The uncertainty over the fate of Robert Card, the 40-year-old reserve soldier who murdered 18 people and injured 13 others in separate mass shootings in Lewiston, Maine, last Wednesday, moved closer to resolution this Saturday morning at a conference of local authorities at City Hall City. As usual, the news was delivered by state official Michael Sauschuk, who has become the official spokesman for the tragedy. He confirmed that Card had shot himself and that his body was in a trailer parked near a recycling plant where the suspect worked until he was fired.
Regarding the reasons that may have led the attacker to act, Sasuchuck acknowledged that “there is clearly an element of mental health involved in this tragedy.” “We believe that paranoia and conspiracy theories may have been at play, and after from what I have read and heard [sobre esos cuadros psicológicos], that makes them think they are talking about her,” he added. “It’s possible he heard voices.” He also said authorities were not aware that he was under psychiatric treatment for two weeks last summer, so there was no reason to prevent him from being in the state Maine to buy a gun. An agent present at the news conference said Card owns “several” properties, “some of which were purchased recently” and “several years ago.” He bought them all legally.
Sauschuck didn’t want to or couldn’t say anything about the exact time of death: “We have to wait for the autopsy.”
After robbing a bowling alley and the Schemengees restaurant, two popular entertainment venues in this rural community, with a military-style semi-automatic rifle, Card abandoned his car, a white SUV, in the neighboring city of Lisbon. At the wheel of this vehicle he traveled the distance between both points to continue his murderous madness. Inside was found the weapon he used to kill all those people. They found two more pistols in the truck where the body was. About a kilometer and a half separate the place where the trail was lost from the parking lot where he committed suicide. Sauschuck confirmed that the police checked the parking lot at the end of a path twice, but without results.
The Maine public safety officer also provided details about a letter he left for a “loved one” before heading to the bowling alley. In it, he entrusted her with the “access code” to his phone and the keys to the bank accounts. “I wouldn’t call it an explicit suicide note,” Sauschuck added, “but the tone and tenor make it clear that the person did not expect to be alive much longer and he wanted to make sure that this loved one had access had to do that.” his phone. and everything that was on his phone. Something that is not uncommon in suicide cases.”
The body was found around 7:45 p.m., 48 hours after the attacker broke into the Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley and began shooting with his scoped rifle. It was a time when hundreds of troops from local, regional, state and federal authorities scoured a vast forest area and the waters of the Androscoggin River and its trails in search of a man they considered “armed and very dangerous” to his military past and his skill with firearms.
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The cities of Lisbon, Lewiston, Auburn and Bowdoin, where the man last lived, were also ordered to be cordoned off: the authorities asked neighbors to lock themselves in their houses and lock them up. Shops, restaurants and banks also closed, giving the streets a spooky post-apocalyptic movie look.
The identity of the victims
Sauschuck justified this decision, although it is possible that during much of this state of emergency the agents were not “hunting” a murderer but were simply looking for a body. “Due to the violence of the incident, we were worried until the last second.” [de esas 48 horas], because we didn’t know what this person would do next or where they would do it. “We would rather be very careful,” he clarified.
Names and faces of the 18 shooting victims in a presentation by Lewiston, Maine, authorities.
The identities of the 18 victims were confirmed on Friday afternoon. There are 16 men and two women. Eight died in the restaurant; seven, in the bowling alley. The other three did not survive their first night at Lewiston Hospital, where the wounded, whose names were not released, are still being treated. Three of them are in critical condition. The deceased were aged between 14 and 76, including four deaf people, the restaurant manager who tried to stop Card armed with a knife, a father and son or a couple in their 70s.
Sauschuck’s appearance took place with the support of a sign language interpreter, as a sign of respect for the relatives of the murdered and against the background of photos provided by their relatives. It will be the last press conference on the case, said the official, who wanted to recognize the “really valuable” cooperation of the suspect’s mother and brothers in the search.
The President of the United States, Joe Biden, issued a press release on Friday evening in which he assured that “Americans do not have to live like this.” “I once again call on Republicans in Congress to fulfill their obligation to provide security for their fellow Americans. Until that day comes, I will continue to do everything in my power to end this epidemic of gun violence. The Lewiston community – and all Americans – deserve nothing less.”
The shooting in Maine is the deadliest mass shooting so far this year and the 10th largest in United States history. With its passion for the outdoors, it is one of the easiest states in the country to purchase a gun. So far, it has also been one of the safest: Only 29 homicides were recorded last year in a state with just over 1.3 million residents. With around 40,000 residents, Lewiston is the second largest city after the capital Portland.
The organization Gun Violence Archive, which keeps records of mass shootings (with more than four victims, not including the attacker) in the United States, recorded 569 this Saturday morning in 2023. In 2022, the number rose to 645.
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