A man named Robert Card has been named as the suspect in a mass shooting which happened Wednesday night in Maine. At least 18 people were killed and another 13 were injured in the attack. Card is still on the loose and a large manhunt is ongoing.
Police said they have had no reported sightings of Card since the shootings at Schemengees Bar and Grille and at Sparetime Recreation, a bowling alley about 4 miles (6 kilometers) away. The Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office released two photos of the suspect walking into the bowling alley with a rifle raised to his shoulder…
The attack started at Sparetime, where a children’s bowling league was taking place, just before 7 p.m. Wednesday. One bowler, who identified himself only as Brandon, said he heard about 10 shots, thinking the first was a balloon popping.
Here’s an interview with Brandon:
A man said he hid in bowling machinery to escape a mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, on Wednesday.
The shooting is the 36th mass killing in the U.S. this year. pic.twitter.com/uxWmhDCZtA
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 26, 2023
The shooter then moved to a second location:
Less than 15 minutes later, numerous 911 calls started coming in from Schemengees, which was offering 25% discounts to customers who work in the bar or restaurant industry.
Patrick Poulin was supposed to be at the bowling center with his 15-year-old son, who is in a league that was practicing Wednesday. They stayed home, but he estimates there were probably several dozen young bowlers, ages 4 to 18, along with their parents, in the facility. Poulin’s brother was there, he said, and shepherded some of the children outside when the shooting began.
Because Card is still at large, schools and businesses for miles around have closed today.
Hannaford Supermarkets, a major Northeast grocery chain, is keeping all of its stores in Maine closed Thursday morning as the search for a suspect in a fatal mass shooting in Lewiston continues.
L.L. Bean stores and offices are closed:
L.L. Bean, the outdoor goods retailer, has closed its flagship retail store, corporate headquarters, factories and other facilities in Maine as authorities conduct a manhunt following Wednesday’s mass shootings.
A spokesperson for the century-old company, and one of Maine’s biggest employers, said it decided to shut the sites “out of an abundance of caution.”
Many banks have closed with the exception of drive-thru windows.
Two of Maine’s leading banks have shut down branches around Lewiston while a third has moved to shut down all branches throughout the state, as the manhunt for a mass shooter continues.
Camden National Bank and Bangor Savings Bank posted notices on their websites Thursday morning announcing branches in several locations would be either closed or drive-up only.
As for the shooter, he is an Army Reservist who was recently committed to a mental health facility for observation.
Robert R. Card II, who police are searching for in connection with the fatal shooting of at least 18 people in Lewiston, Maine, made his troubling statements while he was at the Camp Smith training facility in New York, the law enforcement officials said. His command referred him to a military hospital, and he spent a few weeks under evaluation, they said.
In July, Army Reserve officials reported Card for “behaving erratically,” and he was transported to the nearby Keller Army Community Hospital at the United States Military Academy for “medical evaluation,” a National Guard spokesman told CNN.
“Out of concern for his safety, the unit requested that law enforcement be contacted,” said the spokesperson, Col. Richard Goldenberg. New York State Police responded and transported Card to the hospital, he said.
Card then spent a few weeks under evaluation at the hospital, the law enforcement officials said.
His family said he did not have a long history of mental health problems but had an acute incident this summer which was connected to hearing aids he began using recently. Katie Card, who is Robert’s sister-in-law spoke to the Daily Beast.
“I have known Rob my whole life,” Card said on Thursday. “He is quiet but the most loving, hardworking, and kind person that I know. But in the past year, he had an acute episode of mental health, and it’s been a struggle.”
She said that Robert Card recently began wearing powerful hearing aids to combat hearing loss. Since then, Card said her brother-in-law has been insisting to his family that he can hear people bashing him—including at Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley and Schemengees Bar and Grill, where he’s accused of gunning down 18 people on Wednesday night.
“He truly believed he was hearing people say things,” she added…
Katie Card said her brother-in-law would “get mad” when they told him the voices were just in his head.
Who knows what is going on here. Maybe this is schizophrenia? But onset for schizophrenia is usually earlier than age 40, which is how old Card is. The fact that he had no problems prior to this year seems odd. He works as a “petroleum supply specialist” in the Army Reserves. Maybe it’s environmental exposure to chemicals? I’m just speculating obviously. Whatever it is, he became convinced people at these two locations were saying things about him and it seems he snapped.
Police think it’s possible he escaped on a small boat. The US Coast Guard is currently looking for him.
The U.S. Coast Guard is hunting for Lewiston mass shooting suspect Robert Card in the Kennebec River, where the “armed and dangerous” Army Reservist may have escaped aboard his 15-foot boat, authorities told The Messenger…
Police previously found Card’s car at a boat launch in Lisbon Falls — also along the Androscoggin, and about 10 miles southeast of Lewiston — amid a widespread manhunt sparked by the shootings at a bowling alley where he played and a nearby bar.
Finally, there are already some reports that Card’s family was known to be gun enthusiasts. This local interviewed by NBC claims he was told as a kid never to talk to the family and that it was well known they were “associated with right-wing militias.” So far it sounds like the motive here probably involved mental illness but I guess we’ll have to wait and see what information police release.
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