Maine begins healing after mass murder suspect is found dead
Police crews twice evacuated a recycling center in Maine where the body of the man suspected of killing 18 people in Lewiston was found, authorities said Saturday.
Public Safety Commissioner Michael Sauschuck said another state police team returned Friday evening and found Robert Card’s body from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Mr. Card of Bowdoin — a 40-year-old firearms instructor who grew up in the area — was suspected of also wounding 13 people during a shooting at a bowling alley and bar on Wednesday night in Lewiston. The recycling facility is located in nearby Lisbon.
Mr. Sauschuck also said at a news conference Saturday that Mr. Card’s family called investigators to report his name to police shortly after police released surveillance images of the shooter.
“This family has worked incredibly well with us,” Mr. Sauschuck said. “Honestly, the first three people who called us were… family members.”
Gov. Janet Mills of Maine called for the beginning of the healing process at a news conference on Friday evening.
“Like many people, I am breathing a sigh of relief tonight knowing that Robert Card is no longer a threat to anyone,” Ms Mills said on Friday evening.
Street life returned to Lewiston Saturday morning after a days-long lockdown in the city of 37,000. Joggers took advantage of the warm weather. People walked dogs through downtown, picked up coffee and visited other stores that have been closed since the shooting.
Whitney Pelletier hung a hand-drawn “Lewiston Strong” sign in the glass door of her downtown cafe, Forage, on Saturday morning.
Like other local businesses, Forage has been closed for days as police searched for the man who fatally shot 18 people at a bar and bowling alley in Maine’s second-largest city. She said those killed included one of their regular customers and that her friend knew others.
“When they found his body last night, I think the fear I was holding on to in downtown Lewiston was replaced with sadness,” she said. “Just for the victims and their loved ones and for a community that wakes up today and feels a little less safe.”
April Stevens, a Lewiston resident who knew one of the victims, said she was relieved to learn that the “monster and coward” who inflicted so much pain was no longer a danger.
“I’m relieved, but not happy,” she said. “There was too much death. Too many people were injured. Relieved, yes, happy, no.”
Mr. Sauschuck previously said that Mr. Card was found at 7:45 p.m. near the Androscoggin River, about eight miles southeast of where the second shooting occurred Wednesday evening. He declined to reveal the location, but an official told The Associated Press that the body was at a recycling center where Card had been fired.
The official was not authorized to publicly discuss the details of the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
President Joe Biden said he was “grateful” that Maine residents no longer had to shelter in their homes and in a statement called on Congress to take action on gun violence.
The deadliest shootings in Maine history have stunned a state of 1.3 million people, which has relatively few violent crimes and only 29 homicides in all of 2022. Police officers, sheriff’s deputies, FBI agents and other law enforcement officers swarmed the area.
Mr. Card was a U.S. Army reservist. Leo Madden, who said he led Maine Recycling Corp. for decades, told the AP that Mr. Card worked there for a few years and nothing about him stood out. Mr Madden said he could not remember when Mr Card was employed or whether he was fired or resigned.
Last summer, Mr. Card underwent a mental health evaluation after he began behaving erratically during training, a U.S. official told the AP. A bulletin sent to police across the country shortly after the attack said Mr Card had been committed to a mental health facility for two weeks after “hearing voices and threats to tear down a military base to shoot”.
A U.S. official said Mr. Card was training with the Army Reserve’s 3rd Battalion, 304th Infantry Regiment at West Point, New York, when commanders became concerned about him. State police took him to Keller Army Community Hospital in West Point for evaluation, said the official, who was not authorized to discuss the information publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
On Wednesday, Mr. Card first attacked the bowling alley and then went to the bar. Police were quickly dispatched to both locations, but Mr. Card was able to escape. Over the next two days, authorities searched the woods and hundreds of acres of Card family property, sending dive teams with sonar to the bottom of the Androscoggin River.
Law enforcement officials had said they had not seen Mr. Card since his vehicle was abandoned at a boat ramp on Wednesday shortly after the shooting.
Hours before Mr. Card’s body was found, the names and photographs of the 15 men, two women and the 14-year-old boy killed in the shooting were released at a news conference.
The Maine Department of Public Safety said it would open a Family Assistance Center in Lewiston starting Saturday morning to provide help and support to victims at the Lewiston Armory.
The shooting victims include Bob Violette, a retiree who coached a youth bowling league and was described as dedicated, approachable and friendly. Auburn City Councilman Leroy Walker told the press that his son, Joe, a manager at the bar and grill, died while chasing the gunman with a butcher knife. Peyton Brewer-Ross was a dedicated pipefitter at Bath Iron Works whose death leaves a gaping void in the lives of his partner, young daughter and friends, members of his union said.
The Maine Educational Center for the Deaf said at least four members of their community were killed in the shootings.
Tammy Asselin was at the bowling alley with her 10-year-old daughter Toni and was injured when she fell during the struggle when the shooting started. She had said she hoped the shooter would be found alive because she and her daughter had many questions they hoped he could answer.
On Saturday morning, she told the AP in a text message that her daughter was relieved by the news and that she could sleep peacefully.
“I am also relieved, but also saddened by a missed opportunity to learn as much as possible,” she said. “Now we are on the path to healing, and I look forward to working on this. It will be difficult, but I am optimistic that we will be stronger in the long run.”
Pope Francis sent a telegram to Portland Bishop Robert Deeley on Saturday, saying he was “deeply saddened to hear of the terrible loss of life resulting from the mass shooting.”
Authorities have said publicly that the shooter used at least one rifle. No further details have been released, including how the suspect obtained the firearm.
Authorities on Thursday found a suicide note addressed to his son at a home associated with Mr. Card, law enforcement officials said. They said there was no specific motive for the shooting.
The Cards have lived in Bowdoin for generations, neighbors said, and several members of the family own hundreds of acres in the area. The family owned the local sawmill and donated the land to a local church years ago.
Relatives of Mr. Card told federal investigators that he had recently discussed hearing voices and was focusing more on the bowling alley and the bar, according to the law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. While hospitalized in New York in July, Mr. Card told military officials that he had heard voices and that he wanted to harm other soldiers, the officials said.
Authorities had banned hunting in several communities, in a state where hunting is immensely popular. However, following the confirmation of Mr Card’s death, a public safety alert was issued announcing: “The search for Mr Card is over. The caution is over. The hunt can resume.”
The Lewiston shootings were the 36th mass killing in the United States this year, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University.
This story is from The Associated Press. Holly Ramer reported from Concord, New Hampshire, and Patrick Whittle from Portland, Maine. AP journalists Michelle R. Smith, Robert Bukaty and Robert Bumsted in Lewiston; David R. Martin in Bowdoin, Maine; Michael Balsamo in New York; Darlene Superville and Lolita Baldor in Washington, D.C.; Michael Casey in Boston; Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, Nicole Winfield in Rome and Associated Press researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.