Maine gunman Robert Card has been charged with eight counts of murder as Gov. Janet Mills said the rampage at a children’s bowling alley and a nearby bar in Lewiston left 18 people dead and 13 injured.
Maine Police Col. William Ross said only eight of the 18 victims had been identified as of 11 a.m. EST Thursday. He added that seven of the gunshot victims were found at the Sparetime Recreation bowling alley: one woman and six men. Another eight victims were found at the Schemenges Bar and Grille: seven men inside and one outside.
Hundreds of law enforcement officers are searching for previously assigned Army Reserve firearms instructor Card, 40 – a petroleum supply specialist with no military assignments.
According to Androscoggin County, police were called to the area of Ridge Road in Monmouth where someone in camouflage was reportedly seen trying to evade a search helicopter
Card, described as “armed and dangerous” and “highly qualified,” has ties to Massachusetts and police are stationed on the border between the two states. Police said he should not be approached under any circumstances.
Police in Lewiston, Maine, are searching for a gunman who killed 18 people
In audio from the Auburn and Lewiston Fire and Rescue Departments, a dispatcher can be heard saying that Card arrived in Massachusetts about an hour after the shooting Wednesday night.
Boston police responded to the report, saying, “He was from Oxford, ME.” “Shared in an abundance of caution and we are gathering additional information, but it is unfounded at this time.”
Lewiston Police Chief David St. Pierre urged the public to keep their own safety and patience while conducting “such a large-scale investigation.”
Residents of Lewiston and the nearby towns of Lisbon and Bowdoin were advised not to go outside Thursday morning as the shooter remains at large. Public schools were closed in Lewiston, Bowdoin and Portland, the state’s largest city, more than 30 miles from the site of the shooting.
The gunman opened fire with an AR-15 rifle at the Sparetime Recreation bowling alley and then near Schemengees Bar and Grille around 7 p.m. Wednesday. Lewiston City Councilman Robert McCarthy said Thursday morning that the death toll was up to 22 and that the city was struggling to deal with “this type of shooting.”
The first shooting victim was identified as Justin Karcher, 23, who is on a ventilator, his mother Jessica told The Washington Post, adding that the young man saw his father shot in a Walmart parking lot in 2019 .
The death toll, which could rise, is the highest in a mass shooting this year. Additionally, the shooting nearly equals Maine’s entire 2022 homicide total.
Lewiston, a small city of about 38,000 residents, is on lockdown as police search for Card, who was placed in a psychiatric hold this summer for mental health issues. He previously reported hearing voices and threatened to attack his National Guard base in Saco, Maine.
“Please remain in your homes as more than 100 local and state investigators work to locate Robert Card, the man involved in the Lewiston shooting,” Maine State Police said on Facebook. Lisbon Police Chief Ryan McGee called in all police to assist in the search and closed local businesses.
Maine Gov. Janet Mills said 18 people were killed and 18 injured in the shooting at a children’s bowling alley and a nearby bar
Robert Card, a 40-year-old Army reservist and firearms instructor, has been named as a suspect in the killing of 22 people in Lewiston, Maine, on Wednesday
Police officers gather outside Lewiston High School on Thursday
Residents of Lewiston and the nearby towns of Lisbon and Bowdoin were advised not to go outside Thursday morning as the shooter remains at large
There was a heavy police presence outside Central Maine Medical Center Thursday morning. Police with high-powered rifles stood at every entrance. The hospital is on lockdown and no visitors are allowed.
The FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other federal agents have joined the search. Investigators said they were examining cell phone signals, social media and electronic records to build a timeline of his movements before the shooting.
Officials have confirmed that Card’s vehicle – a white 2013 Subaru – was found near the boat launch in Lisbon, about seven miles southeast of Lewiston, but that the suspect was not inside.
Horrifying CCTV images show Card, from Bowdoin, Maine, aiming his rifle as he enters the bowling alley, while dramatic footage shows terrified people running for their lives.
Police then received calls about a shooting at a second location, Schemenges Bar and Grille, about four miles away. A spokesman for the bar said: ‘My heart is broken.’ I’m speechless.’
They said their world had been “turned upside down for no good reason,” adding: How can we understand this? I send prayers to everyone.”
Survivors have described escaping by fleeing along bowling alleys and hiding behind pins as the gunman opened fire with an AR-15 rifle as children played – including teenagers among the injured.
Meghan Hutchinson described the horror of her daughter being hit by a bullet at the bowling alley as they fled from the gunman.
“We were in the back room. Another child came in whose arm had a massive… and was bleeding profusely. So we barricaded ourselves there and another parent was in the room with me. “She had a phone and called 911,” the mother told WMTW.
A body is removed from inside Schememenge’s Bar and Grille
Lewiston, a small city of about 38,000 residents, is on lockdown as police search for Card, who was placed in a psychiatric hold this summer for mental health issues
There was a heavy police presence outside Central Maine Medical Center on Thursday morning, with police with high-powered rifles at every entrance
The mayor of Auburn, a city next to Lewistown, told TODAY that some of the witnesses thought the rampage was a Halloween prank.
Jason Levesque said: “They thought it was some kind of Halloween joke or something, the first pops if you will, until everything escalated pretty quickly.”
Survivor Riley Dumont said her 11-year-old daughter was playing in the children’s bowling league when she heard several gunshots. She told ABC News that her father, a retired police officer, had cornered the family.
“I was kind of laying on top of (my daughter) and my mom was kind of laying on top of me.” “We had two other kids with us and two other moms too,” Dumont said. At least seven people were killed in the first shooting.
A bowler, who identified himself only by his first name, Brandon, said he heard 10 shots ring out before he ran barefoot down the lane and climbed into the bowling machine to hide from the gunman.
President Joe Biden has ordered flags lowered to half-mast as a “mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence committed in Lewiston, Maine on October 25, 2023.”