MADAWASKA, Maine – Madawaska native Ben Dyer is among the surviving victims of last week’s mass shooting in Lewiston.
It was the deadliest shooting in Maine in modern history and it left 18 people dead and 13 injured. Police found accused shooter Robert R. Card II, 40, of Bowdoin dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound on Friday night.
Dyer was participating in a cornhole event at Schemengees Bar and Grille on Wednesday night when the shooting occurred. Card opened fire in Schemengees, a Lincoln Street establishment, after targeting the Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley.
Dyer was rushed to Central Maine Medical Center and placed on a ventilator. His sister, Emily Braley, started a GoFundMe campaign to assist in Dyer’s recovery.
In just four days, the fundraiser has seen more than 1,000 donations totaling almost $100,000.
“We never expected it,” Braley said. “We’re extremely grateful, and it speaks volumes of who Ben is, and how he is as a person.”
Braley said Dyer is generous, and that he loves to talk to people. Dyer now lives in Auburn and works at Poland Spring.
“He’s a person that would give you his shirt,” Braley said. “If you need someone, he would jump up and say ‘What do you need? How can I do it?’ He’s just one of those people.”
On Friday, two days after the shooting, Dyer was taken off the ventilator. Braley said his first words were, “I want to live.”
Braley, in a Monday update to the GoFundMe page, wrote that Dyer is out of the intensive care unit, but that he still has a long road ahead. Money from the fundraiser will help pay for bills that are not covered by Dyer’s insurance.
“Ben has a long road ahead of him, and financial worries don’t need to be one,” Braley wrote. “If you can’t help financially, that’s okay, please pray.”
She said that she never could have imagined that this would happen.
“It’s something you watch on TV, and you never anticipate that it’s going to impact your life,” she said.
Braley said Dyer’s family is extremely grateful for the outpouring of support from the community as well as Poland Spring and CMMC.
“We don’t even have words to describe the things that they’ve done and the support that they’ve given us,” she said.
Now, Dyer’s family is awaiting his recovery.
“We want him to know that he’s safe, and that we’re all here, and he does,” Braley said. “But we know that our longest road ahead is his recovery.”