Maine State Police documents released Tuesday shed light on why a delusional U.S. Army reservist who killed 18 people at a bowling alley and a bar in Lewiston may have targeted those locations.

Robert Card, 40, was found dead Friday, two days after a rampage that also wounded 13 people and shut down multiple communities during a massive search on land and water.

Three hours after the shooting began, state police interviewed a woman who said Card believed the Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley, Schemengees Bar and Grille and several other businesses were “broadcasting online that Robert was a pedophile.”

The woman said Card had been delusional since February after a break-up, had been hospitalized for mental illness and prescribed medication that he stopped taking, according to a police affidavit filed in support of an arrest warrant request.

Police also spoke to Robert’s brother, who said Card had been in relationship with someone he met at a cornhole competition at the bar. Another man said the same thing to a different officer, according to an affidavit filed in a request to access Card’s cell phone records.

That man told police he had been to both the bowling alley and bar with Card, and that Card knew people at both locations. He said Card’s girlfriend had two daughters that he would take out to eat at Schemengees, “and that is where the pedophile thing in Robert’s head came from as Robert was there with (his girfriend’s) two daughters on occasions and felt that people were looking at him.”

The man said Card also mentioned bar manager Joey Walker was one of the people who Card thought had disparaged him. Walker was among those killed.

Card’s son also told police that paranoia about strangers calling him a pedophile had become a recurring theme for his father since last winter.

He also accused fellow members of his Army reserve unit of calling him a pedophile in an incident in July that prompted Army officials to have him undergo a mental health evaluation. He then spent two weeks at a private psychiatric hospital in New York.

MAY:

On May 3, Card’s 18-year-old son and ex-wife told a school resource officer in Topsham, about 15 miles (25 kilometers) southeast of Lewiston, that they were growing concerned about his deteriorating mental health.

A Sagadahoc County sheriff’s deputy met with the son and ex-wife that day and the son said that around last January, his father started claiming that people around him were saying derogatory things about him. He said his father had become angry and paranoid, and described an incident several weeks earlier in which he accused the son of saying things about him behind his back.

Card’s ex-wife told the deputy that Card had recently picked up 10-15 guns from his brother’s home, and she was worried about their son spending time with him.

A sheriff’s deputy spoke to a sergeant from Card’s Army Reserve unit, who assured him that he and others would “figure out options to get Robert help.”

JULY:

Card and other members of the Army Reserve’s 3rd Battalion, 304th Infantry Unit were in New York for training on July 15 when he accused several of them of calling him a pedophile, shoved one of them and locked himself in his motel room. The next morning, he told another soldier that he wanted people to stop talking about him.

“I told him no one was talking about him and everyone here was his friend. Card told me to leave him alone and tried to slam the door in my face,” the soldier later told Maine authorities, according to documents released by the sheriff’s office.

New York State Police responded and took Card to a hospital at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point for an evaluation.

“During the four hours I was with Card, he never spoke, just stared through me without blinking,” an unidentified soldier in the unit wrote in a letter to the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office.

Card spent 14 days at the Four Winds Psychiatric Hospital in Katonah, New York, which is a few miles (kilometers) from West Point.

AUGUST:

Card returned home on Aug. 3, according to the Army. At that time, the Army directed that while on duty, he shouldn’t be allowed to have a weapon, handle ammunition or participate in live-fire activity. It also declared him to be non-deployable.

On Aug. 5, Card went to Coastal Defense Firearms in Auburn, next to Lewiston, to pick up a gun suppressor, or silencer, that he had ordered online, according to the shop’s owner, Rick LaChapelle.

LaChapelle said to that point, federal authorities had approved the sale of the device, which is used to quiet gunshots. But he said the shop halted the sale after Card filled out a form and answered “yes” to the question: “Have you ever been adjudicated as a mental defective OR have you ever been committed to a mental institution?”

Card was polite when notified of the denial, mentioned something about the military and said he would “come right back” after consulting his lawyer, LaChapelle said.

SEPTEMBER:

On Sept. 15, a deputy was sent to visit Card’s home in Bowdoin, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) southeast of Lewiston, for a wellness check. Card’s unit requested it after a soldier said he was afraid Card was “going to snap and commit a mass shooting” because he was hearing voices again, according to documents released by the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office. The deputy went to Card’s trailer but couldn’t find him.

The sheriff’s office then sent out a statewide alert seeking help locating Card. It included a warning that he was known to be “armed and dangerous” and that officers should use extreme caution.

The same deputy and another one returned to Card’s trailer on Sept. 16. Card’s car was there and the deputy said he could hear him moving around the trailer, but no one answered the door, according to the deputy’s report.

The report included a letter written by an unidentified member of Card’s Reserve unit who described the July incidents as well as getting a call the “night before last” from another soldier about Card. The timing isn’t clear, but according to the letter, the soldier said he and Card were returning from a casino when Card punched him and said he planned to shoot up places, including an Army Reserve drill center in Saco, Maine.

“He also said I was the reason he can’t buy guns anymore because of the commitment,” the soldier wrote.

A deputy reached out to the Reserve unit commander, who assured him the Army was trying to get treatment for Card. The commander also said he thought “it best to let Card have time to himself for a bit.”

On Sept. 17, the deputy reached out to Card’s brother, who said he had put Card’s firearms in a gun safe at the family farm and would work with their father to move the guns elsewhere and make sure Card couldn’t get other guns.

Card didn’t report to weekend Army reserve training activities in September or October, telling his unit that he had work conflicts and was unable to attend, the Army said.

OCTOBER 2023:

On Oct. 18, the sheriff’s office canceled its statewide alert seeking help locating Card.

One week later, shortly before 7 p.m. on Oct. 25, authorities began receiving 911 calls about a gunman at the Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley in Lewiston. Four local police officers who were in plain clothes at a nearby gun range arrived at the shooting scene a minute and a half after the first 911 call, but the gunman had already left. Other Lewiston officers arrived at the scene within four minutes of the first call.

Twelve minutes after the first 911 call and as the first state troopers began arriving at the bowling alley, authorities began getting calls about a gunman at Schemengees Bar and Grille about 4 miles away. Officers arrived at the bar five minutes later, but again, the attacker had already left.

Seven people were killed at the bowling, eight were killed at the bar and three others died at the hospital, authorities said.

Video surveillance footage from the bar showed a white male armed with a rifle getting out of a car and entering the building, according to Maine State Police documents released Tuesday. Another portion showed a man “walk through the bar while seeking out and shooting at patrons.”

Authorities released a photo of Card an hour after the shootings and his family members were the first to identify him. Residents were urged to stay inside with their doors locked while hundreds of officers searched for the gunman.

Later on the night of the attack, Card’s car was found near a boat launch in Lisbon, about 8 miles (13 kilometers) from Lewiston. During a massive search over the next two days, authorities focused on property his family owns in Bowdoin.

Card was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot Friday night at a recycling center where he used to work.

Hundreds of locals, carrying heavy hearts, gathered at churches throughout the community on Sunday to grieve and process the “biggest challenge” it has faced.

As residents shed tears and shared hugs, community members vowed Lewiston will not be defined by last Wednesday’s shooting at Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley and Schemengees Bar and Grille that killed 18 and injured 13.

“In the days to come, as the world moves on, as the national media shifts its focus to the next crisis, we will stay together,” Lewiston native Tom Caron told a massive turnout of people, from near and far, at the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul Sunday evening.

“We will support each other through the tears, the shock, and the grief in this tight knit city of big hearts. … We can never allow Lewiston to be remembered for violence,” he said.

Caron, a leading voice of Red Sox baseball on NESN, reminded those who gathered, filling the pews and flowing outside, there is love and beauty in the community, one in which he learned the value of hard work.

That sense of love was seen throughout the city Sunday, as memorials grew outside the local pub and bowling alley.

A traffic display board up the road from Schemengees reads: “Thank you to all involved in helping our great city.”  Another read: “Lewiston Strong.”

The victims’ names are written on posters and carved into pumpkins. One pumpkin was attached with a picture of Joey Walker, the manager of Schemengees who confronted the gunman with a butcher knife.

“Not all heroes wear capes,” a message on the picture reads.

Down the road, at the Lewiston Mall, residents participated in a Halloween celebration, with dozens of parents and children dressed in costumes waiting to receive candy – a sign that life is starting to come back after Maine’s “dark day.”

An hour-long prayer service earlier in the day at Holy Family Church served as the first formal gathering to grieve for those lost and pray for the community to remain a unified front in the days to come.

Maine State Police on Friday found the dead body of alleged gunman Robert Card inside a box trailer parked in an overflow lot across the street from the Maine Recycling Corporation in Lisbon, an area that had not been checked when law enforcement previously searched the site two times.

Portraits of the victims who died stood on the steps up to the altar inside Holy Family Church as well as the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul.

Husband and wife Chris and Nancy Pierce, who live outside of Lewiston but have a “history and relationship” with the city and surrounding area, took part in the prayer service at Holy Family.

Chris Pierce said he felt compelled to turn out because he knew Andy Violette, the son of Bob and Lucille Violette, both of whom died at the bowling alley. “We wanted to come for him and all of the others who were taken so suddenly and so unjustly,” he said.

His wife Nancy called the tragedy a “terrible shock to us, Mainers.” She hopes the events of the past week will not change her and her husband as well as the entire community.

“We have faith that the deceased are in a good place, and I hope it doesn’t make us fearful,” she said. “This is all pretty raw.”

Hundreds of law enforcement officials spent roughly two days searching the region for Robert Card, who was found dead Friday evening from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to authorities.

From the first 911 calls at 6:56 p.m. Wednesday to when Card was found dead at 7:45 p.m. Friday, here is a timeline of events related to the mass shooting in Maine.

Wednesday, Oct. 25

6:56 p.m. – The Auburn Communications Center receives a 911 call reporting a male shooting a firearm at Just-In-Time Recreation at 24 Mollison Way. Plainclothes officers who were shooting at a range down the street arrive at the bowling alley just a minute after the call came in, officials said.

7 p.m. – Officials said the first police cruiser arrives at Just-In-Time Recreation.

7:08 p.m. – The Auburn Communications Center receives multiple 911 calls for an active shooter inside the Schemengees Bar and Grille Restaurant at 551 Lincoln St.

7:13 p.m. – The first Lewiston police officer arrives at Schemengees Bar and Grille Restaurant. The response became “exponential after that,” said Maine Department of Public Safety Commissioner Michael Sauschuck.

