At Least 18 Dead in Maine Mass Shootings
The city of Lewiston, Maine, and nearby towns are sheltering in place after a gunman opened fire at a local bowling alley and then at a bar, killing at least 18 people people and injuring many more. According to The Daily Beast, the gunman began his rampage during children’s bowling-league games on Wednesday evening before moving on to his second location a few miles away. Authorities say that the exact number of people killed and wounded is presently unclear and that the gunman, identified as 40-year-old Bowdoin, Maine, resident Robert R. Card, remains at large amid a massive manhunt. Maine State Police warn that he should be “considered armed and dangerous.”
Per The Daily Beast, the gunman walked into the Just-in-Time Recreation bowling alley a little after 7 p.m., wielding a military-style rifle. “I heard a really loud bang,” Riley Dumont, whose daughter was bowling in the children’s league when the shots rang out, told local outlet WMTW. Dumont said her father, a retired police officer, corralled her and others into a corner and put tables over them for protection.
“It felt like it lasted forever,” Dumont said of the shooting. Meghan Hutchinson told the outlet that her daughter, Zoey, was grazed by a bullet while the two were running. “We were in the back room,” Hutchinson said. “Another child came in whose arm … was bleeding profusely.” Hutchinson said she and others barricaded themselves in the back room, where another parent with a phone called 911.
Twelve minutes later, authorities began receiving multiple 911 calls about an active shooter at Schemengees Bar & Grille, a short drive from the bowling alley. Maine State Police report that eight people were fatally shot at the bar; seven men were found inside, and one was discovered outside. Additional victims from both shootings were taken to local hospitals.
“My heart is crushed. I am at a loss for words,” a Facebook post from Schemengees read on Thursday morning. “In a split second your world gets [turned] upside down for no good reason. We [lost] great people in this community. How can we make any sense of this.”
Following the shootings, authorities in Lewiston and nearby towns urged residents to lock their doors and shelter in place. The campus of Bates College in Lewiston went on lockdown, and the New York Times reports that classes at Bates, Lewiston public schools, and neighboring districts were canceled on Thursday.
Little is known about Card, but NBC reports that the Maine Information and Analysis Center, a database for law enforcement, lists him as a trained firearms instructor who is believed to have been in the Army Reserve. The bulletin says Card recently reported experiencing mental-health issues, including “hearing voices and threats to shoot up” the National Guard Base in Saco, Maine. He was committed to a mental-health facility for two weeks over the summer. NBC has not been able to verify Card’s history, but State Police say he faces at least eight counts of murder so far.