AUGUSTA, Maine — The state commission investigating Maine’s deadliest-ever mass shooting will question Lewiston and Lisbon police at a Thursday meeting.
It will be the first time that local police agencies that helped lead the initial response to the Oct. 25 shooting that killed 18 people at a Lewiston bowling alley and bar will answer questions in public. The panel appointed by Gov. Janet Mills and Attorney General Aaron Frey has heard so far from the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office and family members of shooting victims.
Lewiston police led a lightning-quick response to the shooting that still came too late to stop 40-year-old shooter Robert Card II of Bowdoin. Plainclothes officers who were training at a firing range near Just-In-Time Recreation got there within 90 seconds of the first 911 call. By that time, Card was on his way to the second scene at Schemengees Bar and Grille.
Seven people were killed at the bowling alley and 11 were killed in the shooting roughly 12 minutes later at the bar. Card escaped the second scene. Later that evening, police found the shooter’s car in Lisbon as they began a two-day manhunt that ended when Card was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at a Lisbon recycling center where he used to work.
Lewiston police Chief David St. Pierre appeared often at news conferences with Michael Sauschuck, Maine’s public safety commissioner, in the days following the shooting, while Lisbon police were most visible while the search for Card focused on their town.
St. Pierre praised the level of coordination between agencies during the manhunt that was led by the Maine State Police. Not all local police shared this view. An Androscoggin County sheriff’s deputy blasted the state police for not sharing enough information with local agencies, prompting a sharp response from Col. William Ross of the state police.
Members of Ross’ agency will testify to the commission on Feb. 15. The hearing featuring Lewiston and Lisbon police will be at the Randall Student Center at the University of Maine at Augusta at 1:30 p.m. Thursday. It is being live streamed.
