The town of Lewiston, a former textile center of 38,000 people, and surrounding communities were largely shut down to allow hundreds of police officers to expand the search with an arrest warrant for Robert R. Card.
Security forces and police are searching for the suspect in a wide area. Photo: AP
Suspect has mental problems and is knowledgeable about weapons
Card, 40, was a sergeant at a nearby U.S. Army Reserve base who law enforcement officials said was temporarily committed to a mental health facility this past summer.
US police have released photos of a bearded man wearing a brown hooded sweatshirt and jeans at one of the crime scenes, armed with what appears to be a semi-automatic rifle.
There was an eerie quiet in the normally bustling town on the banks of the Androscoggin River, with barely any cars on the road and few people outside. Many downtown businesses appeared to be closed. An illuminated “Shelter in Place” sign was posted on Lewiston’s Main Street.
Schools canceled classes and police blocked roads leading to the shooting sites. Security guards with assault rifles and wearing bulletproof vests guarded the entrances to Central Maine Medical Center, where many of the victims were taken.
Card’s trail led to Lisbon, about 7 miles southeast, where Maine State Police found a white SUV they believe Card used to flee parked at a riverboat dock. Public records show he had three watercraft registrations: two Sea-Doos and a Bayliner.
Image of the suspect captured by security camera at the scene of the shooting. Photo: US Police
The US military said Card was a fuel supply specialist at the Army Reserve base in Saco, Maine, who had not seen combat since enlisting in 2002.
According to a news release from the Maine Information & Analysis Center, a unit of the National Guard, he once threatened to shoot up the National Guard base in Saco and was “reportedly committed to a mental health facility for two weeks in the summer of 2023 and then released.”
“senseless and tragic” shooting
US President Joe Biden said it was “another senseless and tragic mass shooting” in a country where deadly gun violence is common. He continued to call on the US Congress to pass a ban on high-capacity magazines and other gun regulations.
According to police, the attacks began just before 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley, where a female customer and six men were shot to death. Within about 10 minutes, they received reports of a second shooting at the Schengees Bar & Grille restaurant, about 3 miles away, where eight men were killed. Three victims were taken to the hospital and later died from their injuries.
Maine State Health Officer Dr. John Alexander told reporters that doctors at Maine Central Health Care are treating eight survivors, three of whom are in critical condition.
Map of the two shooting locations (red) and the area where the US police are searching for the suspect. Graphic photo: AP
Guns are loosely regulated in Maine, where about half of adults live in households with guns, according to a 2020 study by the RAND Corporation. Maine does not require a license to buy or carry a gun, and there are no laws to temporarily disarm people deemed dangerous.
The largely rural state borders Canada, which said it was also on alert and had issued a warning to officials about the suspect being “armed and dangerous.” Meanwhile, the U.S. Coast Guard has joined the search along Maine’s Atlantic coast and the New England region.
Rick Goddard, 44, who lives across the street from Card’s father’s farm in Bowdoin, said Card was a gun enthusiast and kept to himself. He last saw Card while he was helping his father mow the lawn on their farm.
The 18 deaths in the shooting are close to the state's typical annual number of gun-related deaths, which have ranged from 16 to 29 since 2012, according to Maine Police. According to data from the Gun Violence Archive, the number of mass shootings in the U.S., defined as four or more people shot, is expected to reach 679 in 2023, up from 647 in 2022.
Hoang Anh (according to Reuters, CNN, AP)
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