The suspect identified as 40-year-old Robert Card is dead.
The death toll from two mass shootings in Lewiston, Maine has risen: At least 18 people have been killed and 13 others injured. Entire towns were placed on lockdown for nearly two days while hundreds of local, state, and federal officials searched for the gunman, who police identified as 40-year-old Robert R. Card. His body was found late Friday at the recycling center where Card previously worked, according to officials. The cause of death was apparently a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
“This is a dark day for Maine,” Gov. Janet Mills said at a news conference shortly after the mass murder.
Here’s some background on this tragedy:
The gunman targeted a bowling alley and bar
According to Sheriff Eric Samson of Androscoggin County, the gunman entered the Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley right before 7 p.m. Wednesday October 25th. A witness told The New York Times that he initially mistook the gunshots for “a table crashing on the floor.”
“Nobody really screamed. Nobody knew what it was,” Chad Vincent, 45, said. Then the dozens of bowlers there, including children and teenagers, began to panic. Some like Vincent escaped and took shelter in a nearby restaurant, but others weren’t as lucky.
Then, officials say, Card moved on to Schemengees Bar & Grille, prompting a stampede as people tried to escape.
In all, seven people were killed at the bowling alley, eight at the bar, and three at the hospital. Three people remain in critical condition, John Alexander, MD, chief medical officer of Central Maine Healthcare, said.
Towns sheltered in place as police hunted for the suspect
Schools and even grocery stores in and around Lewiston, Maine’s second-largest city, with a population of about 37,000, closed while residents were advised to shelter in place during the manhunt for Card.
Officials launched a sprawling two-day search for Card, a firearms instructor and Army reservist who they identified as armed and dangerous. His car was found near a boat launch on the Androscoggin River, which connects to the Kennebec River. The Coast Guard sent a patrol boat along the Kennebec on Thursday morning but found “nothing out of the ordinary,” Chief Petty Officer Ryan Smith told the AP.
Who is Robert Card?
Card is from Bowdoin, a small community outside Lewiston, and is part of the Army Reserve’s 3rd Battalion, 304th Infantry Regiment in West Point, New York. He was trained as a petroleum supply specialist and has not served on any combat deployments, according to The New York Times.
A bulletin issued by the Maine Information and Analysis Center (a law enforcement database) said that Card had been committed to a mental health facility for two weeks over the summer after “hearing voices” and threatening to “shoot up the National Guard in Saco, ME.”
Card’s sister-in-law, Katie Card, told NBC that he began experiencing the episodes after he was fitted for high-powered hearing aids. “He was picking up voices that he had never heard,” she said. “His mind was twisting them around. He was humiliated by the things that he thought were being said.”
