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Mother of Amish School Shooter Says God Has Brought Healing to Her Home

  • Amanda Casanova

    Amanda Casanova is a writer living in Dallas, Texas. She has covered news for ChristianHeadlines.com since 2014. She has also contributed to The Houston Chronicle, U.S. News and World Report and…

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  • Updated Feb 16, 2016

The mother of the shooter who killed 10 girls and himself at an Amish school in 2006 said God has “healed” her home.

Terri Roberts told Christian Today that she heard about the 2006 shooting from her husband and a radio report named the shooter as “Roy,” not the name of her son.

Her husband then told her that the shooter was her son, Charlie.

“Wailing, I fell to the ground in a fetal position. Someone came from the house and asked me to be quiet, as my youngest grandson was napping. I was incredibly thirsty, even after drinking countless glasses of water. I felt as though everything inside of me would be expelled. Yet within that first day, God also provided two opportunities for healing at our home.”

Roberts said she and her husband weren’t perfect parents but they also learned that they could not blame themselves for Charlie’s actions.

“Other than wishing that I'd encouraged Charlie to be more expressive, there were no particular areas that felt lacking,” she said.

The Nickel Mines Amish community responded to the shooting with forgiveness, Roberts said. They attended Charlie’s funeral and reached out to Terri and her husband to help them.

“Rosanna, the most injured of the children at age six, is now 15 and still tube-fed, in a wheelchair. She recently came to visit me in my sunroom instead of me visiting her as I have done weekly for the past eight years. Our bond of friendship shows how healing can and should work,” she said

Roberts now speaks about the shooting and forgiveness. She also wrote a book, Forgiven: The Amish School Shooting, A Mother’s Love and a Story of Remarkable Grace.

“God's goodness is in the eye of the beholder. Bitterness and anger are worse than any cancer, eating away at our souls. Even in hardship, praising God for His provision changes our perspective, granting grace for the ‘next step.’”

Publication date: February 16, 2016