A gunman has killed at least 22 and left 60 injured in a small town in Maine in what is believed to be the deadliest mass shooting in the US this year.
Army reservist and firearms instructor Robert Card, 40, is currently being hunted as a suspect in the deadly shooting by state and federal police.
Police have warned civilians to stay away from Card, as he is ‘armed and dangerous’ and has a history of mental health problems.
He allegedly killed and injured dozens of people when he took an AR-15 rifle with a laser-optic attachment into two locations in Lewiston, a small city of around 36,000, at around 7pm local time last night and shot at customers in both locations.
The two shootings took place at Sparetime Recreation, a restaurant and bowling alley, and Schemengees, a bar and grill.
A gunman has killed at least 22 people and injured 60 in the town of Lewiston, Maine. Police in Lewiston are hunting for the suspect, pictured at the Sparetime recreation center. The first call came in for Sparetime at 7:15pm
The gunman, wearing a brown hoodie, is seen in Lewiston on Wednesday night
The rampage began at 6:56pm, and police arrived at Sparetime at 7:15. It is not currently known which location was hit first.
The two locations are roughly four miles apart, but it takes just nine minutes to drive from one to the other.
Chilling footage of customers fleeing for their lives was published shortly after the shooting took place.
An hour after this, Androscoggin county sheriff’s office released chilling photos taken from CCTV cameras of the shooter holding his rifle while entering Sparetime Recreation wearing a brown hoodie and blue jeans.
It said in a Facebook post: ‘Law enforcement in Androscoggin County are investigating two active shooter events. We are encouraging all businesses to lock down and or close while we investigate. The suspect is still at large.’
People are seen running from the scene of a mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine
Crowds scattered after shots rung out on Wednesday evening
Robert Card, a 40-year-old Army reservist and firearms instructor, has been named as the suspect in the murder of 22 people in Lewiston, Maine on Wednesday
Shots were reported at a nearby Walmart warehouse, which lies less than a mile southeast of Schemengees, at the same time but a Walmart spokesperson later confirmed that no shooting took place at the facility.
Three hours after that, Robert was named as a suspect in the shooting.
30 minutes later, at 11:30pm local time, city police issued a photos of a white SUV that is believed to belong to Card.
The force said that the car was found abandoned at a boat dock in the town of Lisbon, around seven miles away.
Lisbon authorities have since told residents to keep sheltering as the major hunt for the alleged shooter continues.
The city of Auburn, just across the Androscoggin River, has also warned residents to remain indoors.
Dozens of anxious and distressed residents were hurried inside a reunification center at Auburn Middle School by officers
Police issued a photo of this car which they believe belongs to Card. Sheriffs said at 11:20pm on Wednesday the car was found abandoned in the town of Lisbon, about seven miles away
‘ALERT: There is an active shooter incident in progress in the City of Lewiston,’ they wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
‘ALL Auburn & Lewiston residents are strongly urged to shelter in place, lock all doors & report suspicious individuals and activities to 9-1-1.
‘Most businesses in the area have closed/are closing.’
Card, from Bowdoin in Maine, had a history of mental health problems, and previously reported hearing voices and had threatened to shoot up his National Guard base in Saco, Maine, according to the Maine Information and Analysis Center – a division of the Maine state police.
He was committed to a mental health facility for two weeks over the summer, and reportedly lost his job recently.
More information about Card and the shooting is expected to be released later today, as Maine’s state police will be holding a news conference at 10:30am local time (3:30pm UK time).
Police officers surround an armored law enforcement vehicle parked on the parking lot of the Lisbon High School gymnasium
Law enforcement vehicles drive on the parking lot of the Lisbon High School gymnasium
The shooting has rocked the state to its core.
Maine has a fairly high level of gun ownership, and relatively lax laws: Roughly half of its households have firearms, according to research cited by Maine public radio last year.
There is no independent background check system, no red flag law to identify those at extreme risk for gun violence, no requirement that convicted domestic abusers turn in their guns and no permit requirements for concealed weapons.
Card, as a certified firearms instructor, would have had no problem in obtaining weapons.
But unlike many states with such a large supply, it sees relatively few fatal shootings each year: 89 percent of gun deaths are suicide, according to Everytown for Gun Safety.
‘There’s no large cities in Maine,’ said Representative Chellie Pingree, a Democrat.
‘So this isn’t like being in Dallas or New York City. It’s a very tight-knit community in spite of the fact that it’s a city, and I’m just sure there’s just an enormous number of grieving families.’
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
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