Lewiston, Maine, US
Reuters
Maine police on Thursday were searching for a US Army reservist wanted for murder after 18 people were killed and 13 were wounded in shooting attacks at a bowling alley and a bar in the city of Lewiston the previous night.
In an expanding manhunt, police fanned out across southern Maine with an arrest warrant for Robert R Card, a sergeant at a nearby US Army Reserve base who law enforcement officials said had been temporarily committed to a mental health facility over the summer.
Police are seen on Lincoln St as an active search for a gunman is underway after deadly mass shootings in Lewiston, Maine, on 26th October, 2023. PICTURE: Reuters/Nick Pfosi
MAINE SHOOTING VICTIMS: A FATHER AND SON OUT FOR A BOWLING NIGHT, A BAR EMPLOYEE
A father and his teenage son out for a night of bowling and a bar employee at his place of work were among those killed in shooting attacks in Lewiston, Maine, family members said on Thursday.
Police had not released the names of the people killed on Wednesday night. Seven died at the Just-in-Time Recreation bowling alley, while eight others were fatally shot at nearby Schemengees Bar & Grille restaurant, police said. Three more people died at local hospitals.
Here is what we know about some of the victims based on accounts from their families:
BILL AND AARON YOUNG
Bill Young and his 14-year-old son Aaron were shot and killed at the Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley, Bill’s brother Rob Young told Reuters. They were out for an evening with their bowling league, Rob Young said.
Before learning of their deaths, Rob Young had flown from Baltimore to Lewiston on Thursday to help his sister-in-law in her frantic search for information after the pair had not been heard from since Wednesday when they went bowling.
TRICIA ASSELIN
Tricia Asselin, 53, was trying to call 911 when the gunman shot and killed her at the bowling alley, her brother DJ Johnson told CNN.
Asselin, who worked at the bowling alley part-time, was there for a night out with her sister, who survived the massacre, Johnson said. It was just like her to try to help others by calling the emergency service, her brother said.
“She wasn’t going to run,” Johnson said. “She was going to try and help.”
She is survived by an adult son, her brother said.
JOSEPH WALKER
An employee of Schemengees Bar & Grille who lived in nearby Auburn, Maine, Joseph Walker was a beloved husband, father and grandfather who was helping to raise two grandchildren and a stepson, his father, Leroy Walker, said on MSNBC.
The elder Walker said his son was close to family, living near two of his brothers. He frequently put on tournaments to raise money for local causes and had been planning a corn hole tournament to help veterans when he was shot and killed on Wednesday.
– GABRIELLA BORTER and SHARON BERNSTEIN, Lewiston, US/Reuters
Police circulated photographs of a bearded man in a brown hooded sweatshirt and jeans at one of the crime scenes armed with what appeared to be a semi-automatic rifle.
Public school districts in the area canceled classes on Thursday and police urged residents to stay indoors.
US President Joe Biden, echoing other officials, said in a statement that he mourned “yet another senseless and tragic mass shooting” in a nation where deadly gun violence is commonplace. He again urged Congress to pass a ban on high-capacity magazines and other gun regulations.
“This is a dark day for Maine,” Governor Janet Mills, a Democrat, said at a press conference. “Mr Card is considered armed and dangerous and police advise that Maine people should not approach him under any circumstances.”
Maine State Police found a white SUV they believe Card drove to the town of Lisbon, about 11 kilometres to the south-east of Lewiston, and urged people to remain indoors in both Lewiston and Lisbon. Police also told residents of Bowdoin, Card’s hometown about 19 kilometres east of Lewiston, to shelter in place.
There was an eerie quiet in Lewiston and Lisbon on Thursday, with almost no cars on the roads and just a few people outside. Many downtown businesses appeared to be closed. An illuminated “Shelter in Place” sign was stationed on Lewiston’s Main Street.
Card, 40, is a petroleum supply specialist at the Army Reserve base in Saco, Maine, who had never been deployed in combat since enlisting in 2002, the US Army said.
A Maine law enforcement bulletin described Card as a trained firearms instructor who recently said that he had been hearing voices and had other mental health issues.
He threatened to shoot up the National Guard base in Saco and was “reported to have been committed to mental health facility for two weeks during summer 2023 and subsequently released,” according to the bulletin from the Maine Information & Analysis Center, a unit of the state police. Reuters could not confirm the details reported in the bulletin.
The attacks began shortly before 7pm at the Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley, where one female patron and six males were shot dead, police said, without giving the victims’ ages. Within about 10 minutes, they received reports of a shooting at Schemengees Bar & Grille Restaurant, about five kilometres away. Eight males were fatally shot dead there, police said.
Three victims who were taken to hospitals later died of their injuries.
Doctors at Maine Central Health Care were treating eight survivors, with three in critical condition, Chief Medical Officer Dr. John Alexander told reporters.
“In a split second your world gets turn upside down for no good reason,” Schemengees posted on its Facebook page. “How can we make any sense of this.”
Just-In-Time in a Facebook post said its staff were “devastated for our community.”
“None of this seems real, but unfortunately it is,” it said in the post. “We lost some amazing and whole hearted people from our bowling family and community last night. There are no words to fix this or make it better.”
Lewiston is a former textile hub about 56 kilometres north of Maine’s largest city, Portland, and home to about 38,000 people.
Dexter Britton, nine, looks out through a window as Lisbon Falls remains on lockdown, following a deadly mass shooting in Lewiston, in Lisbon Falls, Maine, US, on 26th October, 2023. PICTURE: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton
We rely on our readers to fund Sight's work - become a financial supporter today!
For more information, head to our Subscriber's page.
Gun regulation in Maine is light
Guns are lightly regulated in Maine, a largely rural state near the northeast border with Canada where about half of all adults live in a household with a gun, according to a 2020 study by RAND Corporation. Maine does not require a permit to buy or carry a gun, and it does not have so-called “red flag” laws seen in some other states that allow law enforcement to temporarily disarm people deemed to be dangerous.
Biden has spoken to state officials to offer the Federal Government’s support and ordered flags to be flown at half-mast until Monday to honor the victims, his office said.
The 18 fatalities in the shootings on Wednesday is close to the annual number of homicides that normally occur in Maine, which has fluctuated between 16 and 29 since 2012, according to Maine State Police.
The number of US shootings in which four or more people were shot has surged since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, with 647 occurring in 2022 and 679 projected to occur in 2023, based on trends as of July, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive.
– Additional reporting by NICK PFOSI in Lewiston and Lisbon, Maine, and STEVE GORMAN, TREVOR HUNNICUTT, PHIL STEWART, RICH MCKAY, SUSAN HEAVEY, DAN TROTTA, JULIA HARTE and ANDY SULLIVAN.
