(Lewiston) Authorities are still searching for Robert Card, the alleged perpetrator of the Lewiston, Maine, shootings that left 18 dead and 13 injured. Divers will be deployed to the watercourse near where the suspect’s vehicle was found.
The area near the water is a place of interest for police in their investigation, explained Michael Sauschuck, the commissioner of the Maine Department of Public Safety, at a press briefing.
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
The search continues near the Androscoggin River.
The car of Robert Card, 40, was located in Lisbon, about twenty kilometers from the scene of the tragedy.
A plane and a helicopter will fly over this area. Steps will be taken to ensure that the water is clearer, to facilitate research.
Authorities also confirmed that a letter was found in a home where the suspect lived. “I am not going to give details on the content of this note,” said Commissioner Sauschuck. According to American media, it was a note written by Robert Card intended for his loved ones. He would explain how to dispose of his property in case he disappeared. This would lead the authorities to believe that the alleged murderer took his own life.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
Maine Department of Public Safety Commissioner Michael Sauschuck outlines where the search is focused during a news conference at Lewiston City Hall Friday morning.
Intense searches are still planned at the crime scenes. The locations will not be accessible in the coming days. “A lot of different places are searched, we look for places where the suspect could be. Our presence does not necessarily mean that he is there,” he continued. The population is still advised to stay at home and public places are closed. The authorities understand the negative impact on families and businesses of the current confinement. “I ask the population to be patient,” added Mike Sauschuck.
PHOTO SHANNON STAPLETON, REUTERS
The security perimeter around the Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley remained in place Friday morning.
“A tremendous amount of law enforcement personnel, time and effort are being expended around the clock” to find the main suspect, said Lewiston City Police Chief David St. Pierre, during the press conference.
Another press briefing is planned around 5 p.m.
Robert Card, 40, an Army reservist, is accused of opening fire at a bowling alley and bar-restaurant.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE LEWISTON MAINE POLICE DEPARTMENT VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
Alleged shooter Robert Card
The manhunt seemed close to a conclusion on Thursday evening: the police gathered in front of a house belonging, according to a neighbor interviewed by AFP, to the suspect’s family. Drones, helicopters and armored vehicles were also called in for reinforcement.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
Law enforcement was present outside the home of suspect Robert Card’s father and brother in Bowdoin, Maine, Thursday evening.
“Please come out,” the police repeated through the night through the megaphone, “we would like to speak to you.”
But the police then left without making any statements to journalists, in large numbers on site, the suspect not having been located.
“Lewiston Strong”
Because the shooter was on the run, residents were ordered to confine themselves to their homes, transforming Lewiston, a town of 36,000 residents, into a ghost town.
Schools and businesses closed their doors and the high school parking lot was taken over by police officers in fatigues, armed to the teeth.
In the city center, Jeremy Hiltz hung a “Lewiston Strong” banner on the front of a business, as a show of support for the victims.
PHOTO ROBERT F. BUKATY, ASSOCIATED PRESS
A “Lewiston Strong” banner on the front of a business
Residents now live “with a feeling of vulnerability that I don’t think we were aware of” before the tragedy, explains this Lewiston resident.
Seven people, one woman and six men, lost their lives in the bowling alley, eight in the bar-restaurant about twelve minutes away, and finally three injured people died in hospital.
Witnesses at the Just-In-Time recreation bowling alley described how customers hid under tables and in machines at the end of the lanes. “I was lying on top of my daughter, my mother was lying on top of me,” Riley Dumont described to ABC.
A photo released by police shows a man dressed in a brown top entering the establishment, semi-automatic rifle in shoulder position.
PHOTO ANDROSCOGGIN COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE VIA AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Authorities have not released the identities of the victims, but among those killed at the Schemengees restaurant is Joseph Walker, 57, who worked in the establishment, his father told several American media.
He said police told the family that his son tried to stop the killer with a kitchen knife before being killed.
Nation “in mourning”
“It’s a dark day for Maine,” Janet Mills, the state’s governor, declared Thursday morning, announcing the very heavy toll.
Joe Biden deplored a “tragic and senseless” act and ordered the flags on federal buildings to be lowered to half-mast.
“Once again, our nation is in mourning,” lamented the American president, calling on Congress to adopt “a ban on assault weapons” – the umpteenth call of its kind by the Democrat, despite a majority not found for decades for such a change in legislation.
Wednesday’s killing is the worst in the United States since that of the Uvalde school in Texas, where a shooter killed 19 children and two teachers in May 2022.
The country is paying a very heavy price for the spread of firearms on its territory and the ease with which Americans have access to them.
The United States has more individual weapons than people. Excluding suicides, more than 15,000 people have died in gun violence since the start of the year in the country, according to the Gun Violence Archive (GVA) association.
Maine is one of the states with the lowest per capita homicide rate, and Wednesday’s 18 deaths are, according to the Everytown Association, more than the annual average of gun homicides in the state .
With Agence France-Presse