LEWISTON, Maine — Authorities say a U.S. Army Reservist fatally shot at least 18 people at a bowling alley and restaurant in Lewiston, Maine, on Wednesday night. A massive search for 40-year-old Robert Card, of Bowdoin, was underway.
The shooting in the state’s second-largest city is 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. The database includes every mass killing since 2006 from all weapons in which four or more people, excluding the offender, were killed within a 24-hour time frame.
Here’s what we know about the suspect and where the shooting happened:
Who is the suspect?
A warrant is out for the arrest of 40-year-old Robert Card of Bowdoin, Maine, in the attack in Lewiston that left at least 18 people dead and 13 people injured.
Maine State Police say Card is wanted on eight counts of murder. Ten victims remain unidentified. As more victims are identified, the counts against Card will probably grow to 18, Maine State Police Col. William Ross said.
Card, still at large, was considered armed and dangerous, police said. A telephone number listed for Card in public records was not in service.
A U.S. official told The Associated Press that Card was an Army reservist who had been taken by police for an evaluation after military officials became concerned that he was acting erratically in mid-July.
The official said commanders in the Army Reserve’s 3rd Battalion, 304th Infantry Regiment became concerned about Card’s behavior while the unit was training at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in New York.
The official said military commanders became concerned about Card’s safety and asked for the police to be called. The official was not authorized to publicly discuss information about the incident and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Where did shooting take place?
Lewiston Police said they were dealing with an active shooter incident Wednesday evening at Schemengees Bar and Grille and at Sparetime Recreation, a bowling alley about 4 miles away. A number of parents and children were at Sparetime as part of a children’s bowling league.
The bowling alley is about 2 miles north of the Bates College campus, on the outskirts of downtown, and offers traditional tenpin bowling and candlepin, a variant found in New England.
Lewiston, the second-largest city in Maine, has a population of 37,000. It emerged as a major center for African immigration into Maine. The Somali population, which numbers in the thousands, has changed the demographics of the once overwhelmingly white mill city into one of the most diverse in northern New England.
Maine has a longstanding culture of gun ownership tied to traditions of hunting and sport shooting. The state doesn’t require permits to carry guns.
The death toll was staggering for a state that in all of 2022 had 29 homicides.
What is the aftermath?
A shelter-in-place advisory was issued Wednesday for Androscoggin County, including the community of Lisbon, about 8 miles away, after a “vehicle of interest” was found there, authorities said. Bowdoin, which is in Sagadahoc County, was under a similar advisory.
The Canada Border Services Agency has issued an “armed and dangerous” alert to its officers stationed along the Canada-U.S. border, warning them to be on the lookout for Card.
Central Maine Healthcare said Thursday it was closing all physician offices in Lewiston and six surrounding communities for the day. All elective surgery was canceled at Central Maine Medical Center.
Schools in multiple communities were closed out of caution Thursday, including in Kennebunk, an hour away from Lewiston. Classes also were canceled at Bates and Bowdoin colleges, and the Gorham and Portland campuses of the University of Southern Maine.
President Biden has ordered all U.S. flags to be flown at half-staff until sunset on Monday.
Associated Press writer Lolita Baldor contributed to this report from Washington.
