Five Killed at Pa. Amish School

According to Miller, Roberts's wife, Marie Roberts, told police that her husband worked until 3 a.m. Monday delivering unprocessed milk from Amish farms to a dairy and then went home. He took his children to a bus stop about 8:45 a.m. before driving to the Amish school on White Oak Road.

Roberts apparently was prepared for a long siege, Miller said. In addition to the weapons and rounds of ammunition, he had two cans of smokeless gunpowder, rolls of tape, tools and a change of clothes.

Marie Roberts later found several suicide notes and tried to call her husband, Miller said. About 11 a.m., he called her from the schoolhouse and "told her he wasn't coming home," Miller said. Roberts told her that "he couldn't go on anymore" and that "he was getting revenge for something that happened 20 years ago," Miller said.

Miller also said that "there may have been a loss of a child some time in his life."

From the notes to his family and telephone calls, it was clear Roberts was "angry at life, he was angry at God," Miller said. Co-workers at the dairy told officers that Roberts, once given to joking, had seemed to grow despondent not long ago, Miller said.

But in recent days, Miller said, another change occurred. Miller said co-workers indicated that Roberts had appeared more at ease, which might suggest that he had come to a decision about the path he would take.

He said he did not believe that Roberts was influenced by the recent school shootings, but settled on his course independently.

"The man who did this today is not the Charlie that I've been married to for almost 10 years," said Marie Roberts in a statement released to the news media.

Quoting a teacher who escaped, Miller said that when Roberts entered the school, he showed students the handgun and spoke to them in a "rambling discourse," Miller said.

In a news conference, Miller said Roberts arrived at the school in the morning in a borrowed pickup truck. He said Roberts separated the boys, ages 6 to 13, from the girls at the school.

Roberts then told the girls to line up against a blackboard and bound their feet with wire ties and plastic handcuffs, Miller said, his voice choked with emotion. Roberts allowed the boys to leave, along with a pregnant woman and three women with infants.

As the women, who apparently are teacher's aides, were leaving, a teacher was able to flee, and she called police from a nearby farm at 10:36 a.m., Miller said.