At approximately 11:07 a.m., Roberts began shooting the victims. The troopers immediately approached. As the first trooper in line reached a window, the shooting abruptly stopped. Roberts had committed suicide.
He ordered the girls to line up against the chalkboard and allowed a pregnant woman, three parents with infants, and all remaining boys to exit the building. One girl also escaped: nine-year-old Emma Fisher (whose two older sisters remained inside). The nine-year old, who spoke only Pennsylvania German, had not understood Roberts' order, "Stay here. Do not move, you will be shot." and followed her brother, Peterli, out of the building, leaving ten hostages.

Two of the survivors of the shooting told their parents that 13-year-old Marian Fisher, one of the slain girls, asked to be shot first, apparently hoping the younger girls would be let go, according to Leroy Zook, an Amish dairy farmer.

Zook, who is close with the parents of the girls, said the parents told him that Marian said to the gunman: “Shoot me and leave the other ones loose.”

Zook’s daughter, Emma Mae Zook, was the teacher who ran from the schoolhouse to a farm to summon police.

Amish builder David Lapp said Marian’s younger sister Barbie, who is recovering from gunshot wounds, provided one of the accounts.

“Her sister remembers it, Barbie,” Lapp said.

Trooper Linette Quinn said investigators have not conducted any interview that confirms the story but also said the investigation is incomplete.

Richard J. Gelles, a childhood violence expert and a University of Pennsylvania dean, said the importance of forgiveness in Amish culture should help survivors heal.

“Nobody has to accept that behavior. But forgiveness is a whole lot easier than seeking revenge,” he said.

Many Amish have embraced the gunman’s wife, Marie Roberts, and their three young children.

Lloyd Welk, Marie Roberts’ grandfather, waited outside for the last funeral procession as a steady rain tapered to a slight drizzle late Friday morning.







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