Amish School Demolished To Provide Closure To Grieving Families

 The Amish school in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania where five girls were shot to death on October 2nd has been razed to the ground.

Heavy machinery moved into the area at daybreak Thursday to demolish the West Nickel Mines Amish School. An excavator got to work removing the building’s porch at about 4:45am, while other machines knocked down the bell tower and brought down the walls.

Within a few minutes all that was left of the structure was a pile of rubble. But the memory of what happened there ten days ago is still fresh in the minds of the surrounding community.

Five girls were shot to death and five more injured when heavily armed gunman Charles Roberts entered the school, ordered the boys to leave, then began to shoot the females in the head before turning the gun on himself.

The five wounded victims are all still believed to be in hospital, although the facilities haven’t been providing any information about their condition at the request of their families.

Four of the girls who died were laid to rest at funerals last week.

As for the site of the schoolhouse, which had remained boarded up until Thursday’s demolition, it will eventually be replaced by a quiet field.

“It’s going to be razed and topsoil brought in and green grass planted,” said Mike Hart, a spokesman for the Bart Fire Company.

Members of the community hoped the act would help some bring some closure to the tragedy.

Hart said private contractors were in charge of the school’s destruction and said the debris would end up in a landfill.

Classes at the school were expected to resume this week at a makeshift schoolhouse in the garage of an Amish farm in the area. It’s unclear when a new school might be built.

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