Bishop says Catholics praying for Amish community after shooting

Published: 2006-10-03

HARRISBURG, Pa. (CNS) -- Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Harrisburg said Oct. 3 that the parishes and schools in his diocese were united in prayer with a Pennsylvania Amish community reeling from a gunman's shooting spree in a one-room school the day before that left five girls dead and five others injured. The Catholic community is "with you in prayer in the aftermath of the terrible tragedy," he said in a statement. "I extend deep sympathy and prayerful remembrance to all our brothers and sisters in the Amish community of Lancaster County. Our hearts go out to you during this time of sorrow." On the morning of Oct. 2, according to the Pennsylvania state police, a 32-year-old man identified as Charles Carl Roberts IV stormed into a one-room Amish schoolhouse in Lancaster County with a rifle, a shotgun and other weapons. After making the boys and adults leave, police said, he barricaded the door, chained the girls together in a row at the blackboard and shot them "execution style." By the time police broke into the school, he had killed himself.

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