LEWISTON, Maine — Arthur Barnard taught his child, Arthur Strout, how to play pool. It became a favorite father-son activity over the years.
Strout hopped in his father’s car Wednesday evening so the two could head to Schemengees Bar and Grille Restaurant for a night of billiards. When Barnard was ready to leave, his son wasn’t quite ready to go.
“He said, ‘Dad, I just want to play my friend a couple more games of pool,’” Barnard said at a Saturday night vigil in Lewiston’s Kennedy Park. “And I left.”
Less than 10 minutes later, a gunman with an assault-style weapon opened fire inside Schemengees after unloading on patrons inside the Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley. Strout, 42, was among the 18 people killed in Wednesday night’s mass shootings in Lewiston, accounting for the bloodiest day in Maine’s history and the country’s deadliest shooting in 2023.
Barnard fought back tears Saturday while standing alongside another son, Tyler Barnard, and daughter, Jessie Merrill, during the vigil. Similar events were scheduled this weekend, including one in Lisbon on Saturday. They were chances for Mainers to grieve together after the alleged shooter, Robert R. Card II, 40, of Bowdoin, was found dead Friday.
Police found Card’s body Friday night in a trailer at the recycling center he once worked at in nearby Lisbon Falls. Officials said he died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, and his past mental health issues renewed debate over whether authorities missed warning signs and arguments over gun control.
“Something’s got to change with these guns,” Barnard said while speaking in front of Kennedy Park’s Civil War soldier statue and a crowd of more than 50 people young
The friend whom his son stayed to play pool with remains hospitalized from injuries suffered in the shooting, Barnard said, describing Strout as a “big, goofy kid” and dedicated father to a daughter who needs medication that sometimes costs up to $1,700 a month.
“I have to be happy with the last couple of hours I got with him,” Barnard added.
Others stepped forward during the vigil to offer encouraging words, prayers and calls for unity along with a greater emphasis on mental health.
A girl sobbed while sitting with and petting a golden retriever from First Responder Therapy Dogs, a national organization represented Saturday by Willie, Aspen, Autumn and Kona along with their volunteers from Massachusetts and Maine. One of the volunteers told a reporter the girl’s uncle died in Wednesday’s shootings, right before his niece’s 10th birthday.
“It’s not fair,” the girl cried, referring to the shootings. “It’s breaking everybody’s spirit.”
The brother of Thomas Gilberti, who has remained in a hospital after he was shot seven times Wednesday while helping children escape the gunman in bowling alley, told the crowd his sibling continues to recover and enjoyed a visit from Gov. Janet Mills.
“I’m willing to go out on a limb for Tom and tell you, you’re never going to hear him bad mouth this poor gentleman [Card] who took his own life,” he said. “That’s just not how my brother is, and that’s not how I am either.”
