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.

Three of the girls died at the scene and two more died after being hospitalized. The Associated Press said that as of midday Oct. 3, five other children remained hospitalized, with four of them in critical condition.

State Police Commissioner Jeffrey B. Miller identified the girls who died as Naomi Rose Ebersole, 7; Anna Mae Stoltzfus, 12; Miriam Fisher, 13; and Mary Liz Miller, 8, and her sister, Lina, 7.

Roberts, who was not Amish, lived in the area and drove a milk tank truck. He and his wife, Marie, had three children. A fourth child, a daughter, died shortly after birth in 1997.

According to Miller, Roberts left his wife and children each a note, and in the note to his wife he described his anguish over the death of their daughter.

"Some sort of an issue in his past" apparently prompted him "to exact revenge against female victims," the police commissioner said. He added that Roberts talked to his wife on his cell phone from inside the school and told her he had molested two minor relatives 20 years ago. But his claim could not be confirmed by police. There was some speculation he had planned to molest the girls in the school.

"We pray for the victims who have died and we ask the Lord to grant strength and consolation to their grieving families," Bishop Rhoades said in his statement. "We also remember in our prayers the young girls who are still recovering from their serious injuries, that the Lord will grant them his healing grace."

"We pray for an end to all violence in our society, especially in our schools," he said. "May the Lord, the prince of peace, protect us, particularly our children, from all harm and help us to build a culture of life and peace in our community, in our nation and in our world."

---CNS