AP Features, September 12th, 2007
The most severely injured survivor of last year's Amish school shooting in Pennsylvania is totally dependent on her family for care, but has shown slow but steady progress in the year since the attack, according to a statement Wednesday from the community.
No public memorial events are planned for the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 2 massacre, when a tormented milk truck driver shot 10 young Amish students, killing five, and then shot himself, the committee handling $4.3 million (euro3.1 million) in donations from around the world said in a statement.
"The strength of community in Nickel Mines helps the families cope with this event that changed their lives forever," The Nickel Mines Accountability Committee wrote.
"To the casual observer 'life goes on' in Nickel Mines, with its daily and seasonal demands of work, school, births, family and church, but for the families each day brings with it the pain, grief and questions that remind them of their loss," the group wrote.
The committee said that reaching out to others who have endured similar tragedies has helped healing. West Nickel Mines Amish School family members recently traveled to Virginia, to meet with Virginia Tech school officials and families affected by the April massacre that left 32 people and the gunman dead, they said.
Four of the five injured girls have been in school since December. The fifth, Rosanna King, who was 6 at the time of the shootings, is unable to talk, is confined to a reclining wheelchair and must be fed by a tube.
Her family said in the statement that she "smiles a lot, big smiles" and recognizes family members.
A second severely injured victim recently underwent reconstructive surgery on her shoulder and arm. A third girl still suffers vision problems from a head wound.
The school that was built to replace the scene of the shooting, New Hope Amish School, will be closed on the anniversary date, the committee said.
Charles Roberts, apparently tormented by an unconfirmed memory of having molested relatives 20 years earlier, and by the 1997 death of his own infant daughter, stormed the school and then shot himself as police closed in. Amish families attended his burial service.
About one-third of the donations has been spent on medical expenses and help for the victims' families. The committee also gave money to Roberts' widow and to charities.
The rest of the money will go to a trust fund for victims.
