Connecticut School Shooting Prompts Memories for CIU Alumnus

Connecticut School Shooting Prompts Memories for CIU Alumnus

Grover DeVault

Grover DeVault ministered following Amish schoolhouse shooting in 2006

The December school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut was not the first time a gunman targeted children while in class. People in Lancaster County Pennsylvania remember 2006 when Charles Roberts attacked a one-room Amish schoolhouse and killed five girls before committing suicide.

Columbia International University alumnus Grover DeVault, who at the time was a chaplain for the Pennsylvania State Police, was on the scene to minister to first responders. But the experience also made DeVault a long-time counselor and friend to the Amish survivors of the shooting.     

DeVault is a 1953 graduate of CIU and was named Alumnus of the Year in 2008 for his service and dedication as a chaplain, including a tour of duty as a U.S. Army chaplain during the Viet Nam war.   

In the wake of the Connecticut school shooting, The Philadelphia Inquirer recently spoke with Devault about his experience in the Amish schoolhouse shooting. Read the article "Counselor has become friend to survivors of Amish school shooting" at:

https://www.inquirer.com/archives.