CNA Staff, Oct 26, 2023 / 09:12 am (CNA).
Multiple victims were reported dead after at least two mass shootings in southern Maine on Wednesday night.
The total count of victims was unclear as of early Thursday morning. Multiple media reports listed anywhere from 15 to 22 dead, with dozens more injured.
The shootings reportedly took place at both a restaurant and a bowling alley in Lewiston, the second most populous city in Maine, in the southern part of the state. Lewiston police said on Facebook late on Wednesday that the shootings occurred at local establishments Schemengees Bar and Sparetime Recreation.
Police said they were looking for a person of interest in the shooting, 40-year-old Robert Card. Card “should be considered armed and dangerous,” they said on Facebook.
The AP reported that a police bulletin said Card had been identified as “a firearms instructor believed to be in the Army Reserve” who had been “committed to a mental health facility for two weeks in the summer of 2023” after reportedly “hearing voices and threats to shoot up” the military base in Saco.
Maine Gov. Janet Mills said in a statement on Wednesday night that she was “aware of and [had] been briefed on the active shooter situation in Lewiston.” She urged “all people in the area to follow the direction of state and local law enforcement.”
Maine State Police indicated after the shooting that they had identified a vehicle of interest in nearby Lisbon. Residents in the area had been asked to shelter in place during the investigation.
On Thursday morning state police said on Facebook that “more than 100 investigators, both local and federal” were working to locate Card. A news conference was scheduled for later in the morning, they said.
This is a developing story.
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Mental patients with AR-15’s. Not a good combination. Why do people need assault rifles? I fired them in the Marine Corps, but do not need them now. They are not for hunting deer. They should not be in civilian hands.
I have deermeat in my freezer that was shot with an AR-15.
I agree though that the mentally ill should not be carrying firearms. How you enforce that becomes difficult, especially when they live in a home where family members own guns.
Increased homelessness, prison population numbers ,and the closing of psychiatric hospitals are all connected. We need to seriously rethink how we treat the mentally ill.