. Gary Kirchner as saying, adding that more victims were still being taken to hospitals in the area.

Television images transmitted from helicopters showed groups of Amish men and women, in their distinctive clothing, gathered around the Wolf Rock School in Lancaster County awaiting word on casualties. The horse-drawn carriages they use for transportation were parked nearby.

The school had about 30 students in grades one through eight.

According to early reports, the gunman, described as “not a young person,” entered the school about 11 a.m. and took several girls hostage, ordering the boys to leave.

When the state police arrived on the scene - the community has no local police force-they tried to get the man, whom they addressed as “Roy,” to drop his gun. Shooting broke out, causing an unknown number of injuries.



New York Times