'Horrible' scene at Amish murders

US: As Pennsylvania's Amish community prepared to bury the victims of Monday's school shooting, a coroner yesterday described the "horrible" scene she found after the murders.

Amanda Shelley, deputy coroner of Lancaster County, said there was blood on every chair and desk, every window was broken and a dead girl was slumped below the blackboard.

"It was horrible," Ms Shelley said. "I don't know how else to explain it. I hope to never see anything like that again in my life."

Officials say that Charles Carl Roberts (32) had planned the attack for at least six days, buying supplies for a long siege and making a checklist of equipment to barricade the doors in the school and to restrain his victims.

In a suicide note to his wife, Roberts told of the devastating effect on him of the death of their prematurely born daughter, Elise, some years ago.

"I haven't been the same since. It affected me in a way I never felt possible. I am filled with so much hate, hate toward myself, hate towards God and unimaginable emptiness. It seems like every time we do something fun, I think about how Elise wasn't here to share it with us and I go right back to anger," he wrote.

Roberts told his wife that he had molested younger female members of his family 20 years ago, when he was himself a child, and had dreamt of doing so again.

Police have not been able to confirm that he did, in fact, molest any relatives and there is no evidence that any victim of Monday's shootings was sexually assaulted.

Four of the girls who died, including sisters aged seven and eight, will be buried today in simple ceremonies and a fifth will be buried tomorrow.

Five other girls remain in hospital, two in a critical condition and three seriously ill with gunshot wounds.

Police say that Roberts shot his victims at close range, execution-style, discharging 17 or 18 bullets, but a coroner said she found at least two dozen bullet wounds in one victim alone.

Police were unable to explain the discrepancy yesterday but the large number of bullet holes found by the coroner and the fact that all windows were broken suggest that some children may have been hit by police fire as the authorities moved in on Roberts.