7:24 p.m. – Central Maine Medical Center, an area hospital, receives its first patients and over the next 45 minutes the hospital receives 14 more. Eight were admitted to the hospital, three died, two were discharged home, and one was transferred to Maine Medical Center.

8:09 p.m. – Maine State Police advise residents via social media that there is an active shooter situation in Lewiston. Law enforcement told residents to shelter in place with doors locked and call 911 if they see any suspicious activity.

Around 11:30 p.m. – Maine authorities, including Sauschuck, hold a televised briefing to provide the first details of the mass shooting and identify Robert Card, born April 4, 1983, of Bowdoin, as a person of interest in the shooting. Police said Card is considered “armed and dangerous.” The shelter-in-place order in Lewiston remains and is expanded to the nearby town of Lisbon.

Over the evening – A reunification center is established at Auburn Middle School and families start arriving to find or check the status of loved ones. 

Also during the evening – Police find a “vehicle of interest” in Lisbon that would later be tied to Card and said to be located at the Paper Mills Trail and Miller Park Boat Launch on Frost Hill Avenue. A long rifle is found in the car.

Thursday, Oct. 26

10:15 a.m. – Massachusetts State Police said they are aware of no link between Card and Massachusetts after “unsubstantiated” reports said the man had possibly crossed state lines.

10:45 a.m. – Authorities hold another briefing with Maine Gov. Janet Mills, who says it is “a dark day for Maine” and “no words can truly or fully measure the grief of Maine people today.” The shelter-in-place order extends to Bowdoin and police said they issued an arrest warrant for Card for eight counts of murder.

During the day – A cascading series of closures and lockdowns spread across Southern Maine, with schools keeping students home, shops shuttering their doors, and businesses largely keeping doors locked for the day. Law enforcement continue their hunt for Card.

During the afternoon – Mainers in Lewiston publicly mourn the dead, with one local artist pinning heart-shaped posters to trees and light posts in the downtown area.

6 p.m. – U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a Lewiston Democrat, said he is reversing his position on banning assault weapons, saying a horrific mass shooting in his hometown led him to believe the firearms should be prohibited.

During the evening – Law enforcement descend on a home in Bowdoin, the town where Card’s last known residence is located. Police at the scene order those inside the house to come out with their hands up. A Maine State Police spokesperson would later say law enforcement were there “as part of the investigation into the Lewiston shootings and the search for Robert Card.”

Friday, Oct. 27

During the morning – Residents in Lewiston, Auburn, Bowdoin, Monmouth, and Lisbon wake up still under lockdown as law enforcement make clear they are settling into an expansive evidence-gathering and manhunt operation.

During the day – Law enforcement divers are dispatched to the Androscoggin River to search for clues related to the mass shooting. Officials use sonars, remote-operated equipment, and aerial vehicles like planes or helicopters. A power company that operates two dams in the area planned to adjust the flow of water to help divers see more clearly.

Throughout the day – Investigators, including FBI agents, continue to collect and process evidence at Just-In-Time Recreation and Schemengees Bar and Grille Restaurant.

5 p.m. – Thousands of Mainers in Lewiston, Auburn, Bowdoin, Monmouth, and Lisbon are cleared from a shelter-in-place order, a decision officials said was taken after considering the negative impacts it had on locals.

Also at 5 p.m. – Maine officials identify all 18 victims of the mass shooting and the ages of the dead range from 14 to 76, and include multiple people who were related to each other.

7:45 p.m. – Card is found dead inside a box trailer parked in an overflow lot across from the Maine Recycling Corporation.

Around 10 p.m. – At a press conference, Mills informs the public that Card was found dead. “I stand here tonight to simply report that the Maine State Police have located the body of Robert Card in Lisbon. He is dead. I called President Biden to inform him about this news,” she said.

Saturday, Oct. 28

10 a.m. – State officials provide more details about the circumstances around the discovery of Card’s body, including that the location was previously searched twice before by police. Authorities said Card left a note in his residence to a loved one and was struggling with mental health issues.

Maine State Police found Robert Card’s body inside a box trailer parked in an overflow lot across the street from the Maine Recycling Corporation in Lisbon, an area that had not been checked when law enforcement previously searched the site two times.

The discovery of Card’s body brought to an end a massive manhunt that included hundreds of police from around the country canvassing communities around Lewiston, a search operation that kept the cities and towns in the immediate area on edge.

Maine Department of Public Safety Commissioner Michael Sauschuck said police cleared the trailers in the main part of the recycling center but did not know there was an overflow parking lot owned by the business, which had an “employment relationship” with Card.

Only until the business owner informed law enforcement that a parking lot across the street was part of the recycling center did police search the trailer where Card was ultimately found with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

“The primary reason that we were back in that location is because, I will say this from a community policing, from a relationship standpoint, the owner of a business calls his police chief and says, ‘Hey, I want somebody to make sure that they’re clearing that,’ ” Sauschuck said.

Lisbon Police Chief Ryan McGee said officers cleared the recycling business at least once on Thursday but did not have the specific timeline of additional searches. The overflow lot had between 55 to 60 trailers full of crushed up plastic and metal, McGee said.

“This isn’t a lot that’s just all empty trailers,” he said at Lewiston City Hall. “I’m not going to get into more of the details on that. I mean, realistically, right now, we should all be really thinking about the victims.”

In the weeks before the mass shooting, police across Maine had been alerted to “veiled threats” by the U.S. Army reservist, the Associated Press reported. A statewide awareness alert was sent in mid-September to be on the lookout for Card after the firearms instructor made threats against his base and fellow soldiers, the AP reported. But after stepped-up patrols of the base and a visit to Card’s home – neither of which turned up any sign of him – they moved on.

It is still unclear what exactly pushed Card to kill 18 people and injure 13 others Wednesday at Just-In-Time Recreation and Schemengees Bar and Grille Restaurant, two local establishments in Lewiston.

There is a “mental health aspect” to the shootings, Sauschuck said, as well as “paranoia.” Investigators have “a lot of work yet to do” on Card’s phone and technology that could give insight into a motive, he said.

“I think of what I’ve read and what I’ve seen is that the individual felt like people were talking about him. It may even appear that there were some voices in play here. And we don’t believe that any of that is accurate. And I think that led him specifically back to those two specific locations,” Sauschuck said.

Authorities said they do not have any information that indicates the shooting was premeditated, with Sauschuck only telling reporters, “We know that there were two specific target locations.”

“He did go one to the other, he ditched his car in a specific spot. Again, maybe we’ll find additional information in one of these devices that says, ‘This is what my plan was.’ All we can do is look at what actually occurred,” he said.

A paper-style note written to a loved one was found at Card’s Bowdoin residence by law enforcement, Sauschuck said. The note included the passcode to Card’s phone and bank account information, authorities said.

The note was written with the “tone and tenor” that the author was not going to be around when it was found, Sauschuck said.

“I wouldn’t describe it as an explicit suicide note. But the tone and tenor was that the individual was not going to be around and wanted to make sure that this loved one had access to his phone and whatever was in his phone,” Sauschuck said.

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Special Agent In Charge Jim Ferguson said the multiple firearms that were recovered were purchased legally by Card, including some “days before” the shootings.

“There’s been a number of firearms that have been recovered as part of this investigation and some of them have been purchased very recently and some of them years and years ago,” Ferguson said.

One long rifle was found in Card’s car, which he ditched at a boat launch in Lisbon, and two were located next to his body, authorities said. Officials did not have the exact makes and models of the weapons.

Card’s family was “incredibly cooperative” with police, Sauschuck said.

“Truth be told, I think the first three people that called us to positively identify this individual based on the photos that were released were family members,” he said. “… It would have been detrimental if they didn’t come forward immediately to let us know who this individual was.”

Several vigils were planned for the weekend, including one at 6 p.m. in Lisbon Saturday and another at 6:30 p.m. at the Franco Center in Lewiston.

McGee, the Lisbon police chief, said, “There’s going to be a candlelight vigil being held there in Lisbon to remember the victims that were tragically killed in Lewiston.”

“This has been a tragic two days – not just for Lewiston, Maine, but for our entire country.

Once again, an American community and American families have been devastated by gun violence. In all, at least eighteen souls brutally slain, more injured, some critically, and scores of family and friends praying and experiencing trauma no one ever wants to imagine.

Numerous brave law enforcement officers have worked around the clock to find this suspect and prevent the loss of more innocent life – all while risking their own. They are the best of us.

Tonight we’re grateful that Lewiston and surrounding communities are safe after spending excruciating days hiding in their homes. I thank Governor Janet Mills for her steady leadership during this time of crisis, and continue to direct my administration to provide everything that is needed to support the people of Maine.

Americans should not have to live like this. I once again call on Republicans in Congress to fulfill their obligation to keep the American people safe. Until that day comes, I will continue to do everything in my power to end this gun violence epidemic. The Lewiston community – and all Americans – deserve nothing less.”

So Diane, who declined to give her last name, decided to head to downtown Lewiston and open up the Paris Adult Bookstore and Head Shop, a 40-year-old business on Lisbon Street.

“I mean, we have to run a business. We have to make money … we can’t stay closed forever,” she told the Herald while sitting in the store as the shelter-in-place order persisted in the city and surrounding communities.

Lewiston residents appeared to start cautiously venturing out from their homes Friday, the second full day of a shelter-in-place order in the city that also saw law enforcement settle into a massive evidence-gathering and search operation.

The shelter-in-place order was lifted later in the afternoon after most businesses that were open had closed for the day. Officials said they understood the disruptive nature of the order but defended its use as a way to keep residents safe during a dangerous situation.

Authorities are still looking for Robert Card, a 40-year-old man they allege killed 18 people and injured 13 others at two shooting sites in Lewiston, a town of several thousand in Northern Maine that is roughly 140 miles away from Boston.

During the day, fast food restaurants in the city were open, though some with only drive-through windows serving customers. Noticeably more cars were driving up and down main roads compared to Thursday and locals were sitting outside buildings downtown and walking into some shops.

Diane said she was at the bookstore — just blocks away from the local police station — Wednesday when she heard sirens “just going off” around 7 p.m.  Diane said she usually closes the bookstore at 7:30 p.m. but decided to leave early after hearing the commotion.

“I stopped at the gas station down here to get cigarettes on my way home and that’s (when) they told me what was going on,” she said. “And I live on Pond Road and trying to get home was like crazy. You either had five cop cars behind you or five cars coming down this way.”

When Diane finally made it home, she stayed there until Friday morning.

“I couldn’t take it anymore,” she said, adding she spent Thursday tending to yardwork.

