Reports: At least 6 dead in Amish school shooting
POSTED: 2:01 p.m. EDT, October 2, 2006
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PARADISE, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- A lone gunman walked into a one-room Amish schoolhouse Monday and opened fire, killing six people, according to initial reports.
The gunman then shot and killed himself, police said.
The shooting took place at Wolf Rock School in Paradise, a school run by the Amish community with about 27 students in grades 1 through 8.
The man ordered some students to leave before opening fire on the remaining students, said state police spokesman Jack Lewis. (Watch aftermath of deadly school shooting -- 2:00)
Lewis told CNN that the gunman shot and killed at least three students and a county coroner told The Associated Press that at least 6 people had been killed in the shooting.
A number of other children have been seriously injured, he said.
He said he did not know the motive for the attack. (Watch police investigate shooting scene -- 1:00)
"So far, six confirmed dead, and the helicopters are pulling into (Lancaster General Hospital) like crazy," said Coroner G. Gary Kirchner, according to AP.
It was unclear if the shooter was among the six, according to AP. State Police Cpl. Ralph Striebig told AP earlier that the shooter was dead.
Lancaster General Hospital initially received three young patients, ages 6 to 15 -- one in critical condition -- and expects to receive three more patients soon, spokeswoman Kim Hatch told CNN shortly after 1 p.m.
The three initial patients were transferred to other hospitals: two to Hershey Medical Center and the other to Children's Hospital in Philadelphia, she said.
At least two people were taken away from the scene of the shooting on stretchers to an awaiting ambulance and medical helicopter.
Lancaster County's 911 Web site reported dozens of emergency vehicles -- including at least nine ambulances -- were dispatched to Bart Township shortly before 11 a.m. for a "medical emergency." The Lancaster County emergency communications Web site showed 20 incident calls listed to the normally quiet Bart Township at 10:48 a.m.
Shortly after the attack, men, women and girls in traditional Amish clothing gathered in small groups outside the country schoolhouse along a dirt road. Horse-drawn carriages could be seen in a nearby parking lot.
The attack was the nation's third deadly school shooting in a week.
On Wednesday, a 53-year-old man entered a high school in Bailey, Colorado, where he held several female students hostage at gunpoint. He shot one girl before killing himself seconds after a SWAT team stormed inside the classroom.
A high school student near Madison, Wisconsin, is suspected of fatally gunning down his principal on Friday, after he was disciplined for carrying tobacco and being bullied.
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