Tim Reid, Washington Correspondent for The Times, is in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, the small, Amish village that was torn apart yesterday morning when a gunman attacked its one-room school, killing five girls.

"The village of Nickel Mines in Pennsylvania is an unbelievably tiny place, it's little more than a crossroads really, a few stone houses and then, 200 yards away, a gully, where the one-room school house sits.

"All told, there are just 27 households here and a lot of the families share the same last name. It's an extremely close knit Amish community, bound by tradition and large families.

"By custom, Amish people are forbidden from talking to the press and having their photographs taken, so today those caught by the tragedy have their doors closed. Their families have come and they are grieving in private.

"Many commentators have said how the strong traditions, rules and rituals of the Amish may help the community withstand the shock of the attack better than ordinary Americans, but nothing could have prepared them for the invasion of the US media that has followed it.

"Today in Nickel Mines and Bart Township, the larger community of which it forms part, there was the disconcerting sight of horses and buggies making their way past dozens of satellite trucks.

"Camera crews stood by their cars and vans, drinking coffee from McDonalds cups, as some Amish families continued about their daily business: farming and taking their children to the other local schools, which have re-opened.

"At least 200 journalists have parachuted in, descending with satellite dishes, cameras, cables, mobile phones and microphones into a community that shuns modernity, that bans telephones from people's homes.

"Right now there is an uneasy peace between the press and the Amish, but it is unclear how long that will last, with the funerals of the girls killed in the shooting coming up.

"The Amish bury their dead in simple pine coffins - they are austere affairs - but funerals are also big occasions, with the entire community in attendance, in a town hall or a church. The media will want to be here for that, the Amish will want to grieve in private.

"Although there is the obvious contrast now between the press and the Amish, in general, the Amish in this part of Pennsylvania rub along pretty well with "the English" as they call other Americans.

"The communities live and work side by side. It's common to see Amish people in cars and buses, normally being driven by a non-Amish person.

"Indeed, Charles Carl Roberts IV, the gunman in yesterday's attack, worked for years delivering milk to the Amish. We are expecting to hear much more this afternoon about his possible motives for the attack. So far we have heard from his family and neighbours that he was friendly, jokey, stable man, a doting father. He remains the great mystery in all this."

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