At least six killed in Amish school shooting
Gunman among dead, according to state police; others wounded
BREAKING NEWS
NBC, MSNBC and news services
Updated: 1:35 p.m. ET Oct 2, 2006
NICKEL MINES, Pa. - At least six people were killed Monday in a shooting at a one-room Amish school, the county coroner said. The identities and ages of the victims were not immediately available.
"So far six confirmed dead and the helicopters are pulling into (Lancaster General Hospital) like crazy," Lancaster County Coroner G. Gary Kirchner said.
The shooter was among the dead, state police Cpl. Ralph Striebig said. ?There are also a number of wounded,? he added.
Three girls, all critical with gunshot wounds and ages 6 through 12, were admitted to Lancaster General Hospital, spokesman John Lines told NBC affiliate WGAL-TV.
WGAL-TV also reported that the shooter was an adult male who had entered the school in rural Lancaster County and started making threats.
Some people in the Amish community learned about the situation and contacted police, WGAL reported. Negotiations apparently then took place but at some point at least 10 shots were fired within the school, WGAL said. It appeared the shooter took his own life.
Two hours later, about three dozen people in traditional Amish clothing, hats and bonnets stood near the small school building speaking to one another, several young people and authorities.
At least two ambulances had left the scene, and at least one person was taken on a stretcher to a medical helicopter.
Twenty-seven students are said to have attended the private school, which teaches first through eighth grades.
The school is situated among farmlands just outside Nickel Mines, a tiny village about 55 miles west of Philadelphia.
Officials at the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center confirmed that victims were being admitted there. A spokeswoman said the hospital anticipated more than one patient, but did not know how many.
Other recent incidents
The shooting followed reports earlier on Monday of lockdowns at two schools in the Las Vegas area.
Police and trained dogs had deployed around Mojave High and Elizondo Elementary schools in North Las Vegas, Nevada, and police were looking for an armed youth, KLAS-TV reported.
Monday?s violence followed two gun-related incidents that shook U.S. schools last week.
On Friday, a 15-year-old student fatally wounded his school?s principal in western Wisconsin. A drifter in Colorado Wednesday took six female high school students hostage, molested them and then shot one to death and killed himself as police closed in.
Even the Amish can't escape the recent wave of school shootings
Gunman among dead, according to state police; others wounded
BREAKING NEWS
NBC, MSNBC and news services
Updated: 1:35 p.m. ET Oct 2, 2006
NICKEL MINES, Pa. - At least six people were killed Monday in a shooting at a one-room Amish school, the county coroner said. The identities and ages of the victims were not immediately available.
"So far six confirmed dead and the helicopters are pulling into (Lancaster General Hospital) like crazy," Lancaster County Coroner G. Gary Kirchner said.
The shooter was among the dead, state police Cpl. Ralph Striebig said. ?There are also a number of wounded,? he added.
Three girls, all critical with gunshot wounds and ages 6 through 12, were admitted to Lancaster General Hospital, spokesman John Lines told NBC affiliate WGAL-TV.
WGAL-TV also reported that the shooter was an adult male who had entered the school in rural Lancaster County and started making threats.
Some people in the Amish community learned about the situation and contacted police, WGAL reported. Negotiations apparently then took place but at some point at least 10 shots were fired within the school, WGAL said. It appeared the shooter took his own life.
Two hours later, about three dozen people in traditional Amish clothing, hats and bonnets stood near the small school building speaking to one another, several young people and authorities.
At least two ambulances had left the scene, and at least one person was taken on a stretcher to a medical helicopter.
Twenty-seven students are said to have attended the private school, which teaches first through eighth grades.
The school is situated among farmlands just outside Nickel Mines, a tiny village about 55 miles west of Philadelphia.
Officials at the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center confirmed that victims were being admitted there. A spokeswoman said the hospital anticipated more than one patient, but did not know how many.
Other recent incidents
The shooting followed reports earlier on Monday of lockdowns at two schools in the Las Vegas area.
Police and trained dogs had deployed around Mojave High and Elizondo Elementary schools in North Las Vegas, Nevada, and police were looking for an armed youth, KLAS-TV reported.
Monday?s violence followed two gun-related incidents that shook U.S. schools last week.
On Friday, a 15-year-old student fatally wounded his school?s principal in western Wisconsin. A drifter in Colorado Wednesday took six female high school students hostage, molested them and then shot one to death and killed himself as police closed in.
Even the Amish can't escape the recent wave of school shootings