Peaceful Amish shocked by brutal school shooting

Amish communities across the United States are in shock after a gunman yesterday shot dead at least three girls and injured seven others before killing himself in an attack on one of their schools in the state of Pennsylvania, USA. It is feard the casulaty list will increase

The killer entered the Amish class and ordered all the boys and some adults to leave. He then tied up the girls and began shooting them in the head. The attack is the third shooting at a US school in the past week.

Police named him as 32-year-old truck driver Charles Carl Roberts IV. He was not Amish himself, but had been delivering milk to a number of their communities and schools.

The Amish (often called ‘the plain people) are an German-descendent Anabaptist movement who broke away from the Mennonites and pursue a life of Christian simplicity, modesty, non-resistance and rejection of the dominance of technology.

Shockingly, the gunman lined up the girls in front of the blackboard, tying their feet using wire or plastic cuffs. He then barricaded the doors with large pieces of wood.

The killer entered Georgetown School in the morning, armed with an automatic handgun and shotgun. He told the boys to leave, along with a pregnant woman and three women who had young infants with them. Then he began shooting. Police arrived at the scene at about 10.45 ET and set up a cordon around the school.

The officers tried hailing the gunman on their car loudspeakers, but were unable to make contact, he said. The school passed on a warning from the gunman that he would open fire unless the police withdrew.

The Amish refuse all violence, which includes involvement with the police or the judiciary. They seek to live a biblical lifestyle based on love of enemy and communal values.

Last Wednesday a 16-year-old girl died when an armed man, who also killed himself, took six students hostage at a Colorado high school. On Friday, a head teacher at a high school in Wisconsin was killed when he confronted an armed 15-year-old student as he entered the school.