A handful of other businesses like Diane’s also decided to open up, with workers and owners telling the Herald they were tired of sitting idle.

Ryan Richards runs Sinsemilla, a cannabis dispensary with one retail location on Middle Street in downtown Lewiston. He said he closed the Lewiston store Thursday but opened it back up around 2 p.m. Friday to help customers who rely on cannabis as a medication.

“The only reason we did it is we keep hearing rumblings in the community like we have no place to go,” he said. “So as a business owner … I’m comfortable with the situation. So I was like, alright, we’ll go in there and stand there for the people to see what happens.”

Richards said employees in his roughly 100-person company have been personally affected by the mass shooting, with some losing people close to them in the killings.

“This is a small community,” he said. “Everybody knows somebody who got affected.”

A few streets over from Richards’ dispensary, Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline was moving a box from one building to the next. He told the Herald before the shelter-in-place order was lifted that it was “important that people stay home.”

“I understand that people are having urgent needs, like parents who need baby formula and people who need medication,” he said. “I realize that people want to get back to normal as quickly as possible but the manhunt is still ongoing, and we need to, as much as possible, observe the shelter-in-place order so that way law enforcement can do their work.”

Even with the warnings in place at the time, some people were carrying out their business in the city. One man was washing his car just after noon at a self service car wash as other vehicles started to pack local roads.

But only a few miles away, police were scouring the Androscoggin River with dive teams and helicopters for clues related to the mass shooting.

A flock of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents were gathering just across the street from the river at the St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church. Down the road, law enforcement were crowding the bank of a small offshoot of the Androscoggin River.

Maine Department of Public Safety Commissioner Michael Sauschuck told reporters earlier in the day law enforcement planned to have a team of divers working in the river.

“We certainly don’t want to wait too long because the river is a big piece of this, the car was located there, evidence is located in the vehicle or right there along the shores of the Androscoggin River,” he said.

Families of those killed were notified, Maine Department of Public Safety Commissioner Michael Sauschuck said, and the photos used in a presentation at City Hall were approved by relatives.

Those killed include: Ronald Morin, 55; Peyton Brewer-Ross, 40; Joshua Seal, 36; Bryan MacFarlane, 41; Joseph Lawrence, 57; Arthur Fred Strout, 42; Maxx Hathaway, 35; Stephen Vozzella, 45; Thomas Ryan Conrad, 34; Michael Deslauriers II, 51; Jason Adam Walker, 51; Tricia Asselin, 53; William Young, 44; Aaron Young, 14; Robert Violette, 76; Lucille Violette, 73; William Frank Brackett, 48; and Keith Macneir, 64.

The suspect was found dead Friday night, officials said.

SEE ALL THE HERALD’S RELATED COVERAGE…

Tricia C. Asselin, 53, bowling alley

Asselin worked at the bowling alley, her 75-year-old mother told NPR, but was there to bowl with her sister Bobbi-Lynn Nichols, 57, when the tragedy struck.

The two sisters were talking when the shots rang out. The sisters ran toward an exit, their mother told the news outlet, but Tricia had stopped to call for help and was then shot.

Tricia, her mom said, was an athlete who played baseball and softball in high school and was even offered a college scholarship. Her athleticism continued throughout her life with frequent golf and fishing outings. She also volunteered with organizations including the Make-A-Wish Foundation and Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

William Frank Brackett, 43, bowling alley

“Billy was a son, a husband, a father, a uncle and a friend to many especially in the deaf community he loved so much,” a GoFundMe organized to help his family during this hard time states. “He loved darts, and has been competing for years, he loved cornhole, enjoyed fishing and hunting. He leaves behind his wife Kristina and his 2 1/2 year old daughter Sandra. They are grieve stricken with this sudden loss.”

Brackett was one of four victims that were a part of the deaf community, whether deaf themselves, a parent of a deaf child or an interpreter, which also included Bryan MacFarlane, Stephen Vozzella and interpreter Joshua Seal, that left the community “grieving deeply,” according to a Thursday night post by the Maine Educational Center for the Deaf Governor Baxter School for the Deaf.

Peyton Brewer-Ross, 40, Schemengees Bar and Grille

He was a pipefitter at Bath Iron Works, an organization that said it was left heartbroken by his death and sends “our deepest condolences, thoughts and prayers to the family and friends of our employee.”

A Bangor Daily News profile, which shared a photo of the smiling, bearded man holding a Superman action figure next to Brewer-Ross’ bicep tattoo of the superhero, revealed him to be a cornole player who was in the restaurant that night to participate in a tournament he was very excited to play.

Peyton’s elder brother Ralph Brewer said in a GoFundMe drive that Peyton was that night “doing one of the things he thought was so much fun — tossing around bean bags. He was playing cornhole with friends … when his life was cut short, way too short.”

The page states that most important to Peyton was his family. He leaves behind his partner in life Rachel, and their 2 year old daughter Elle. The loss of Peyton is devastating.”

Ralph Brewer told BDN that Peyton had “finally popped the question” and was engaged to his longtime partner Rachel. He had graduated from Maine Maritime Academy and was looking to purchase a house.

Thomas Ryan Conrad, 34, bowling alley

Conrad was not one of the names known until the press conference late Friday afternoon. A post by Adam Jordan, who has Facebook pictures indicating he was part of a bowling league, wrote that “Thomas Conrad tragically lost his life defending all of people in the shooting at Just in Time recreation. He leaves behind a 9 year old daughter.”

Michael R. Deslauriers II, 51, bowling alley

His sister Vicki Deslauriers Roy wrote on Facebook that “The loss of my brother leaves a gaping hole in our family. My brother was incredibly selfless, almost to a fault.”

“Yes, he was a smart ass and would never miss an opportunity to crack a joke at someone else’s expense, but he would happily give you the shirt off his back,” she continued. “I was not the least bit surprised to hear that he and his best friend since kindergarten lost their lives trying to protect others. I take comfort in knowing that they went together.”

Maxx A. Hathaway, 35, bowling alley

Hathaway was the father to two girls with another one on the way, according to a GoFundMe drive set up by one of his sisters, Keslay Hathaway. She described him as “a goofy, down to earth person, loved to joke around and always had an uplifting attitude no matter what was going on.”

She said the full-time, stay-at-home father’s interests included watching anime, playing games and playing pool.

Another sister, Courtney Hathaway, wrote on Facebook that she is “feeling a lot of things right now but I’m mostly heartbroken that he’s gone. Nothing really prepares you for the sudden and shocking loss of a loved one, especially when it happens in such a tragedy.”

Bryan M. MacFarlane, 41, Schemengees Bar and Grille

MacFarlane was another member of the deaf community who was playing cornhold when his life was cut short.

His sister, Keri Brooks, told CNN that her brother was one of the first deaf people to earn their commercial trucking licenses in Vermont and had only recently moved back to his home state of Maine. She said he loved riding his motorcycle and his dog, M&M.

Keith D. MacNeir, 64, bowling alley

The Herald was not able to independently verify information about MacNeir after his name was announced during the press conference Thursday.

Ronald G. Morin, 55, Schemengees Bar and Grille

Family member Cecile Francoeur described Ron Morin to the Bangor Daily News as a man who “was just always smiling,” adding that he was “just one of those people that if you are having a bad day, he was going to make your day better just by his presence.”

Joshua A. Seal, 36, Schemengees Bar and Grille

Seal was the director of American Sign Language interpreting for Auburn, Maine’s Pine Tree Society, an organization that says it is dedicated to “providing opportunities for growth and development for people with differing abilities.”

For those who knew him, his wife, Elizabeth Seal, wrote on Facebook, “first and foremost, he was the world’s BEST father to our four pups,” she said of their children, along with a collection of photos of the family, all smiles, on trips to the beach, the park, to Disney World and other places.

“Not only was he an amazing father, he was a wonderful husband, my best friend, and my soulmate,” she continued. “He was also a wonderful boss, an incredible interpreter, a great friend, a loving son, brother, uncle, and grandson. He loved his family and always put them first. That is what he will always be remembered for.”

Arthur Fred Strout, 42, Schemengees Bar and Grille

“Artie” Strout and his wife, Kristy, shared a blended family of five children, according to his brother, Tyler Barnard, who organized a GoFundMe drive to support the family.

His father, Arthur Barnard, told CBS news that he was playing pool with his son at the bar but that the younger man decided to stay to play a few more racks. Kristy Strout said “he was a great dad.”

Lucille M. Violette, 73, and Robert E. Violette, 76, bowling alley

Robert Violette was known as “Coach Bob,” according to posts from friends on social media, and “was one of the kindest souls in the bowling community in Lewiston,” who had a special place in his heart for the children he coached in the sport, his friend Brandon Dubuc wrote on Facebook.

The love Robert had for his wife Lucille was clear, as one of the final posts he shared on his own Facebook page was an image captioned “Your spouse is the only person who truly loves you for who you are,” and lists other relationships where love is somewhat required, like for parents and siblings. “Your spouse is another level. They choose you. Don’t take that relationship for granted.”

Stephen M. Vozzella, 45, Schemengees Bar and Grille

Stephen Vozzella was one of four victims that were a part of the deaf community and was a member of the New England Deaf Cornhole league, which wrote in its own Thursday post said brought great excitement and a huge smile to the organization who “will be missed on and off the courts!”

Jason Adam Walker, 51, bowling alley

Jason Walker, along with Mike Mike Deslauriers II, friends since kindergarten, “made the ultimate sacrifice,” another friend, Alan Johnson, wrote on Facebook. “They made sure their wives were safe and the children around them. Then they tried to stop the gunman that entered Sparetime in Lewiston.”

Joseph Lawrence Walker, 57, Schemengees Bar and Grille

Walker was a bar manager at the restaurant where he lost his life, his father, Auburn City Councilor Leroy Walker. The elder Walker told NBC News that his son had died “as a hero” because he had confronted the gunman and tried to prevent more bloodshed.

“He picked up a butcher knife from somewheres — he has all that stuff near the bar anyway — and he tried to go at the gunman to try to stop him from shooting anybody else,” Leroy Walker said. “The gunman shot him twice through the stomach.”

But knowing his son had died trying to end the killings didn’t ease any of the father’s pain, as he said “It made it worse.”

Joseph Walker was also a member of the local cornhole league, according to his friend Nick Perry, who wrote on Facebook that Walker had welcomed he and his wife into the league family “from day one. I will forever be grateful for the laughs we shared.”

William, 44, and Aaron Young, 14, bowling alley

William was bowling with his son Aaron, a sophomore an Winthrop High, when the gunman entered and took their lives.

