Maine mass shooting: 18 dead in Lewiston, ‘armed and dangerous’ gunman still at large
A mysterious note has been found at the home of Robert Card as the manhunt for the “armed and dangerous” suspected mass shooter continues.
The US Coast Guard has joined the manhunt for suspected Maine mass shooter Robert Card after a boat belonging to the 40-year-old was discovered to be missing.
The Messenger reports authorities believe the “armed and dangerous” Army Reservist may have escaped aboard his 15-foot (4.6-metre) Bayliner boat and are hunting for the 40-year-old in the Kennebec River.
The Coast Guard has launched a surveillance plane and boats out of Boothbay to join the manhunt for the accused mass killer that already includes local, county, state and federal agents, Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Third-Class Diolanda Caballero told NBC.
Mr Card’s car was found near a boat launch in Lisbon, nearly 13 kilometres from the alleged mass shootings in Lewiston, Maine, on Wednesday night that left 18 people dead and 13 injured.
A Coast Guard boat with five armed guardsmen was patrolling the Kennebec River on Thursday searching for Mr Card but focusing on the northern shore of the waterway, near its confluence with the Androscoggin River which flows past Lewiston, a spokesman told The Messenger.
It comes after loud noises were heard outside Mr Card’s family home on Thursday night US time, with FBI surrounding the rural property shouting “open the door, FBI, come out now”.
His parents’ rural home in Bowdoin is the scene of a major police operation.
“It was not a rifle or shotgun. I think it was tear gas,” said neighbour Chris Crosman.
“It was four shots, canisters that went off. It was not rapid.”
Another of his family’s neighbours told the NY Post that Mr Card was a deer hunter “capable of hiding for a long time if he doesn’t want to be caught”.
“There’s a lot of places you can be in the woods and never be seen,” Rick Goddard, 44, told The Post.
“It’s really dense, thick woods. If you know the area, there’s a lot of places you can hide ... you could never see something like that from an airplane or helicopter.”
ABC News, meanwhile, reports that a mysterious note was found inside Mr Card’s home earlier in the afternoon. Law enforcement sources described it as a suicide note addressed to Mr Card’s son, and said it does not indicate a motive for the mass shooting.
Earlier, ominous surveillance footage emerged showing Mr Card pointing a semiautomatic weapon with an extended clip as he walked into a bowling alley in Lewiston, a city of 60,000 people around 55km north of Maine’s largest city of Portland.
The murders were the 565th US mass shooting of 2023.
Talking to website The Daily Beast, Mr Card’s sister-in-law Katie O’Neill, said he was “quiet but the most loving”.
However, his demeanour had changed recently.
“In the past year, he had an acute episode of mental health, and it’s been a struggle,” she said.
“He truly believed he was hearing people say things”.
Ms O’Neill added, “this all just happened within the last few months”.
She said Mr Card had hearing loss and had begin using a hearing aid. That led him to believe he could hear people insulting him, including at the bar and bowling alley.
“He would get mad and claim that we didn’t believe him. We tried to listen to him and tell him that nobody was talking about him.”
The bar was holding an event organised by a deaf organisation at the time and it’s thought at least one person with hearing loss died.
Mr Card is now officially a suspect and has been charged with eight counts of murder, which is likely to rise.
How attack unfolded
Local police officials confirmed that 18 people died across two locations and 13 were injured. Some reports had put the death toll as high as 22 but those figures have been revised down. Eight of the victims have been identified but the names have not been released.
Seven people were found dead at the Just In Time bowling alley (formerly known as Sparetime Recreation), six men and one woman who all died of gunshot wounds.
The attack unfolded there at about 7.15pm.
Shortly after another shooting was reported at Schemengees Bar & Grille Restaurant. The bar was holding a sporting event organised by American Deaf Cornhole.
Eight bodies were found at the bar, seven men inside and one outside.
Three further people died in hospital.
Talking to the UK’s Sky News, a customer at the bowling alley said they hid in the alley’s machinery to hide.
Brandon said he heard 10 shots and then ran down the length of the alley barefoot and slid into the area where the bowling pins were kept.
