Amish mourn after attack, urging forgiveness of gunman

Investigators spoke to the two women, who would have been 4 or 5 at the time, and they said there was no such abuse.

``Both of them have no recollection of being sexually assaulted by Roberts," said a State Police trooper, Linette Quinn. ``They were absolutely sure they had no contact with Roberts."

Roberts stormed the school Monday and shot 10 girls before turning the gun on himself. Investigators said Roberts, who brought lubricating jelly and plastic restraints with him, may have planned to sexually assault the Amish girls.

As they struggle to understand the slayings of five of their children in a one-room schoolhouse, the Amish in this Lancaster County village are urging forgiveness of the killer and are quietly accepting what comes their way as God's will.

``They know their children are going to heaven. They know their children are innocent . . . and they know that they will join them in death," said Gertrude Huntington, a Michigan researcher and a specialist on Amish children.

``The hurt is very great," she said. ``But they don't balance the hurt with hate."

In the aftermath of Monday's violence, the Amish are looking inward, relying on themselves and their faith, just as they have for centuries.

They hold themselves apart from the modern world, and have as little to do with civil authorities as possible.

Amish mourners have been going from home to home for two days to attend viewings for the five victims, all little girls laid out in white dresses made by their families. Such viewings occur almost immediately after the bodies arrive at the parents' homes.

Typically, they are so crowded that ``if you start crying, you've got to figure out whose shoulder to cry on," said Rita Rhoads, a Mennonite midwife who delivered two of the five girls who were slain.

At some Amish viewings, 1,000 to 1,500 people might visit a family's home to pay respects, according to Jack Meyer, 60, a buggy operator in Bird in Hand. Such visits are important, given the lack of e-mail and telephone communication, Meyer said.

The Amish have also been reaching out to the family of the gunman, 32, who committed suicide after the attack. Dwight Lefever, a Roberts family spokesman, said an Amish neighbor comforted the Roberts family hours after the shooting and extended their forgiveness.