“It’s unfathomable that it would happen. You can’t even go bowling. You can’t go have a drink in a bar or enjoy a meal with your family without fear,” Wendy Bell, William’s brother and Aaron’s aunt, told CBS News.

She told that that outlet that her brother was a mechanic who “loved to laugh” and “loved to make people laugh, sometimes at my expense.”

This is a developing story.

“The shootings occurred less than 50 miles from where I live,” wrote King, an outspoken advocate against gun violence. “I went to high school in Lisbon. It’s the rapid-fire killing machines, people.

“This is madness in the name of freedom,” he continued. “Stop electing apologists for murder.”

“(I’ll) just start by sending our – from the team, players have talked about this, captains yesterday, too – sending our thoughts and prayers to the people in Maine. It’s obviously a tragic situation,” Belichick said. “They’re great fans of ours, great friends up there and Maine is a great place. I feel bad for the pain and situation that they’re going through.

Bill Belichick opens with a statement sending thoughts and prayers to the people in Maine after the mass shooting. He mentions the #Patriots fans up there, and his personal connections to the area.

“We’re thinking about you down here with the #Patriots.” pic.twitter.com/Hh7ZH0V7qU

— Andrew Callahan (@_AndrewCallahan) October 27, 2023

“You know, Lewiston and Bowden, (I have) a lot of connections and a lot of my friends went there. I know the area pretty well, it’s very sad and difficult. So, we’re thinking about you down here at the Patriots.”

A murder warrant is currently out for the arrest of Robert Card, a 40-year-old resident of Bowdoin, Maine. Law enforcement opened a massive search for Card on Wednesday evening that continued into Friday. The shooting marked the worst mass killing in Maine state history.

Asked how conversations about the shooting began inside the team facility, whether Belichick initiated them or players did, Belichick declined to offer specifics.

“I don’t know, both. It could be any community. We all know that,” he said. “The fact that it’s our fans, our area, i’s kind of like the Connecticut situation a few years back. Not the same, but it’s just sad, tragic. And sounds like it’s not over yet.”

SEE HERALD’S FULL COVERAGE OF MAINE MASSACRE…

The Patriots are currently preparing for a road game Sunday at Miami. Their next home kickoff is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 5, against Washington.

Heavy hearts: Mainers come together and look forward after Lewiston mass shooting

Here’s how the horrific mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine unfolded

Maine mass shooting suspect Robert Card found at recycling center, left note to loved one

Full text: President Biden on Lewiston, Maine, shooting

Maine mass murder suspect found dead; region ‘breathing a sigh of relief’

Maine officials identify 18 killed in Lewiston mass shooting as search continues for suspect

Patriots coach Bill Belichick sends message to Maine residents after mass shooting

Thousands of Mainers still under lockdown order as hunt continues for Robert Card, Maine mass shooting suspect

Lewiston Democrat Jared Golden says he’s switching his position on banning assault weapons

Maine’s gun laws and consequences, explained

Maine mass shooting: ‘Why do people do this?’

Stephen King sounds off on Maine mass shooting: ‘Stop electing apologists for murder’

Biden, state lawmakers respond to mass shooting in Maine

Maine mourns as it shelters-in-place from Lewiston to Lisbon

Who is Maine mass shooting suspect Robert Card?

Father of manager shot to death at Schemengees Bar calls son a ‘hero’ for confronting the Maine gunman

Massachusetts State Police detail efforts working with Maine on manhunt for mass shooting suspect Robert Card

Police descend on Bowdoin home as manhunt continues for Robert Card, suspect in Maine mass shooting

Shooter’s carnage unleashes terror in Maine, manhunt continues

Sirens, then eerily quiet: Scenes from the night of Maine’s worst mass shooting

Fearful Maine residents stay home amid massive search for suspect in killing of 18 people

Maine Gov. Janet Mills confirmed to reporters inside City Hall late Friday night that Robert Card was found dead and Maine Public Safety Department Commissioner Michael Sauschuck said the man died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Card is accused of killing 18 people and injuring 13 others at a bowling alley and pub in the city.

“I stand here tonight to simply report that the Maine State Police have located the body of Robert Card in Lisbon. He is dead. I called President Biden to inform him about this news,” Mills said. “But this discovery is entirely thanks to the hundreds of local, county, state and federal law enforcement members from all over and people from other states as well.”

Mills said she was “breathing a sigh of relief” that Card was no longer a threat to anyone.

Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline said the people of his city can “breathe a sigh of relief.”

“I know I speak for the entire city when I say that the men and women of Lewiston Police Department, Maine State Police, and the many other law enforcement agencies involved in this investigation have our profound gratitude,” he said in a statement to the Herald. “Now, it’s time to take a breath, begin to mourn our dead, and try to heal.”

Sauschuck said Card was found at around 7:45 p.m. along the Androscoggin River in Lisbon Falls but did not confirm the exact location of the man’s body.

“I can confirm that it’s an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound,” he said.

The announcement comes after thousands of Mainers were cleared just hours before from a shelter-in-place order as law enforcement continued their search for Card.

Lockdowns were lifted in Lewiston, Auburn, Bowdoin, Monmouth, and Lisbon as officials said they were gearing up for an expansive evidence-gathering and manhunt operation that included hundreds of law enforcement personnel nationwide.

Authorities issued this week an arrest warrant for eight counts of murder for Card, the man they said allegedly entered Just-In-Time Recreation and Schemengees Bar and Grille Restaurant Wednesday and opened fire.

Sauschuck said the decision to rescind the shelter-in-place order came after an internal discussion where officials weighed the pros and cons of communities having to put their lives on pause.

“Are we doing more harm than good by keeping people away from these clinics and their doctors and in schools?” Sauschuck at City Hall. “And while this is still absolutely a dangerous situation without question, we’ve got to make recommendations and ask the people that we serve as the people who we protect, to be vigilant.”

But as the orders were lifted, Sauschuck said law enforcement had not seen Card in the last two days, telling reporters at the time that his whereabouts were unknown.

More than 500 tips and leads had already come in to police as of early Friday, he said.

“But again, in the stack of that 500-plus, you may have somebody that says ‘hey, we see somebody that looks like that.’ So we have not,” he said at an afternoon briefing with reporters.

Divers searched the Androscoggin River and law enforcement used sonars, remote-operated equipment, and aerial vehicles like planes or helicopters. A power company that operates two dams in the area planned to adjust the flow of water to help divers see more clearly, Sauschuck said.

“We certainly don’t want to wait too long because the river is a big piece of this, the car was located there, evidence is located in the vehicle or right there along the shores of the Androscoggin River,” Sauschuck said. “So that’s stuff that we want to make sure that we’re checking and we’re using the resources that we have available.”

Heavily armed law enforcement personnel were also seen in Durham, Maine, which Sauschuck said was a result of several “911 hang-up calls”

“Hang-up calls happen on a regular basis. Depending on where they are, you may go ‘Okay, wait a second.’ And then we had a second call. And then there was a sheriff’s deputy that responded to the scene and then ultimately did not answer their radio,” he said. “Officers did respond, make sure that he was safe, the scene was safe, and they moved on.”

The shelter-in-place orders disrupted life for the roughly 48 hours they were in place, largely keeping restaurants, shops, convenience stores, and other businesses closed as police kept up their search for Card.

Sauschuck said he understood that shelter-in-place orders could have a negative impact on residents.

“We had very pointed threats early on (in) reference to these locations, and nothing specific since then,” he said.

Sauschuck said investigators found a note at one of the residences they searched but declined to offer more details about its contents.

“I’m not prepared to really talk about what that included. And I think that’s probably, again, a common sense answer because that does involve is there a mindset here, is there motive, what did that entail? So we’ll definitely continue to work on that and when we can release it, we certainly will,” he said.

The two shooting incidents Wednesday took place only minutes apart and FBI investigators initially interviewed around 70 witnesses that night, Sauschuck said.

Police said they first received a 911 call at 6:56 p.m. for a male shooting a firearm at Just-In-Time Recreation. Only minutes later, at 7:08 p.m., police received multiple 911 calls for an active shooter inside Schemengees Bar and Grille Restaurant.

Sauschuck said police were on both scenes within minutes of the calls. Plainclothes officers who were shooting at a range down the street from Just-In-Time Recreation arrived at the bowling alley just a minute after the call came in, he said.

“They don’t have radios, they weren’t in uniform, they hear it as they’re at the range, they respond to the address immediately, and then they address the threat and clear the building,” he said.

Seven people were killed at Just-In-Time Recreation, one female and six males, from gunshot wounds, Maine State Police Col. William Ross said Thursday. Seven males were killed inside Schemengees Bar and Grille Restaurant and one male outside the establishment was also killed, Ross said.

The arrest warrant for Card could later include more murder counts, Ross said Thursday.

Sauschuck said Friday that prosecutors with Attorney General Aaron Frey’s office were trying to complete the rest of the murder warrants “in a timely fashion now that those individuals had been identified and the families notified.”

A spokesperson for Frey’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“I’ll have that answer for you tomorrow morning at 10 o’clock, for sure,” Sauschuck said, referencing a briefing scheduled for Saturday morning.

Golden was one of four Democrats who voted in July 2022 against federal legislation that sought to ban certain types of semi-automatic weapons. But speaking to reporters inside Lewiston City Hall, Golden said after moments like the Wednesday mass shooting, “a leader is forced to grapple with things that are far greater than his or herself.”

It’s too soon to tell if his switch will spark a movement, but he said he must try.

“I have opposed efforts to ban deadly weapons of war, like the assault rifle used to carry out this crime,” he said. “The time has now come for me to take responsibility for this failure, which is why I now call on the United States Congress to ban assault rifles, like the one used by the sick perpetrator of this mass killing in my hometown of Lewiston, Maine.”

Golden said he would work with any colleagues to “get this done in the time that I have left in Congress.”

“To the people of Lewiston, my constituents throughout the second district, to the families who lost loved ones, and to those who have been harmed, I ask for forgiveness and support as I seek to put an end to these terrible shootings,” he said.

Golden’s reversal came at nearly the same moment Maine State Police said they were descending upon a home as they continued a massive manhunt for Robert Card, a 40-year-old man identified as a suspect in a mass shooting here that left 18 people dead and 13 wounded.

The shooting shattered lives in Lewiston, surrounding communities, and Maine, parents without children and people mourning the loss of their loved ones. Maine U.S. Sen. Susan Collins echoed sentiments Gov. Janet Mills expressed earlier Thursday, calling it a “dark day for the state of Maine.”