“There was a loud pop. And as soon as I turned and saw it was not a balloon, he was holding a weapon. I just bucked it down the lane.”
He said at one point the gunman was just four metres from him.
Crime writer Stephen King weighs in
Novelist and anti-gun activist Stephen King has commented on the shootings which took place in an area where many of his books are set. He lives around 80km from Lewiston.
“It’s the rapid-fire killing machines, people. This is madness in the name of freedom. Stop electing apologists for murder.”
The shootings occurred less than 50 miles from where I live. I went to high school in Lisbon. It’s the rapid-fire killing machines, people. This is madness in the name of freedom. Stop electing apologists for murder.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) October 26, 2023
Maine has no background checks on people who buy guns and no so called “red flag” laws that would allow people to be banned from buying guns if they are deemed a serious risk.
The state does not require a permit to carry a concealed gun and it does not ban high capacity firearms.
US President Joe Biden made calls, stepping away from a state dinner honouring Australia’s prime minister, to Maine’s governor, its two senators and a local congressman to offer federal support, the White House said.
Early on Thursday, armed police were seen guarding the Central Maine Medical Centre, where some of the wounded were being treated.
Hospitals as far away as Portland were reportedly on alert to receive victims, according to Associated Press.
The Androscoggin Sheriff’s Office, which covers Lewiston, shared two images of the suspect carrying a rifle on its Facebook page.
“The suspect is still at large,” the Sheriff’s Office warned.
Police said Robert Card, 40, may have be driving a white 2013 Subaru Outback.
The Lewiston Police Department released a photo of the car.
At the Wednesday night press conference, Commissioner Sauschuck said a “vehicle of interest” had been located in Lisbon, about 13 kilometres southeast of Lewiston.
According to an alert published by the Maine Information and Analysis Centre Mr Card is a “trained firearms instructor believed to be in the Army Reserve stationed out of Saco”, a city about 75 kilometres south of Lewiston, past Portland.
“According to law enforcement, Card recently reported mental health issues to include hearing voices and (made) threats to shoot up the National Guard Base in Saco, ME,” the notice said.
“Card was also reported to have been committed to mental health facility for two weeks during summer 2023 and subsequently released.”
The shootings occurred as Lewiston public schools were holding parent-teacher conferences. All schools were placed on lockdown, the superintendent announced.
‘Blood all over them’
Eyewitness Nichoel Wyman Arel told CNN that she saw “definitely more than a dozen” people leaving the bowling alley following the deadly incident, and saw children with their families.
“Like, looking back, like that was probably the hardest part, seeing … families pouring out of there and knowing that that happened in there while they were probably just trying to have a family night,” she told CNN.
One person, she said, looked like they had “blood all over them”.
Another woman, Riley Dumont, told ABC News her 11-year-old daughter was taking part in a children’s bowling league when she heard gunshots.
Ms Dumont said her father, a retired police officer, quickly gathered their family into a corner.
“I was laying on top of my daughter. My mother was laying on top of me,” she told the publication, adding there was at least three apparent victims.
Kathy Label, co-owner of Schemengees, was not at the restaurant at the time of the shooting but was told a person walked into the restaurant and “started shooting”.
“The staff ran out,” she told The Sun Journal.
“It was just a fun night playing cornhole … it’s the last thing you’re expecting, right? I still feel like this whole thing is a nightmare.”
Surrounding towns — from as far away as New Hampshire — were called in to provide mutual aid, according to The Sun Journal.
Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline said in a statement to CNN he was “heartbroken for our city and our people”.
“Lewiston is known for our strength and grit and we will need both in the days to come,” he said.
There were 29 total homicides in Maine last year, according to State Department of Public Safety statistics cited by NBC News.
Australia’s $7 billion move amid ‘arms race’
Australia is spending billions on defence upgrades as it contests a regional “arms race”.
Read more
Weird truth behind Trump Macca’s visit
Donald Trump has gone viral for popping up at a McDonald’s to cook fries and appear at the drive-through – but not all was as it appeared.
Read more
Trump’s surprising move to win votes
With two weeks left in the campaign, Donald Trump donned a yellow McDonald’s apron and got to work at his favourite fast food joint.
Read more