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Here’s what you need to know about the tragedy in Lewiston.
The hunt for the suspected shooter has entered its 2nd day
The suspected shooter, 40-year-old Robert R. Card II of Bowdoin, remains at large. He is considered armed and extremely dangerous. No one should approach him if seen.
On Thursday night, police had surrounded a Card family home on Meadow Road in Bowdoin. Reporters heard announcements over a loudspeaker addressing Card by name, saying, “We know you’re inside” and telling the 40-year-old to come out with his hands up. A helicopter flew overhead.
A short time later the police went quiet and then left. Maine Department of Public Safety spokesperson Shannon Moss in an email Thursday night said that language was part of “standard search warrant announcements” and that police did not know whether he was in that home or others being searched Thursday.
“Law enforcement officials are simply doing their due diligence by tracking down every lead in an effort to locate and apprehend Card,” Moss said.
Police searched several Card family properties in Bowdoin.
The manhunt for Card is shaping up to be the largest in Maine history. More than 350 law enforcement officers from local, county, state and federal agencies are participating in the search. The pair of massacres, at Just-In-Time Recreation and Schemengees Bar and Grille, on Wednesday night have made this the worst mass shooting in modern Maine history and among the worst seen in the United States.
We’ve put together a timeline of events here.
Warrant for his arrest: Police on Thursday officially issued an arrest warrant for Card on eight counts of murder. He likely faces additional counts of murder once more victims have been identified, state police said during a Thursday morning press conference.
His family has urged him to surrender to police.
“At the moment we are working extensively with law enforcement,” his sister-in-law Katie Card said in a text message to one of our reporters. “Our hearts break for these families, they’re all in our prayers. If Rob is listening, we love him and we can help, but he needs to turn himself in.”
A suicide note addressed to his son was found at a property, including “rantings” as well as more mundane information including bank account information, ABC News reported. We have not independently confirmed that.
Shelter-in-place orders: Residents in communities across Androscoggin and northern Sagadahoc counties remain under shelter-in-place orders.
Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline said Thursday night that a shelter-in-place order will remain in place indefinitely.
Hearing voices: Card recently began wearing powerful hearing aids and insisted to family members that he could hear people speaking poorly about him, Katie Card told the Daily Beast.
She said Card would “get mad” when other members of his family would tell him the voices he was hearing were just in his head.
Card, a 20-year U.S. Army veteran, was committed to a mental health facility for two weeks over the summer. He allegedly had threatened to “shoot up” a military facility in Saco, according to a bulletin circulating among Maine law enforcement agencies.
Remembering those lost: While the name of the alleged shooter has dominated the news cycle, 18 lives were tragically cut short on Wednesday night. Thirteen others were wounded.
One of those victims, Joseph Walker, attempted to thwart the massacre at Schemengees, where he was a bar manager. Walker grabbed a knife to fight the shooter. He was shot twice in the chest, according to his father. He’s being remembered as a hero.
One was an amazing father, another a bowling coach and a third had the best jokes. We’re working to confirm the names of the victims to tell the stories of the people killed and injured.
If you would like to tell us about a loved one who was a victim of the shooting, please email [email protected] or text 207-990-8280.
“It’s a nightmare”: For many Mainers, the tragedy in Lewiston has inspired sadness, fear and anger. It’s sent shockwaves through the state that typically enjoys one of the country’s lowest crime rates. The scale of the violence has shattered their sense of safety.
Others are angry to see a national tragedy play out so close to home.
“I’m enraged,” Casey Bowden, who can see Just-In-Time Recreation from his home and who knows people shot at Schemengees, told us. “It’s no way to get Lewiston, Maine, on the map.”
Political ramifications: Maine stands out nationally as a liberal state with lax gun laws, in part due to a deep-seated hunting culture. It was the only state with a Democratic-controlled Legislature to have an F grade in the policy area from the pro-gun control group Giffords. You can find an overview of Maine’s gun laws here.
The scale of the tragedy is already creating ripples in political circles. U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat representing Maine’s 2nd District whose hometown is Lewiston, is now publicly supporting an assault weapons ban, which he has previously opposed.
“For the good of my community, I will work with any colleague to get this done in the time that I have left in Congress,” Golden said.