“This heinous attempt, which has robbed the lives of at least 18 Mainers and injured so many more, is the worst mass shooting that the state of Maine has ever experienced and could ever imagine,” Collins said.

Collins did not say whether she would support banning assault rifles, instead arguing federal lawmakers should outlaw high-capacity magazines.

“I think that would have more input and more effectiveness.”

Maine does not have a “red flag” law which may have prevented a mass shooter in Lewiston from accessing the gun he used to kill more than a dozen, according to gun control advocacy groups, as early reporting indicates the shooter made specific threats of violence.

“The state does not have an Extreme Risk law, also known as a ‘red flag’ law, to empower families and law enforcement to prevent tragedies before they happen,” Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control lobbying group, writes of the state.

A “yellow flag” system used in the state, that would have required the intervention of a medical professional and sworn testimony from a law enforcement official in order to remove the guns used in Wednesday’s shooting from the alleged killer’s possession, may have been helpful if implemented.

“Though Maine has taken some steps to keep guns out of the hands of those who shouldn’t have them, state leaders must do more to prevent gun violence,” Everytown writes.

Since 2015 Maine has been among the more than half of U.S. states that allows adults over the age of 21 to carry concealed handguns without a permit. Reporting indicates the shooter was armed with a long gun.

Gun sellers are not required to perform background checks for sales beyond those performed to comply with federal laws, which check mostly for criminal findings, and there is no waiting period required to take possession of a new gun.

There are no restrictions on the possession of popular shooting platforms like the AR-15 or magazine size.

Despite these apparently lax laws, according to data provided by the CDC, Maine also ranks fairly well when held against other states when it comes to gun violence. At a rate of 11.2 per 100,000, Maine’s yearly gun deaths are well below that 38 other states. Of 163 people shot and killed there annually, almost 90% die by their own hand.

“As a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence,” the president has declared flags should be “flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government.”

Biden’s order stands until Oct. 30.

The proclamation came Thursday morning, as the country began another, now all too familiar, collective mourning period after 18 were slaughtered and 13 more injured by an eruption of gunfire, this time in a quiet corner of Maine.

As of this writing the hunt for a lone shooter continues, with agents from the FBI, ATF, TSA assisting the Maine State Police and local law enforcement with the search.

According to the White House, the president spoke with Maine Gov. Janet Mills, U.S. Sens. Angus King and Susan Collins, and U.S. Rep. Jared Golden in the hours after the shooting, offering the federal government’s full support in the investigation.

Gov. Maura Healey said she has also spoken with Mills and local hospitals are assisting victims with medical care.

“Our hospitals are treating patients transferred to Massachusetts. New England is a close-knit community, and we are coming together to support our neighbors during this heartbreaking time,” Healey said.

The governor also ordered flags on state properties lowered “to express our deep sadness and sympathy for the victims, their families, and all those impacted by the mass shooting in Maine.”

Legislative leaders, who are considering changes to Bay State gun laws, reacted with sadness at the violence, but expressed resolve to take steps to prevent a similar incident in Massachusetts.

“On behalf of the MA House, I want to offer my sincerest condolences to everyone in Lewiston, ME who lost loved ones during yesterday’s horrific mass shooting. I know we join folks from across the country in grieving the lives lost to yet another tragic act of gun violence,” House Speaker Ron Mariano offered on Twitter.

“I am absolutely sickened to know that yet more innocent lives have been lost to gun violence, which has touched too many of us. I’m heartbroken for the victims in Lewiston and their families, friends and loved ones who now know firsthand the raw pain of having their lives devastated by a mass shooting. Today my heart is with each of them, and all our neighbors to the north,” Senate Pres. Karen Spilka said in a statement.

Spilka went on to say that the senate is “firm in our resolve to pass a comprehensive gun safety and violence prevention bill this session.” The House passed such a bill just this month.

The Gun Owners Action League, a Massachusetts-based Second Amendment advocacy group, lamented that the shooting was entirely preventable.

“Since the Newtown massacre in 2012, GOAL has adamantly fought to get our government officials, and the general public, to acknowledge the number one common denominator involved in these tragically preventable events – Severe Mental Health Issues,” the group wrote on their website.

“According to reports, the killer may have been involuntarily committed to a mental health facility and released even after admitting that he wanted to cause serious harm. This automatically made him a prohibited person from possessing a gun. The fact that he was released is simply unconscionable,” they continued.

Here are some:

‘Why do people do this?’ 10-year-old victim asks

When Zoey Levesque felt a bullet graze her leg she wasn’t worried about the injury, the 10-year-old told ABC News on Thursday, she was too busy running for her life.

Her mom Meghan Hutchinson was watching the kid practice with her youth bowling league when she heard a “loud pop,” turned around and saw the shooter right behind her.

Zoey was shot — a shallow graze to her leg — as the pair ran to barricade themselves in a back room with other families. Another young boy came into the room had a “massive hole” in his arm bleeding badly, Hutchinson told ABC, and a second mom called 911.

The police arrived 20 minutes later, the mother said, but the group was too scared to let them in. The cops eventually pushed their way in.

The mother and daughter said they’re still in shock.

“Why do people do this?” Zoey asked. “I don’t really know what to say.”

Father of Schemengees manager calls son a ‘hero’ for confronting gunman

Joey Walker, a manager at Schemengees Bar & Grille, died a hero Wednesday, as he picked up a knife trying to confront gunman Robert Card, his father Leroy Walker told Lester Holt of NBC News.

“Joey Walker was shot to death at Schemengees,” the father said. “He died as a hero because he picked up a butcher knife … and he tried to go at the gunman to stop him from shooting anybody else.”

Leroy Walker, a member of the City Council in next door Auburn, received the tragic news Thursday that his son was shot and killed at the restaurant Wednesday night. The elder Walker stopped by a hospital and reunification center at Auburn Middle School but did not find his son earlier in the day.

“I want you to know that Joe was a great, great son, a loving husband,” Walker told MSNBC. “He had two grandchildren and a stepson living at home with him. … He loved thousands of people. Thousands of people loved him.”

Just-In-Time Recreation manager ‘risked his life’ for getting kids to safety

The manager of Just-In-Time Recreation, Thomas Gilberti, “risked his life leading countless kids to safety, while under fire from the gunman,” according to a post in the “NE Bowling Community” Facebook group.

Sarah Marie, owner of the bowling alley, wrote in a separate Facebook post that Gilberti was shot while letting children into a pin-setter area.

“He took many bullets to his legs while children ran towards him to hide,” she wrote.

“This is a man who exemplifies what it means to be a hero,” the post in the NE Bowling Community group states. “No words can properly encapsulate the bravery and courage he exhibited as this ordeal played out. Stay strong Thomas.”

Running down the bowling lanes

A man — who identified himself to the Associated Press only as Brandon — was at the Sparetime Recreation bowling alley when he said he heard what sounded like a balloon popping. Then about 10 pops.

“I had my back turned to the door,” he told the AP. “And as soon as I turned and saw it was not a balloon — he was holding a weapon — I just booked it.”

Brandon darted down the bowling lane, through the end and up into the machinery. After the shooting, he was put on a bus with other survivors to the family reunification point at Auburn Middle School.

#LEWISTONSTRONG

Many across New England expressed support for the Lewiston community through a Lewiston Strong message, including the Boston Bruins.

“Maine is a special part of the Bruins family and our hearts are with those affected by this terrible tragedy,” the Bruins wrote on a Lewiston Strong fundraising page. “In that spirit, the Boston Bruins Foundation is pledging a minimum of $100,000 to those affected by these horrific events in Lewiston.”

More information on how to contribute is available on the community fund page.

“I am confident that our city, our community, and people across our great state of Maine will come together to support one another,” wrote Lewiston High School basketball captain Natalie Beaudoin in a statement. “We are one. #LEWISTONSTRONG.”

Passionate bowler calls 911 after being shot at alley

Tricia Asselin stopped by Just-In-Time Recreation Wednesday evening to bowl, an activity she had a passion for, her brother told ABC News.

Some nights, Asselin worked at the bowling alley, but this time she was there to play.

But then tragedy struck. She was shot by the alleged gunman Robert Card. She ran to the counter frantically and called 911, her brother said. She died from the gunshot.

His other sister, also at the alley at the time of the shooting, escaped, he said.

“(Tricia) was the rock of the family,” her brother told ABC.

Stephen King: ‘It’s the rapid-fire killing machines, people.’

Maine-native Stephen King called out the “madness” that led to Wednesday’s mass shooting in a Tweet on Thursday.

“The shootings occurred less than 50 miles from where I live,” wrote King, an outspoken advocate against gun violence. “I went to high school in Lisbon. It’s the rapid-fire killing machines, people.

“This is madness in the name of freedom,” he continued. “Stop electing apologists for murder.”

Wire sources were used in this story.

“Joey Walker was shot to death at Schemengees,” the father said. “He died as a hero because he picked up a butcher knife … and he tried to go at the gunman to stop him from shooting anybody else.”

Leroy Walker, a member of the City Council in next door Auburn, said his son loved helping and working with people. A testament to that is how Joey had organized fundraisers at Schemengees for the past five years, his father told MSNBC.

The next fundraiser Joey had planned, Leroy Walker said, was a cornhole tournament scheduled for Nov. 11, to help raise money for veterans.

“That’s not going to work now because he’s dead,” the father said. “A hell of a loss for the community. He’s done everything he could in his community. … It’s just crazy. It’s still a nightmare.”

Leroy Walker received the tragic news Thursday that his son was shot and killed at the restaurant Wednesday night. The elder Walker stopped by a hospital and reunification center at Auburn Middle School but did not find his son earlier in the day.

“I want you to know that Joe was a great, great son, a loving husband,” Walker told MSNBC. “He had two grandchildren and a stepson living at home with him. … He loved thousands of people. Thousands of people loved him.”

As they investigated what was happening, they said a cop came up to their car Wednesday night and told them to show their hands, and then “move on.”

Zellner, 22, and Kissam, 27, were only a short distance away from Schemengees Bar and Grille Restaurant, one of two sites involved in a mass shooting that left 18 people dead and 13 wounded, according to police.

“We didn’t think it was nearly as bad as it was,” Kissam told the Herald Thursday while he was walking down Lisbon Street, a main thoroughfare in downtown Lewiston. “We thought like, okay, somebody got mad at a bar and shot somebody or whatever. And then we heard a shooter. Then we saw headlines with active shooter, and we were not expecting it to be what it was.”

The shooting is the 36th mass killing in the United States this year, according to a database run by Northeastern University in Boston in conjunction with media outlets.

