NICKEL MINES, Pa. – Ten days after the Amish schoolhouse shootings, a demolition crew using heavy equipment tore down the bloodstained building Thursday and obliterated nearly all traces of the place where five girls were killed.
Only a bare patch of earth was left behind, and it was planted with grass seed, so that eventually even the footprint of the one-room schoolhouse will be gone, too.
Any kind of plaque or memorial is unlikely. Members of the plain-living Amish community said it would be too showy and would attract too many visitors.
“They do not want to make it a tourist attraction,” said the 27-year-old brother of two of the 15 boys sent out of the schoolhouse by the gunman before the shooting.
“It’s definitely a little heart-wrenching to see it go down, but it sort of finishes things off,” said the Amish man, who like most members of the community did not want to be identified in any news accounts.
The Amish are known for constructing buildings by hand, without the aid of modern technology, but for this job they arranged for private contractors with heavy equipment to end a painful chapter for their community.
Construction lights glared in the mist as a large backhoe tore into the overhang of the school’s porch before daybreak and then knocked down the bell tower and toppled the walls. Within 15 minutes, the building was reduced to a pile of rubble. By 7:30 a.m., the debris was gone, hauled away by dump trucks.
Associated Press
The Amish school where a gunman killed five girls last week is demolished before dawn Thursday in Nickel Mines, Pa.
Talk to us
- You can tell us about news and ask us about our journalism by emailing newstips@heraldnet.com or by calling 425-339-3428.
- If you have an opinion you wish to share for publication, send a letter to the editor to letters@heraldnet.com or by regular mail to The Daily Herald, Letters, P.O. Box 930, Everett, WA 98206.
- More contact information is here.
