“Right now or they’re dead in two seconds,” Roberts said, according to a transcript of the 911 call. “Two seconds, that’s it.”

Transcripts of conversations between Roberts and dispatchers at Lancaster Countywide Communications were released Tuesday by Lancaster County District Attorney Donald A. Totaro. Conversations Oct. 2, the day of the shootings at the one-room Amish schoolhouse in Bart Township, between dispatchers and three others, including Roberts’ wife, also were released.

The complete dialogues between state police dispatchers and Roberts’ wife and two other 911 callers were not made public.

After listening to the tape of Roberts, Totaro said he was struck by the killer’s demeanor.

“He did not seem emotional,” Totaro said. “He did not seem angry. Quite honestly, it’s hard to believe in listening to the tape that in a matter of seconds this individual would execution-style kill five girls and shoot five others.”

“No emotion whatsoever, but he was insistent in telling the dispatcher that the police must get off the property within two seconds or he was going to start killing his hostages.”

Totaro said the hostages could not be heard on the tape.

“During that call, there were no sounds in the background,” he said. “There are no other voices in the background.”

Roberts called 911 at 10:55 a.m. after several troopers arrived at the schoolhouse. He told the female dispatcher he was inside the one-room school with 10 hostages.

“I just took, uh, 10 girls hostage, and I want everybody off the property or, or else,” he said.

“OK, all right,” the dispatcher replied.

“Now ... ,” Roberts said. “Don’t try to talk me out of it, get ’em all off the property now.”

The dispatcher tried to transfer the call to the state police call center in Harrisburg as Roberts made one last threat and hung up.

Ten troopers rushed to the school at 4876 White Oak Road after Amos Smoker called 911 at 10:35 a.m.

Smoker called for help from his farm behind the school after he learned of the situation from some of the students Roberts released. A teacher and the students fled to Smoker’s farmhouse.

“There’s a guy in the school with a gun,” Smoker said.

Totaro said Smoker sounded excited on the 911 recording.

“There is heavy breathing, obvious excitement on the part of Mr. Smoker,” Totaro said. “The children and teacher came to his residence, but there is nothing else that you can hear in the background.”

Also recorded was a conversation between a dispatcher and an unknown male caller who wanted to alert police something was happening at the school.

A trooper outside the school later attempted to call Roberts’ cell phone while another used a megaphone in attempts to convince the 32-year-old father of three to surrender.

Roberts started shooting shortly after disconnecting the 911 call, Totaro said.

“He clearly did not give the police any opportunity to get off the property,” Totaro said. “Very clearly, he said two seconds, and it appears that he meant it literally.”

Five girls were killed and five others wounded before Roberts killed himself.

Marie Roberts called 911 at 10:58 a.m., about three minutes after her husband first spoke with a dispatcher.

Charles Roberts had called his wife from inside the school before dialing 911.

“My husband just called me on his cell phone and told me that he wasn’t going to be coming home and that the police were there and not to worry about it,” Marie Roberts said. “And I have no idea what he is talking about, but I am really scared.

“He was upset about something that had happened 20 years ago, and he said he was getting revenge for it.

“I don’t think he was getting revenge on another person, I’m worried that maybe he was trying to commit suicide.”

After being transferred to a state police dispatcher, Marie Roberts talked about suicide notes her husband since 1996 had left in their home at 1084 Georgetown Road.

She also gave police a description of her husband and the GMC pickup truck he was driving.

“What did the notes say?” the state police dispatcher asked.

“Like the thought of not my children, not seeing them grow up, like, let’s see, uh, I’m not even sure; here it is, my daughter Abigail. I want you to know that I love you and I’m sorry I couldn’t be here to watch you grow up. That’s how the notes start,” Marie Roberts said before ending the call, which lasted for two minutes and 55 seconds.

Totaro described Mrs. Roberts’ voice as calm.

“There is in the background the voice of a baby who presumably would’ve been with Mrs. Roberts at the time,” he said. “She was very matter-of- fact. She called, she was concerned that her husband was considering suicide. However, she had no reason to believe that he intended to cause harm to anyone else.”

Rick Harrison, countywide communications director, said the female dispatcher who spoke with Charles Roberts tried to keep him talking until a trooper could take over the conversation.

“She didn’t have a lot of time,” Harrison said. “He was pretty intent on what he was going to do.

“He wasn’t cooperating. He never gave an opening to wanting to talk.”

The dispatchers who spoke with the Roberts, Smoker and an unidentified male have undergone psychiatric counseling.

“We knew we were going to deal with a bad situation, expecting the worst, but never expecting what happened,” Harrison said. “A lot of our dispatchers involved in this are having some difficulties.”


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