The horrific events that unfolded Wednesday rocked residents in Lewiston and across Maine, as other mass shootings have done with the seemingly never-ending list of cities and towns nationwide.

An artist by trade and originally from Central Massachusetts, Zellner decided Thursday to make heart-shaped cutouts from poster board adorned with phrases like “to my community” or “to my friends” to place on light posts throughout downtown Lewiston.

“I was feeling a lot of emotions about the whole thing this morning and it kind of manifested physically into this. I just wanted to show my support and love for the community and give people a visual representation of the type of support that people feel,” Zellner said in-between placing the heart cutouts onto street lights and trees.

Areas around Lewiston were nearly deserted Thursday as law enforcement maintained a shelter-in-place order for the city as well as the neighboring communities of Lisbon and Bowdoin.

Occasional dog walkers interspersed with people experiencing homelessness slowly meandered through a main park just across the street from City Hall. But the media nearly outnumbered the locals who were venturing into public spaces.

Businesses were largely shut down in Lewiston, with most gas stations, restaurants, and shops shuttered as law enforcement continued a massive manhunt for 40-year-old Robert Card, who they said is a suspect connected to the shootings.

Lisbon Street, where Zellner hung the heart-shaped posters, was nearly empty.

“It’s usually so much busier than right now,” she said, hoping her posters would help promote “some type of positive from this.”

At a press conference earlier Thursday, Maine Gov. Janet Mills said the shooting tore through the “peace of mind” of all residents in the state, but especially in Lewiston.

“This is a dark day for Maine. I know it’s hard for us to think about healing when our hearts are broken,” Mills said. “But I want every person in Maine to know that we will heal together. We are strong. We are resilient. We are a very caring people.”

Here’s what we know about the Card so far.

Card is still at large and named in an arrest warrant on eight counts of murder, Maine State Police Colonel William Ross said at a press conference Thursday morning. The counts are expected to rise to 18 as remaining victims are identified, Ross said.

In the press conference, Maine Gov. Janet Mills stated Card is still considered armed and dangerous and residents “should not approach him under any circumstances.”

Officials said Thursday they would not yet speak to Card’s possible motives, including his mental health history.

However, a police bulletin circulated by law enforcement Wednesday night and reported by the AP noted Card had been committed to a mental health facility for two weeks in the summer of 2023.

The bulletin said Card had reported “hearing voices and threats to shoot up” the military base, according to the AP, but did not provide details regarding his treatment or diagnosis.

A U.S. official who spoke to the AP on the condition on anonymity said commanders in the Army Reserve’s 3rd Battalion, 304th Infantry Regiment became concerned about Card’s erratic behavior and safety in mid-July while the unit was training at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

The commanders contacted the police, who then took Card for evaluation, the source said.

“Sgt. 1st Class Robert R. Card II is a Petroleum Supply Specialist in the Army Reserve, enlisting in December 2002,” said Army spokesperson Bryce Dubee. “He has no combat deployments.”

The bulletin also reportedly stated Card is assigned to a training facility in Saco, Maine.

Card was awarded with the Army Achievement Medal, Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal x2, Humanitarian Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal and Army Service Ribbon, Dubee stated.

Card attended the University of Maine from 2001-2004, according to university spokesperson Eric Gordon, but did not complete his degree studies or graduate. He was a Engineering Technology major.

Card was last seen in a brown shirt and blue pants, according to police. Police issued a shelter-in-place advisory for Androscoggin County and Bowdoin in Sagadahoc County.

Police have not said if they have seen Card since the shootings at Schemengees Bar and Grille and at Sparetime Recreation, a bowling alley about 4 miles 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.

Investigators also haven’t said what weapon or weapons Card used in the shootings or how he obtained them.

Herald wire services contributed. 

Massachusetts State Police said that a trooper, a member of the agency’s bomb squad was sent in along with his K9 partner as a member of a federal ATF task force, according to the agency.

“Massachusetts State Police Colonel John Mawn has been in contact with his counterparts from Maine and the other New England states to assess and coordinate capabilities for providing mutual aid to the Maine State Police,” according to an MSP statement released Thursday morning. “The full complement of Massachusetts State Police assets stand ready for deployment if requested, as necessitated by the evolving investigation and fugitive apprehension mission.”

State police are also continuing to probe whether or not Card, 40, has any connection to Massachusetts. So far, none have been confirmed, according to the statement.

“We continue to monitor all available intelligence and will update our local law enforcement partners and the public of any developments that affect our state,” the statement said.

Maine Department of Public Safety Commissioner Mike Sauschuck described Card as a person of interest in a briefing he gave following Wednesday night’s mass shooting. Thursday morning, Card was declared a suspect and a warrant charges him with eight counts of murder, with more charges expected, authorities said.

It’s not just Massachusetts lending its support, as New Hampshire’s Department of Safety also said it and other agencies “assisted Maine with numerous resource requests” following the shooting Wednesday night.

“Valerie and I are heartbroken at the senseless act of violence in Lewiston, and are thinking of the victims and their families during this horrific time,” said Governor Chris Sununu, adding that the state will continue to provide any necessary resources in Maine’s efforts to track down the suspect. “The State of New Hampshire stands with the people of Maine — they are our friends, families, and neighbors.”

That support, according to the Department of Safety statement, includes the presence of multiple special units of the New Hampshire State Police up north to assist in the search and detectives to assist with the investigation, troopers with the Peer Support Unit to provide mental health services in the wake of the tragedy, and the ferrying of blood donations.

Other support includes that of the state medical examiner’s office and the presence of three victim advocates to assist with services for the families of the shooting victims.

A Herald reporter in Lewiston also spotted agents with federal insignia, meaning promised federal resources had arrived.

“President Biden just reached out to Senator (Angus) King directly and offered any federal assistance he can provide to help the people of Maine,” the independent senator’s office tweeted after 10:30 p.m. Wednesday. The statement added that King would be “headed to Maine on one of the first flights available — he wants to be home to support Lewiston in any way he can.”

Agents with the federal agencies of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) also released statements that they had responded to the area.

Maine State Police Col. William Ross said earlier Thursday they had issued an arrest warrant for eight counts of murder for Robert Card, whose last known residence was listed in Bowdoin, a town of several thousand to the east of Lewiston, the second-largest city in the state of 1.3 million people.

Maine State Police spokesperson Shannon Moss said no gunshots had been fired at the residence but law enforcement were there “as part of the investigation into the Lewiston shootings and the search for Robert Card,” the only individual police have identified as a suspect.

“When it’s appropriate to do so, additional information will be released,” Moss said in a statement at 6 p.m. local time. An address was not released.

Shelter-in-place orders, lockdowns, and school closings expanded across Maine Thursday as authorities continued their search for Card. Meanwhile, residents hunkered down in Lewiston and surrounding communities as they mourned the dead.

Lewiston “did not deserve this terrible assault on its citizens, on its peace of mind,” said Maine Gov. Janet Mills, who said she spoke with President Joe Biden and multiple officials from his administration, including U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

“No words can truly or fully measure the grief of Maine people today. Our small state of just 1.3 million people has long been known as one of the safest states in the nation. This attack strikes at the very heart of who we are and the values we hold dear for this precious place we call home,” Mills said at City Hall. “… This is a dark day for Maine.”

Ross said the arrest warrant for Card would likely include more murder counts as more of the deceased are identified. A spokesperson for Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey said the arrest warrant was “impounded,” rendering it inaccessible to the public.

The chaotic shootings unfolded quickly Wednesday, with state law enforcement officials describing multiple 911 calls only minutes apart originating from Sparetime Recreation and Schemengees Bar and Grille Restaurant, two local establishments.

A 911 call reporting a male shooting at Sparetime Recreation was first received by an Auburn communications center at 6:56 p.m. Wednesday, Ross said.

Multiple 911 calls then came in around 7:08 p.m. that reported an active shooter inside Schemengees Bar and Grille Restaurant, Ross said.

“A large law enforcement response from multiple surrounding agencies assisted the Lewiston Police Department in trying to identify who this individual was and what was happening as you can imagine, this was a very fast paced, fast moving very fluid scene, very dangerous scene that these guys and girls were going into,” Ross said.

Ross said seven people were killed at Sparetime Recreation, one female and six males, from apparent gunshot wounds, Ross said. Seven males inside Schemengees Bar and Grille Restaurant and one male outside the establishment were also killed, Ross said.

Three people who were transferred to nearby hospitals later died, he said.

Ross said eight people have been identified, leaving 10 still unidentified, Ross said.

“There is an arrest warrant for eight counts of murder for Mr. Card. And the reason it’s eight counts, because 10 people have not yet been identified. As those people are identified, the counts will probably go to the total of 18. He should be considered armed and dangerous,” he said.

As a massive manhunt continued Wednesday for Card, Maine State Police said they were expanding a shelter-in-place advisory beyond initial orders for Lewiston and Lisbon to Bowdoin, which is Card’s last known residence, according to police.

“We are expanding the shelter in place advisory and school closings to include the town of Bowdoin. Please stay inside your homes while more than 100 investigators, both local and federal work to locate Robert Card who is a person of interest in the Lewiston shooting,” Maine State Police posted on social media.

More than 100 law enforcement were involved in the search for Card but officials declined to offer any alleged motive for the shootings. A vehicle that was later tied to Card was located at a boat landing in Lisbon, Ross said.

A U.S. official told the AP 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 on condition of anonymity.

Maine Public Safety Department Commissioner Michael Sauschuck declined to offer any specifics on potential motive.

“That’s not an answer that we’re prepared to give today because that leads to motive. You’re talking about behavioral health issues and how that impacts the situation. I would expect you will hear back from us on that in the future,” Sauschuck said. “… We don’t know his location and I’ll leave it at that.”

Many questions remain unanswered outside of motive, including how the suspect could have had access to a weapon and what specific firearm the person used.

A green armored truck and multiple SUVs were seen traveling north on I-95 early Thursday morning just over 20 miles from Lewiston. Multiple helicopters were seen flying over Lewiston, most businesses were closed early in the morning, and streets were relatively empty.

Police also locked down immediate access to both Schemengees Bar and Grille Restaurant and Sparetime Recreation.

Law enforcement armed with long rifles were in front of the Central Maine Medical Center, which said in a statement Wednesday that it was “reacting to a mass casualty, mass shooter event.”

Central Maine Health Care Chief Medical Officer John Alexander said the first patient arrived at 7:24 p.m. and over the next 45 minutes, the hospital in Lewiston received 14 patients, eight were admitted to the hospital. He declined to specify the age or gender of the people.

