NICKEL MINES, Pa. – A year after the West Nickel Mines Amish School shooting, the Amish community is commemorating the death of five girls through a private gathering.
The campus was closed Monday, Oct. 1-2.
A year ago, Charlie Roberts, 32, took the one-room schoolhouse hostage in the Pennsylvania Dutch farm country. During the 40-minute ordeal, Roberts shot and murdered five girls and left five others wounded. He then turned his gun on himself.
After the massacre, four of the five remaining girls returned back to class two months later. The remaining girl is restricted to a wheelchair and eats through a tube.
While the gathering was private, officials from Virginia Tech were invited. After the mass murder at Virginia Tech, members of the Amish community presented the school with a comfort quilt to remember the students. The Bart Township Fire Department was also in attendance.
