Three Little Girls Executed in Amish School Slaying

Earlier today, a 32 year-old truck driver stormed an Amish schoolhouse and executed three little girls. As many as seven other girls may have been seriously wounded in what appears to be a hate motivated crime.

The Wolf Rock School in Paradise is located in central Pennsylvania, and educates Amish students ranging from first graders to eighth graders. The school is close to where the shooter, Charles Carl Roberts IV, lived. Roberts reportedly returned from his shift as a commercial milk-truck driver this morning, dropped his own three children off at their bus stop, and then commenced what appears to be a premeditated attack.

Roberts drove to the Amish schoolhouse in a pick up truck that he'd borrowed, with two guns and two pieces of lumber with which to barricade the doors. Once inside the building, he had the children line up against the blackboard. He let the boys go, but tied the girls together. He also released four adults, some of whom were carrying infants.

Once released, the teachers ran to a nearby farm house for help, but help arrived too late.

Roberts, who left suicide-type notes behind, called his wife from a cell phone, and told her that he could not go on. He also told her that he was getting revenge for something that happened twenty years ago. Authorities have not yet released details about the apparent motivating incident, but they do think the gunman wanted to avenge himself upon the female gender.

Before police negotiators could reach him, Roberts attacked the girls, shooting them execution-style, then turned the gun on himself.

Police described the crime scene as "horrific." One of the girls died in the arms of a state trooper, others were rushed to the hospital. They are all listed in critical condition, and doctors describe their wounds as very serious.

The normally peaceful, old-fashioned Amish community is stunned. Their idyllic vision turned to a nightmare of bullets and blood.

The gunman was not Amish, nor did he have a criminal record.

This marks the nation's third deadly school shooting in the past week.