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.
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