Thomas Giberti was not supposed to be working at Lewiston’s Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley Wednesday night when a gunman walked in and opened fire. But because he was there, he was able to help children escape the building safely even as he was shot multiple times in the legs.
Giberti is currently recovering in a central Maine hospital and was scheduled for what was hoped to be his last surgery on Saturday to repair the damage from being shot seven times.
He is being hailed as a hero by the bowling community that spans the globe, in addition to people across Maine, and his family and his friends, said Samantha Juray, co-owner of the bowling alley and eyewitness to the largest mass shooting in modern history in Maine.
In the chaos of the shootings, Juray saw Giberti put himself in the line of fire to save children.
“He was out back and in the machines and was coming back out and saw what was going on and just grabbed kids and started herding them out the back,” Juray said. “They were having youth [bowling] practice that night.”
Juray estimated Giberti saved the lives of at least eight, and possibly as many as a dozen, youth bowlers between the ages of 5 and 18 years old.
Also volunteering with the youth bowlers that night — as he did every Wednesday night — was Bob Violette, said Justin Juray, the bowling alley co-owner.
Violette, Giberti’s friend, coached the youth league. He was shot and killed alongside his wife, Lucy Violette.
Family and friends of Thomas Giberti are waiting to hear from Giberti himself, but they have heard the stories about his heroism in the face of the mass shooting at the bowling alley. The shooter, Robert Card II, subsequently went to nearby Schemengees Bar and Grille, leaving a total of 18 people dead and 13 injured. The manhunt for the gunman ended Friday evening with the discovery of his body in Lisbon.
“He’s a good guy,” said Tom Giberti, the son of the elder Giberti, on Saturday.
His family is concentrating on his father’s recovery for now given that he was shot four times in the left leg and three times in the right leg, the son said. The father has spent much of the last few days sedated or groggy, he said.
Giberti’s soft spot for children, especially when it involves bowling, perhaps began when he took his nephew, Will Bourgault, to the bowling alley every Saturday morning and coached him, Bourgault said in an interview on Saturday. Bourgault’s parents owned a local convenience store and had to work on the weekends, he said. Giberti grew up in Auburn.
As manager of the bowling alley, Giberti made sure the local youth bowling league had lanes reserved for them to play every Wednesday evening.
“I said, ‘That’s what heroes do,’” Bourgault said. “His actions are what helped save those kids.”
Thomas Giberti is a fixture at the bowling alley, Juray said.
“He’s our go-to guy for any questions,” he said. “There are times he’s in there working, and I have to remind him to clock in — that’s how much he loves being around bowling.”
Dan Delcourt has bowled in the same league with Thomas Giberti and been his neighbor for two decades. He was at the bowling alley when the shots rang out.
“My assigned lane was probably 10 feet from the fire exit,” Delcourt said. “I never really actually saw the shooter, other than hearing the few pops.”
Delcourt said he and his bowling league teammates were about halfway through their first game of the night when he heard a loud bang that he at first thought was an explosion.
“I looked down toward the front of the bowling alley where the front entrance is and didn’t see anything,” he said. “We heard another bang, and we had friends that were bowling a few lanes down, and they turned and just said, ‘Run.’”
At that point Delcourt said people started piling toward the fire exit. It was crowded as everyone tried to flee at once, but he said they all made it out and scattered.
In all the confusion Wednesday night, Delcourt said he did not see what Giberti was doing, but it’s no surprise to him that his long-time friend and neighbor put himself in harm’s way to save others.
“He’s always one to think of the kids first,” Delcourt said. “He’s the best guy you can think of.”
Bangor Daily News reporter Kathleen O’Brien contributed to this story.
