Amish woman dies 18 years after fatal schoolhouse shooting – Butler Eagle

HARRISBURG – A woman who was seriously injured when a gunman killed five girls and injured her and four other girls in an attack on her one-classroom Amish schoolhouse in Pennsylvania has died 18 years later, a funeral director said Thursday.

Rosanna S. King, 23, died at her home Tuesday and a funeral is planned for Friday at her home in the farming community of Paradise, according to an obituary from Furman Home for Funerals in Leola. Funeral director Philip Furman confirmed Thursday that she was among those shot and killed at the West Nickel Mines Amish School in October 2006.

Charles Carl Roberts IV, a 32-year-old milk truck driver, barricaded himself in the school building and let boys and several adults run free while he tied up and shot ten girls before taking his own life as police approached.

Rosanna King, a member of the Old Order Amish Church, was 6 years old at the time and was considered the most seriously injured survivor. She had been shot in the head and was unable to speak after the attack. She had to be fed through a tube and was dependent on others for personal care and mobility.

A year later, her family released a statement saying that she could recognize family members, smiled a lot and had limited movement. In 2007, they said that “the worst thing was seeing her suffer.”

She will be buried in Bart Cemetery.

Roberts' mother, Terri Roberts, visited Rosanna King regularly, inspired by the forgiveness the Amish community showed her and her family after the attack.

In a 2013 interview, Rosanna's father, Christ King, said there were times when he wondered if he had truly forgiven the shooter.

“We still have a lot of work to do to live up to what is expected of us,” Christ King said at the time. “Everyone was talking about this forgiveness thing, and I felt like it was a big burden on our shoulders.”

Roberts stated in his suicide notes and in a final phone call with his wife that he was tormented by unconfirmed memories of the abuse of some young relatives and the death of his newborn daughter in 1997.

Ten days after the murders, the school building was demolished and a new one was built nearby.

The Amish value their deep Christian faith and family life, and forego many modern conveniences. They wear traditional clothing and mostly use horses and carriages for transportation. They often speak a German dialect known as Pennsylvania Dutch.

Rosanna King died the same week that a 14-year-old Georgia student was charged with using an assault rifle to kill two students and two teachers at his high school about an hour outside of Atlanta. There have been more than 600 mass killings in the United States since 2006.