Five of the eight patients in their care are in stable condition and three are in critical condition, he said.

“From Augusta to Portland, we had incredible support throughout the night and into today,” Alexander said from Lewiston City Hall. “We’ve had an outpouring of support and offers of assistance.”

Materials from the Associated Press were used in this report.

The carnage in Lewiston, Maine, began around 7 p.m., when the first of at least three shooting attacks was reported, according to the Lewiston Sun Journal. At least 22 were reported dead. A manhunt involving hundreds of officers was underway late Wednesday, Maine Department of Public Safety Commissioner Mike Sauschuck said at a press conference.

Cops first received calls about a shooter at a bowling alley, the Sun Journal reported. A short time later, another shooting struck a nearby bar and grill. A children’s event was happening at the bowling alley at the time of the violence, Lewiston Councilor Robert McCarthy told CNN.

Maine State Police urged residents to shelter in place following reports of an active shooter in multiple locations.

“Please stay inside your home with the doors locked,” they wrote social media. “Law enforcement is currently investigating at two locations right now. Again please stay off the streets and allow law enforcement to diffuse the situation.”

A third shooting was reported at a Walmart Distribution Center shortly after 8 p.m. Sirens roared throughout town following reports of a possible fourth shooting around 9 p.m., according to the Sun Journal.

The Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office posted a photo online of a suspect with an assault rifle wearing cargo pants and pointing a weapon. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Boston was assisting the response.

Local cops named Robert Card, 40, as a person of interest in the mass shooting, adding that he “should be considered armed and dangerous.” At the late Wednesday press conference, Sauschuck stopped short of calling him a suspect or providing any details about him.

A vehicle of interest was located in the town of Lisbon, where residents were also asked to shelter in place, according to the commissioner.

He had few details on the situation, saying, “The delay in coming here with you now is simply because we wanted to confirm information from our end.”

The violence left locals stunned.

“It was just a fun night playing cornhole … it’s the last thing you’re expecting, right?” Kathy Lebel, owner of Schemengees Bar & Grille, told the Sun Journal. “I still feel like this whole thing is a nightmare.”

Lebel wasn’t at her establishment at the time of the attack, but said a person walked in and “started shooting,” prompting staff to scramble.

The FBI field office in Boston said it was ready to assist, according to CNN.

“The FBI Boston Division continues to coordinate with our local, state and federal law enforcement partners in Maine and we stand ready to assist with any available resources they need, including evidence response, investigative and tactical support, as well as victim assistance,” the bureau said in a statement.

So far this year, the country has seen over 500 mass shootings, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

Vermont Sen. Angus King said he was “deeply sad” for Lewiston and “all those worried about their family, friends and neighbors.”

Rep. Chellie Pingree echoed the sentiment.

“I am closely monitoring the reports of mass shootings in Lewiston. The unfolding violence is shocking and I am holding the affected communities in my prayers,” the lawmaker said in a statement.

— Brian Niemietz / New York Daily News 

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©2023 New York Daily News. Visit at nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

But it was clear that something devastating had hit Lewiston, in the hours after a shooter allegedly opened fire in the Just In Time Recreation bowling alley and Schemengees Bar & Grille.

It was the first time a Maine community had experienced the kind of highly public mass shooting that makes national news. That was clear from the large public safety response — followed by the groups of journalists in the hours since.

Around 8 p.m., the interstate highway leading to Lewiston was filled with police cruisers and first responders racing to the scene — lights flashing, sirens screaming.

Downtown, the streets were eerily quiet as residents mostly heeded a lockdown warning, save for the occasional bicyclist or passerby.

“This is crazy,” said resident Jess Paquette, who was out walking her dog Henrietta. “This is just nuts.”

But the police presence was hard to ignore over the next few hours. For a time, officers flocked to a Walmart distribution center that was the site of a suspected third shooting, but that site was eventually cleared.

Many other officers remained stationed throughout the city, guarding a hospital where shooting victims had been taken and using searchlights to inspect the insides of cars.

State Police have identified 40-year-old Robert R. Card II as a person of interest in the shootings.

Officers were also set up on Route 196 in the neighboring town of Lisbon, turning away motorists so that they could continue searching after Card’s car was found in that area.

For a time, a helicopter was also circling overhead.

Back in town, even though things were quiet, there were still clear signs of the unfolding tragedy.

Loved ones of victims were seen walking in and out of Central Maine Medical Center, with police officers escorting some families to their cars.

One man asked a reporter for a cigarette, saying his son was shot and in the hospital. He declined to share more information.

Across the river in Auburn, a middle school was converted to a site for people to reunite with loved ones who witnessed the shootings. Small groups of people could be seen walking out, wrapped in blankets and holding each other.

They declined interviews and kept going to their vehicles.

One man and woman stopped in front of their truck and hugged. When they got in the vehicle, a voice could be heard on the other end of a speaker phone call.

“Hi mom,” the voice said. “Are you OK?”

—  Charles Eichacker / Bangor Daily News, Maine 

BDN editor Michael Shepherd, reporter Billy Kobin, and photographers Troy R. Bennett and Linda Coan O’Kresik contributed to this report.

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(c)2023 the Bangor Daily News (Bangor, Maine)

Visit the Bangor Daily News (Bangor, Maine) at www.bangordailynews.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

LEWISTON, Maine (AP) — Shocked and fearful Maine residents kept to their homes for a second night Thursday as hundreds of heavily armed police and FBI agents searched intensely for Robert Card, an Army reservist authorities say fatally shot 18 people at a bowling alley and a bar in the worst mass killing in state history.

Much of Thursday’s search focused on a property belonging to one of Card’s relatives in rural Bowdoin, where trucks and vans full of armed agents from the FBI and other agencies eventually surrounded a home. Card and anyone else inside were repeatedly ordered to surrender.

“You need to come outside now with nothing in your hands. Your hands in the air,” police said through a loudspeaker. In most instances when police execute warrants — even for suspects wanted for violent crimes — they move quickly to enter the home.

But hours later, after repeated announcements and a search, authorities moved off — and it was still unclear whether Card had ever been at the location, state police said.

Richard Goddard, who lives on the road where the search took place, knows the Card family. Robert Card, who is four years younger, knows the terrain well, Goddard said.

“This is is his stomping ground. He grew up here,” he said. “He knows every ledge to hide behind, every thicket.”

Several homes were being searched and every lead pursued in the hunt for Card, a 40-year-old with firearms instructor training. Authorities said he should be considered armed and dangerous and not approached.

Card is suspected of opening fire with at least one rifle at a bar and a bowling alley Wednesday in Lewiston, which is about 15 miles (24 kilometers) from Bowdoin and is Maine’s second-largest city. The evening shootings killed 18 people and wounded 13 others, with three people still hospitalized in critical condition, authorities said.

Authorities haven’t said how many guns were used or how they were obtained.

Schools, doctor’s offices and grocery stores closed and people stayed behind locked doors in cities as far as 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the scenes of the shootings. Maine’s largest city, Portland, closed its public buildings, while Canada Border Services Agency issued an “armed and dangerous” alert to its officers stationed along the U.S. border.

April Stevens lives in the same neighborhood where one of the shootings took place. She turned on all her lights overnight and locked her doors. She knew someone killed at the bar and another person injured who needed surgery.

“We’re praying for everyone,” Stevens said through tears.

The attacks stunned a state of only 1.3 million people that has one of the country’s lowest homicide rates: 29 killings in all of 2022.

Maine Gov. Janet Mills promised to do whatever was needed to find Card and to “hold whoever is responsible for this atrocity accountable … and to seek full justice for the victims and their families.”

As authorities searched for Card, details about his recent behavior emerged. Card underwent a mental health evaluation in mid-July after he began acting erratically while with his reserve regiment, a U.S. official told The Associated Press.

A bulletin sent to police across the country after the attack said Card had been committed to a mental health facility for two weeks this past summer after “hearing voices and threats to shoot up” a military base.

Maine doesn’t require permits to carry guns, and the state has a longstanding culture of gun ownership that is tied to its traditions of hunting and sport shooting. Keeping in mind the strong support for gun rights, lawmakers passed a “yellow flag” law in 2019 that would require police to seek a medical evaluation of anyone believed to be dangerous before then trying to take their guns away. However, critics charged that it was a weaker version of the tougher “red flag” laws that many other states have adopted.

A neighbor, Dave Letarte, said Card’s family let them deer hunt on their property and were kind, although Letarte said he noticed Card appeared to have mental problems for a while.

“People have problems, but you don’t expect them to go on the deep end like that,” Letarte said. “When we saw it on the news last night, I was shocked.”

A telephone number listed for Card in public records was not in service. A woman who answered a phone number for one of Card’s relatives said Thursday afternoon the family was helping the FBI. She didn’t give her name or additional details.

Eight murder warrants were issued for Card after authorities identified eight of the victims, police said. Ten more will likely be issued once the names of the rest of the dead are confirmed, said Maine State Police Col. William Ross.

Three of the 13 people wounded in the shootings were in critical condition and five were hospitalized but stable, Central Maine Medical Center officials said.

The attack started at Just-In-Time Recreation, where a children’s bowling league was taking place, just before 7 p.m. Wednesday.

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.

“He’s pretty shook up,” Poulin said Thursday. “And it’s just sinking in today, like, wow, I was very close to being there. And a lot of the people that got hurt, I know.”

Less than 15 minutes later, numerous 911 calls started coming in from Schemengees Bar and Grille a few miles away.

The search for Card covered both land and water. The Coast Guard sent out a patrol boat Thursday morning along the Kennebec River, but after hours of searching, they found “nothing out of the ordinary,” said Chief Petty Officer Ryan Smith, who is in charge of the Coast Guard’s Boothbay Harbor Station.

A car believed to belong to Card had been discovered by a boat launch in the town of Lisbon near the Androscoggin River, which connects to the Kennebec, and Card’s 15-foot (4.5-meter) boat remains unaccounted for, Smith said.

In many past U.S. mass shootings, the suspect was found — whether dead or alive — within minutes. But Card was still on the loose a full day after the shootings.

Lewiston was mostly empty on an unusually warm fall day Thursday. Changeable message signs reminded people to stay behind locked doors.

In Bates College in Lewiston, students stayed in dorms with the blinds closed, said Diana Florence, whose son is a sophomore. She has a daughter who is a senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which was locked down twice last month for a shooting and a man with a gun.

“I could not believe it — that this is happening again. It’s happening to my son after it just happened to my daughter,” she said in a phone interview Thursday.

The shootings mark 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.

