Law enforcement officers gather outside Lewiston High School, Maine on October 26, 2023. A massive manhunt was under way for a gunman wanted for murder after 18 people were killed in a mass shooting in Maine. Photo: AFP
The man suspected of killing 18 people and wounding 13 in a shooting rampage in Lewiston, Maine, was found dead on Friday local time, ending a 48-hour manhunt that followed the most lethal episode of gun violence in the state's history.
The body of Robert R. Card, 40, was discovered in the woods near the neighboring town of Lisbon, where police found his abandoned vehicle shortly after the shooting spree on Wednesday night.
"He is dead," Maine Governor Janet Mills told a news conference, thanking the hundreds of officers from various agencies involved in the search.
"Like many people, I am breathing a sign of relief tonight, knowing that Robert Card is no longer a threat to anyone ... Now is the time to heal," Mills said.
Several news media, citing unnamed law enforcement sources, said Card was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Officials said the US Army reservist opened fire in a bowling alley and then a bar minutes later on Wednesday night.
The shootings and prolonged manhunt convulsed the normally bustling but serene community of Lewiston, a former textile hub and the second-most populous city in Maine.
The town lies on the banks of the Androscoggin River about 56 km north of the state's largest city, Portland, and nearly as far southwest of Maine's capital, Augusta.
Card, an Army Reserve sergeant from the nearby town of Bowdoin, has been described by authorities as a trained firearms instructor who served as a petroleum supply specialist when on duty at the military reserve base in Saco, Maine.
Robert Card is the suspect in the shootings that killed 18. Photo: Lewiston Maine Police Department
Law enforcement officials also said he has a history of mental illness and was committed to a psychiatric facility for two weeks during the summer of 2023, after which he was released.
Within hours of Wednesday night's bloodshed, police circulated surveillance camera photos from one of the crime scenes of a bearded man wearing a brown, hooded sweatshirt and jeans and carrying what appeared to be a semi-automatic rifle.
Meanwhile, hundreds of officers from an array of agencies ranging from local police and sheriff's deputies to the FBI and US Coast Guard joined the search. Canadian authorities, including its border officers, were on alert.
The initial trail of clues led to Lisbon, about 11 km to the southeast of Lewiston, where Maine State Police found a white SUV they believed Card used to make his getaway and parked at a boat launch on the river. Public records showed he owned at least one vessel made by Sea-Doo, a company known for its jet ski-style personal watercraft.
As part of their search for Card, police trawled the waters of the Androscoggin River with divers and sonar on Friday, and sent teams of officers door-to-door in neighbourhood canvasses seeking additional clues and possible eyewitnesses.
Victims revealed
Earlier, police in Maine on Friday lifted an order that had kept tens of thousands of people in their homes, while hundreds of officers continued their pursuit of the gunman suspected of killing 18 people at a bar and a bowling alley in Lewiston two days ago.
Authorities also officially released the names and ages of the victims for the first time, revealing that a cross section of Lewiston had been killed, including deaf people playing in a cornhole beanbag-throwing tournament, a father-and-son pair of bowlers, and a couple aged 76 and 73.
Another 13 people were wounded in the shootings.
The shelter-in-place order was imposed shortly after the shootings on Wednesday night, when police suspect that Card opened fire first at the Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley, and minutes later at Schemengees Bar & Grille Restaurant, which hosted Wednesday night cornhole games.
The shelter-in-place order, though it did not appear to have been strictly enforced, had shut down Lewiston, a city of about 38,000 people north of Portland, and nearby towns in Androscoggin County, the largely rural area rocked by the latest gun massacre in the United States.
Some people in the Lewiston area had been anxious at the thought of a lengthy shelter-in-place, which could have kept them out of work.
One place that remained open was the restaurant Best Thai II, offering patrons a place to eat and mix with others sharing the shock and grief.
"This place is like home to us, and I was gratified to see that they were open," said Maria, a 78-year-old Bath resident who declined to give her last name.
- Reuters