NICKEL MINES, Pa. — Police couldn't force their way into a barricaded Amish schoolhouse until 2 minutes after a gunman began shooting 10 girls inside, according to newly released details about the siege.

The killings last year and the Virginia Tech massacre demonstrate that police dealing with barricaded gunmen need better training and equipment, such as battering rams, said state police Sgt. Douglas Burig, who was in command at the West Nickel Mines Amish School standoff.

Schoolhouse gunman Charles C. Roberts IV acted so suddenly — shooting his 10 victims in about eight seconds and killing five — that even quick entry into the building might not have prevented the tragedy, said Burig, who carried two of the victims out of the school.

"It just highlights the need for equipment like this (to be) available for the first responders," Burig said. "Ultimately it would not have made a difference in this incident, but perhaps it will in a future incident."

Pennsylvania state troopers who were at the schoolhouse have said little publicly about the Oct. 2 shootings. But in talks to police agencies across the country, Burig and other state police officials have shared what they learned in hopes of helping other officers.

In an interview earlier this month with KTLO Radio in Mountain Home, Ark., where he was attending a conference, Burig said police tactical units have the tools to handle a barricaded hostage taker. But sometimes it falls to the first officers at the scene to handle the scenario.

Police used shields, rifle butts and batons to beat through the doors and windows. Roberts shot himself fatally as troopers entered.

"Those troopers assaulted the school without any thought of their own safety," Burig told KTLO. "They were shot at but they continued to move toward the school."