QUARRYVILLE, Pa. (AP) - A man who laid siege to a one-room Amish schoolhouse, killing five girls, told his wife shortly before opening fire that he had molested young relatives decades ago and had "dreams of molesting again," authorities said Tuesday. Despite his talk of molestation, though, and the discovery that he had sexual lubricant and flex-ties with him, police have no evidence that any of the victims were sexually abused, State Police Commissioner Jeffrey B. Miller said.
"He states in his suicide note that he had dreams about doing what he did 20 years ago again," Miller said.
Miller said police could not confirm Charles Carl Roberts IV's claim about molesting young relatives when Roberts would have been a just a child himself, and he said Roberts' family members knew nothing of molestation in his past.
Roberts also left a note talking about his anguish over the loss of the couple's newborn daughter nine years ago and how he was angry with God, Miller said.
Earlier Tuesday, two more children died of wounds from the shootings, raising the death toll to five girls plus the gunman.
Five children remained hospitalized after Monday's school shooting, the nation's third in less than a week, in a bucolic area of Lancaster County. Roberts shot himself as police stormed the schoolhouse, which sat on a patch of grass amid pastures and farm fields, authorities said.
Roberts wrote his wife and children suicide notes, took three guns and ammunition and went to the West Nickel Mines Amish School ready for an extended siege. He also had with him sex lubricant.
There was no evidence that any of the Amish children had been sexually assaulted, but it was possible that Robert planned to, Miller said.
Roberts' wife said he also was very upset over the death of a daughter, who died shortly after birth in the late 1990s, Miller said.
A 9-year-old girl who had been taken to Christiana Hospital in Delaware died at about 1 a.m. Tuesday, hospital spokesman Spiros Mantzavinos said. A 7-year-old girl died about 4:30 a.m. at Penn State Children's Hospital in Hershey, hospital spokeswoman Amy Buehler Stranges said.
"Her parents were with her," Stranges said. "She was taken off life support and she passed away shortly after."
Roberts, a 32-year-old father of three from the nearby town of Bart, was not Amish and did not appear to be targeting the Amish specifically, police said. He seemed bent on killing young girls and apparently figured he could succeed at the lightly guarded schoolhouse, authorities said.
"Roberts' actions were scripted, meaning they were preplanned. He had a mental script that he had already gone through in his mind and plans for what he was going to do until the time that the police arrived," Miller said.
He had with him a stun gun, two knives, a pile of wood and a bag with 600 rounds of ammunition, police said. He also had a change of clothing, toilet paper, bolts and hardware and rolls of clear tape, police said.
Two young students were killed at the school, along with a female teacher's aide who was slightly older than the students. Seven others, most shot at point-blank range, were taken to hospitals, and two of them died early Tuesday, authorities said.
Of the five still in hospitals, a 6-year-old girl was in critical condition and a 13-year-old girl was in serious condition at Penn State Children's Hospital late Monday morning. The names of the children were not being released.
Three girls, ages 8, 10 and 12, were flown to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, where they were in critical condition Tuesday after hours of surgery Monday, spokeswoman Peggy Flynn said.
According to investigators, Roberts dropped his own children off at their school bus stop, and later pulled up at the Amish school, which had about 25 to 30 students ranging in age from six to 13.
He released about 15 boys and several women, barred the doors with desks and wood secured with nails, bolts and flexible plastic ties. He then made the girls line up along a blackboard and tied their feet together.
The teacher and another adult fled to a nearby farmhouse, and authorities were called.
Moments later, Roberts fired at the girls and then killed himself before police made their way into the building.
Roberts' co-workers said his mood had darkened in recent weeks, but suddenly brightened over the weekend, Miller said.
"A few days before the shooting a weight was lifted," Miller said Tuesday.
Roberts' own father was close to the Amish. Charles C. Roberts III received state approval in 2004 to use his sport utility vehicle for a paratransit service for the Amish, whose religious beliefs do not allow them to drive.
On his application, more than two dozen people signed documents saying his services would be "a valuable asset to the needs of our community." A number of people in areas of Pennsylvania with large Amish populations operate such paratransit services, mainly to take Amish people to doctors' appointments, shops and other places too far for their buggies to travel, Public Utility Commission spokeswoman Cyndi Page said.
