“A number of people are dead,” including the shooter, following an attack at a one-room Amish schoolhouse in Pennsylvania.

Police surrounded the one-room school late Monday morning, and the Lancaster County 911 Web site reported that dozens of emergency units were dispatched to a “medical emergency” at 10:45 a.m.

Two hours later, about three dozen people in traditional Amish clothing, hats and bonnets stood near the small school building speaking to one another, several young people and authorities. At least two ambulances had left the scene, and at least one person was taken on a stretcher to a medical helicopter.

Developing story at CNN.

UPDATE: Meanwhile, in Las Vegas, two schools were locked down after witnesses reported seeing a student carrying a weapon. Schools throughout the country have been on alert following fatal shootings last week in Wisconsin and Colorado, along with a disrupted murder plan also in a Wisconsin school. Even so, experts report that the number of non-fatal school shootings is down to 24 this year, from 85 last year.

UPDATE: The shooter in Pennsylvania was a commercial milk truck driver, himself a father of three and with no prior criminal history. Reports indicate that he left rambling suicide notes discovered by his wife. When she called him on his cell phone, the shooter said he would not be coming home — he was trying to settle “something that happened 20 years ago.” His method of revenge involved tying young school girls together by the feet. After letting boys and adult women in the classroom go, he shot three of his captives and wounded 7 more before killing himself. There are more details, but my stomach can’t handle such brutality anymore.

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