West Nickel Mines School shooting
39°57′37″N 76°05′04″W / 39.96021°N 76.084393°W
| West Nickel Mines School shooting | |
|---|---|
| Location | Bart Township, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Date | October 2, 2006 c. 10:25 – c. 11:07 a.m. |
| Target | Female students at West Nickel Mines School |
Attack type | Femicide, pedicide, school shooting, hostage taking, murder–suicide, mass shooting, mass murder |
| Weapons | |
| Deaths | 7 (including the perpetrator and a victim who died from complications in 2024) |
| Injured | 4 |
| Perpetrator | Charles Carl Roberts IV |
On October 2, 2006, a shooting occurred at the West Nickel Mines School, an Amish one-room schoolhouse in the Old Order Amish community of Nickel Mines, a village in Bart Township, Pennsylvania. Gunman Charles Carl Roberts IV took hostages and shot ten girls (aged 6–13), killing six (five in the initial incident, and a sixth who succumbed to her injuries in 2024), before committing suicide in the schoolhouse. The emphasis on forgiveness and reconciliation in the Amish community's response was widely discussed by the national media. The West Nickel Mines School was later demolished, and a new one-room schoolhouse, the New Hope School, was built at another location. It is the worst school shooting in Pennsylvania history.