along the 4800 block of Mine Road near Paradise Township, there has been another school shooting. Although every report of a school shooting is horrific, this one is particularly shocking. Early Monday morning there were reports of a hostage situation at a one-room Amish schoolhouse in the tiny town of Nickel Mines, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. There were also reports of multiple people being shot, and several being killed..
"So far six confirmed dead and the helicopters are pulling into (Lancaster General Hospital) like crazy," Lancaster County Coroner G. Gary Kirchner said Monday afternoon. Later reports indicated that there were only four fatalities, including the gunman. Eight others were wounded and listed as critical. "It will take a miracle for us not to lose more lives today," Pennsylvania Police Commissioner Jeffrey Miller said. A fourth girl died in the hospital Monday night.
The Wolf Rock schoolhouse serves about 30 students from first to eighth grade.
Witnesses said that a man named Roy entered the schoolhouse Monday morning and started making threats, WGAL reported. Some people in the Amish community learned about the situation and contacted police. The man ordered the male students to leave before opening fire on the remaining students, said state police spokesman Jack Lewis. Negotiations took place, but at some point, at least 10 shots were fired within the school, police said.
The Lancaster County 911 website reported that dozens of emergency units were dispatched to a "medical emergency" at 10:34 a.m. Monday.
John Lines of Lancaster General Hospital said that so far they have received three female patients ranging in age from 6 to 15. One of them is in critical condition. WGAL reported that the shooting does not involve the Faith Mennonite School or Bart-Colerain Elementary, which are near the scene.
Meanwhile, two schools in Las Vegas were locked down Monday morning while police searched for a teenager who had been spotted on a high school campus with a gun. Police said that there is no initial indication that the teenager, who was not a student, threatened anyone, but he ran from the school after being confronted by campus police. A handgun was found behind a nearby church, and both the high school and elementary school have been locked down while police search the surrounding neighborhoods for the teen.
Monday’s school incidents follow deadly shootings last week at schools in Wisconsin and Colorado. On Friday, a school principal was shot and killed in Cazenovia, Wisconsin, and a 15-year old student was charged with murder. Just two days earlier, a gunman held six girls hostage at a school in Bailey, Colorado, before killing a 16-year old girl and then himself.
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