Maine shooting survivor hid in a bowling lane to escape gunman

A survivor of a mass shooting in the US has described how he hid in a bowling lane to escape the gunman.

At least 22 people have been killed in a bowling alley and bar shooting in Lewiston, Maine.

Robert Card, a 40-year-old Army reservist and firearms instructor, has been named by police as a ‘person of interest’ and is still on the run.

One survivor, who only gave his first name, Brandon, said he heard 10 gunshots before running down the bowling lane barefoot and climbed inside the machinery to hide from the gunman.

At one point he believes the gunman was as close as 15ft away from him as he prowled the bowling alley, shooting indiscriminately.

The shooter used an AR-15-style rifle in the Sparetime Recreation bowling alley and then the Schemengees Bar and Grille about four miles away, MailOnline reports.

Brandon said: ‘I just went there to bowl by myself and I wasn’t even in there 10 minutes, I just walked in the place. 

‘I was putting on my bowling shoes when it started. I’ve been barefoot for five hours.

‘We were inside, just a normal night of bowling. Out of nowhere he just came in and there was a loud pop. 

‘I thought it was a balloon, I had my back turned to the door.

‘And as soon as I turned and saw it was not a balloon, he was holding a weapon, I just booked it down the lane and I slid basically in where the pins are and climbed on the machine.

‘He was close, very close.’

Following the shooting, police asked people to stay off the roads to allow emergency responders to access hospitals.

The town’s sheriff office encouraged all businesses to lock down or close while they investigate, while a spokesperson for the Maine department of public safety urged residents to stay inside with their doors locked.

A spokesman for Schemengees shared a statement on Facebook saying they are ‘at a loss for words’.

The statement added: ‘My heart is crushed. I am at a loss for words. In a split second your world gets turn upside down for no good reason.

‘We loss great people in this community. How can we make any sense of this. Sending out prayers to everyone.’

MORE : Baby-faced gangster jailed for 50 years after shooting girl, 5, in neck

MORE : Has Robert Card been found? Manhunt for Maine gunman after two mass shootings leave 22 dead

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.