The desperate search for Robert Card, the perpetrator of the Lewiston bowling alley and restaurant shooting that has gripped Maine for 48 hours, ended Friday evening with the announcement that police had found his body not far from where he died was last seen near a recycling plant in neighboring Lisbon, where he was previously employed, and next to which he abandoned his white SUV after killing 18 people and injuring 13 others on Wednesday evening. Initial reports indicated that Card, whose body was found at 7:45 p.m. local time and showed signs of gunshot wounds, had apparently taken his own life.
The suspect was still wearing the same clothes he had worn when he was filmed by surveillance cameras at the Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley in Lewiston, where, armed with a military rifle with a scope, he began his macabre killing spree. He then drove through Lewiston – a quiet town of about 40,000 people and the second largest city in Maine – to the Schemengees Bar & Grille Restaurant, where he continued his rampage before fleeing.
The two places he chose to unleash terror were places where he frequently hung out with his girlfriend, whom he had recently broken up with. If initial reports are confirmed, the scene in which he decided to take his own life also had emotional significance for Card, a 40-year-old reserve soldier who was on guard for two weeks this summer because of his mental health problems. Apparently the weapon he used in the rampage was purchased earlier this year.
A store and gas station are closed due to a lockdown in Lewiston, Maine, October 26, 2023 following the mass shooting.JOSEPH PREZIOSO (AFP)
Timeline of the search for Card
The most pressing question now that the search for Card has ended is when: Did he take his own life immediately after the shooting or had he been on the run for days? At an impromptu news conference after 10 p.m. at Lewiston Town Hall, local authorities gave no answers before calling the press Saturday morning to expand on the information they had.
What is clear at the moment is that around 2 p.m. on Thursday the area where the body was finally found was cordoned off for search by officers and that a major detour would have been necessary to get out of Lisbon. On Friday morning, State Official Michael Sauschuk, the spokesman for the tragedy, said the search would be focused not far from there in a bend in the Androscoggin River, where frogmen were ordered to search underwater for “possible bodies.” Hours earlier, police were deployed in the town of Bowdoin, Card’s last residence, using a megaphone to try to persuade him to turn himself in.
Hundreds of local, regional, state and federal agents from all over the United States worked day and night in the manhunt. During the news conference following the discovery of the body, Maine Gov. Janet Mills said the end of the operation marked the beginning of “a long and difficult road to healing.”
Mills added that the community’s thoughts are with the families of the 18 victims – 16 men and two women – whose identities were only confirmed Friday afternoon, three hours before they found the body of the man who took their lives. Eight died in the restaurant; seven died in the bowling alley; and three did not survive the night after being admitted to Lewiston Hospital. They were between 14 and 76 years old, including four deaf people, a father and a son and a couple in their 70s.
Sauschuk said authorities delayed announcing the news that had brought peace to the cities of Lewiston, Lisbon and Bowdoin until they were able to inform the families of the victims and Card’s relatives about the discovery of the body inform . “After all,” said Sauschuk, “they also lost a loved one and were a great help in the investigation.”
Card left his son a farewell note, the contents of which have not been revealed, although CNN reported that Card stated in it that he did not expect to be alive when she was found. The discovery of his body and evidence that he committed suicide now raises doubts about the appropriateness of the authorities’ decision to ask citizens not to leave their homes for 48 hours. On Friday afternoon, the curfew was lifted but hunting, a popular pastime in these depopulated rural communities, was banned. However, the ban never came into force: it was lifted as soon as it became known that the police had found the murderer.
The Lewiston massacre is the deadliest mass shooting in America so far this year and the 10th deadliest in U.S. history. Maine, with its passion for the outdoors, is one of the easiest states in the country to buy a gun. So far, it has also been one of the safest: Last year there were only 29 homicides in a state with just over 1.3 million residents. The Gun Violence Archive, which tracks shootings in the United States, counts 567 for 2023. In 2022, the number for the year was 645.
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