Think No Evil Inside the Story of the Amish Schoolhouse Shooting...and Beyond

An insider’s look into the events surrounding the Nickel Mines Amish schoolhouse shootings—told by the counselor who was called upon to come to the farmhouse where the families met on that fateful day.

On October 2, 2006, Charles Roberts, a local milk-tank truck driver, bound and shot ten young girls in an Amish schoolhouse before committing suicide. Five girls died. Five others were severely injured and left in critical condition. In the aftermath of the massacre, the Amish community shunned the media. But they requested that Amish-raised counselor Jonas Beiler come to the scene to offer his moral and spiritual support.

In Think No Evil, Beiler offers his first-person account of the events, as well as of those who were closest to the scene: the surviving children, the volunteer fireman Rob Beiler, the local counseling center director Brad Aldricha, and Vietta Zook, aboard the first ambulance to arrive. Beiler poignantly describes the Amish families’ responses to this horrific violence as they reached out to the shocked family members of the killer, offering unconditional forgiveness.

The story didn’t end on that horrible day with the deaths of those five little girls. Think No Evil follows the ongoing story of this gentle community having faith in God’s design, of truly demonstrating Christian values, of responding with resilient love in the face of evil, of demolishing the scene of the murders and rebuilding the schoolhouse, and of determining to move forward in living out their faith in peace.

Jonas Beiler grew up in a traditional Old-Order Amish family in the 1950s. He is the cofounder and chairman of The Angela Foundation. He is also a licensed family counselor and founder of Family Resource and Counseling Center and The Family Center of Gap, both located in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. 

Jonas is married to Anne Beiler, founder and creator of Auntie Anne’s Soft Pretzels, an acclaimed international pretzel franchise. 

Shawn Smucker is a native of Lancaster County. His mother grew up Amish and his father was in the Beachy Amish Church. He is a graduate of Messiah College and lives in Virginia with his family. This is his second book.