At a news conference, the Lewiston shootings prompted Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Golden in Maine to apologize for opposing a ban on assault weapons in the past. He urged Congress to pass such a law.

“I have opposed efforts to ban deadly weapons of war like the assault rifle used to carry out this crime,” he said. “The time has now come for me to take responsibility for this failure.”

——

This story has been corrected to show the name of the bowling alley is Just-In-Time Recreation, not Sparetime Recreation as authorities had called it.

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Associated Press journalists Patrick Whittle in Portland, Maine; Robert Bukaty in Lewiston, Maine; Darlene Superville and Lolita Baldor in Washington, D.C.; Michael Casey in Boston; Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; Associated Press researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York; and Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.

Officials with the regulatory Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission said surveys have detected a 39% decline in young lobsters in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank areas for 2020-22 compared to 2016-18. The areas are among the most important lobster fishing grounds in the world.

The drop in lobster recruitment is a continuation of a recent trend off New England, said Caitlin Starks, senior fisheries management plan coordinator with the commission.

“I wouldn’t say it’s very surprising just given that we’ve seen a declining trend for a number of years now,” Starks said. “We’re seeing decline in those recruits.”

The commission announced the drop in young lobsters just months after adopting new rules designed to better protect the creatures from overfishing. The new rules state that fishermen must adhere to stricter size limitations on the lobsters they can catch when the young lobsters show a decline of 35% or more.

The initial timeline in the new rules would have brought the stricter rules into play on June 1, 2024, but Commissioner Patrick Keliher of the Maine Department of Marine Resources successfully moved to delay implementation to Jan. 1, 2025. Keliher said the decline must be taken seriously, but the U.S. lobster fishery would have inequities with Canadian fishermen if they switched to new size requirements too quickly.

“Because the trigger was tripped much more quickly than we anticipated, the delay in implementing the gauge size increase will provide the Gulf of Maine states the opportunity to coordinate with Canada regarding possible trade implications and give the industry and gauge makers additional time to prepare for these changes,” Keliher said.

American Airlines has announced that it will be adding daily summer flights from New York LaGuardia Airport and Washington Reagan National Airport to Cape Cod Gateway Airport in Hyannis.

The airline will also add daily summer service from LaGuardia to Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. The other New England and Canadian routes that American Airlines announced on Thursday were LaGuardia to: Portland, Maine; Bangor, Maine; and Halifax, Canada.

Passengers on all of these new flights will be traveling on 76-seat Embraer E-175 aircrafts.

The airline’s service to the Cape will give year-round residents and tourists another travel option, Cape Cod Gateway Airport Manager Katie Servis told the Herald on Thursday. American will be joining JetBlue and Cape Air at the Hyannis airport.

“This will be absolutely terrific for our community,” Servis said. “This will lead to better connectivity for the folks in our community.”

Instead of battling traffic and driving up to Boston where parking is more expensive, people on the Cape will be able to fly from Hyannis to Washington, D.C. and New York — where they can get connections to destinations across the country and abroad, Servis said.

The flights from New York to Hyannis will start on June 5 next year, followed by the launch of flights from Washington, D.C. to Hyannis on June 22.

“American continues to build a network that gives customers the most comprehensive access to the places they want to visit with nine new routes for next summer,” said Brian Znotins, American’s senior VP of Network and Schedule Planning.

“New service to Hyannis, expanded service from New York, and more international service grows the largest global network in the United States, connecting more cities than any other U.S. carrier, for a summer like no other,” Znotins added.

Cape Cod Gateway Airport officials have been trying to “woo” American to Hyannis for the last five years, Servis said. Part of the airport’s pitch was focused on how the Cape’s year-round population has been growing.

As of next year, American’s service at Hyannis will be for only the summer months — similar to JetBlue.

“We would love for it to become year-round service,” the airport’s manager said. “We have a lot of year-round residents with homes in Florida, for instance, who would love to fly from Hyannis to connect to their final destination in Florida.”

Flights to Hyannis will be available for purchase starting on Oct. 23. Tickets for other routes will be available for purchase starting on Oct. 16.

Dr. Emily Mecklenburg, 40, of Rockland, was declared dead Monday after she was evacuated from the stricken vessel Grace Bailey by the Coast Guard, Nicole Jacques, a spokesperson for owners of the schooner, said Tuesday. Three others who were injured were taken to PenBay Medical Center in Rockport where Mecklenburg worked, officials said.

The Coast Guard is investigating why the schooner’s main mast snapped in conditions that were not windy. The schooner was about 1 mile east of Rockland harbor, the Coast Guard said.

There’s no timeline for the investigation, which could take weeks or months.

“We want to make sure the investigation is being done thoroughly and that the necessary boxes are being checked,” Ensign Matthew Bartnick, a Coast Guard spokesperson in Maine, said Tuesday.

The Grace Bailey was part of Maine’s windjammer fleet comprised mostly of large historic sailboats that take tourists on multi-day outings. The Grace Bailey was returning from a four-day excursion when the mast snapped late Monday morning.

An emergency medical technician who assisted said that one person was briefly trapped under the fallen mast. Three others suffered head and back injuries, he said.

While the Grace Bailey was old, built in 1882, there are several older vessels that carry passengers off the Maine coast. The Lewis R. French and Stephen Taber were both built in 1871, Jacques said.

All of those vessels have been refurbished multiple times over the years, and most of the planks and other components have been replaced, Jacques said. The mast that splintered was not Grace Bailey’s original mast, she said.

The Grace Bailey, which was carrying 33 passengers and crew, was formerly known as the Mattie before coming under new ownership and being renamed in the past year. One of the new owners is actor Marc Evan Jackson, who is known for his roles on TV shows “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” “Parks and Recreation” and “The Good Place.”

Jackson used to sail on windjammers as a young man and comes back year after year to sail in Maine, Jacques said. He decided to become a part owner when the opportunity presented itself, she said.

The last vestiges of Tropical Storm Philippe passing through Maine this weekend will leave a chance of rain in its wake, according to Allan Dunham, a meteorologist with the NWS.

“It’s a weak cold front extending from (Philippe),” Dunham said. That front will leave “about a 30% chance of rain” behind it according to the meteorologist.

Those enjoying the day off while the federal government observes Columbus Day will get nice weather Monday, according to the NWS. The temperature will only reach the low 60s, but there won’t be much wind and the sun will be shining through most of the day, Dunham said.

It will be chilly overnight Monday, with temps falling into the upper-40s and clouds rolling in.

Those clouds will bring a 30% chance of rain on Tuesday, Dunham said, though it won’t be “a total washout” and those that don’t get rain will have an otherwise partly cloudy day to start the short work week.

“There will be some sunshine around,” Dunham said.

Temperatures overnight Tuesday will again fall into the mid-40s, according to the NWS, and the chance of rain carries through the evening but drops to 20%.

Wednesday will be clear and sunny, with high temperatures in the mid to upper 60s and a light breeze. Overnight the mercury falls into the 40s.

Light clouds Thursday will bring a mostly sunny day and more middle-60 highs, Dunham said. Temperatures will fall to the upper 40s overnight, according to the NWS.

Friday night there is a slight chance of showers though most of the day will see sunny weather and low-60s temperatures. Clouds will roll in under an about 10 mph wind in the evening and bring an about 40% chance of rain with it.

As of Sunday evening the NWS forecasts “showers likely” for the coming weekend, with chances of precipitation nearing 60%.

According to Dunham the warm weather we’ve seen recently might be the last we get for the year, though he admitted he was mostly focused on what the next week would look like. The further we get into autumn, however, the colder it’s going to get, he said.

No, those weren’t ghost sharks and zombie sharks being spotted close to shore along Cape Cod during this first week of October.

Several reports of great white sharks lit up the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s Sharktivity app — with many of the shark sightings off of Chatham, with other spottings along Orleans and Eastham. White shark activity off the Cape remains at its peak through October, according to recent history.

“50 ft from beach moving south tight to shore,” reads a Chatham shark sighting this week on the Sharktivity app.

“Approximately 10 feet tagged, one other was sighted at the same time in the same area by the pilot,” another sighting reads.

Many of the reports were along Chatham’s Monomoy Island, a hotbed for shark activity as the apex predators hunt for seals close to shore.

“Approximately 11 to 12 feet with a 6 to 8 inch open wound just ahead of the left side of the dorsal fin,” the Sharktivity post reads. “Looks like it might be from a motor skeg.”

October has been the third busiest month for shark activity along the Cape in recent years.

Last year, August had the most shark detections at receivers, according to the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s Logbook.

There were 66,097 detections of tagged sharks in August last year, followed by September in second place with 47,177 detections and October in third place with 32,409 detections.

The Cape isn’t the only region with great white sharks this time of year. Sharks also patrol the waters of northern New England throughout early autumn.

“Looks like I’m not the only one checking out the fall foliage in Maine,” posted MA Sharks, which is run by local shark researcher John Chisholm, who confirms sightings for the Sharktivity app. “Tagged White Shark ‘Punk’ just pinged the real-time receiver off Old Orchard Beach.

“This a good reminder that it is still shark season and with the unseasonably warm weather water users need to be #SharkSmart and remain vigilant!” Chisholm added. “If you see a shark remember to report it on the #Sharktivity app.”

Tagging data from the real-time receivers, which are deployed for research purposes, are integrated into the Sharktivity app to raise awareness of the presence of white sharks off the coast.

Napoleon Gonzalez, of Etna, assumed the identity of his brother in 1965, a quarter century after his sibling’s death as an infant, and used the stolen identity to obtain Social Security benefits under both identities, multiple passports and state identification cards, law enforcement officials said.

A U.S. District Court jury in Bangor on Friday convicted him of mail fraud, Social Security fraud, passport fraud and identity theft. Mail fraud carries the greatest potential prison sentence, up to 20 years.

His attorney said Tuesday that he intends to appeal and will seek to keep Gonzalez out prison until the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issues a ruling.

Gonzalez’s benefits were previously investigated by the Social Security Administration in 2010 for potential fraud and his benefits were upheld.

A new investigation was launched in 2020 after facial identification software indicated Gonzalez’s face was on two state identification cards.

The facial recognition technology is used by the Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles to ensure no one obtains multiple credentials or credentials under someone else’s name, said Emily Cook, spokesperson for the secretary of state’s office.

“When fraud is detected, the fraudulent transactions are investigated and referred for administrative and/or criminal proceedings. That is what happened with this case,” she said.

When confronted, Gonzalez claimed that he took on his deceased brother’s identity at the direction of the Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations while participating in an undercover operation in the 1960s, according to court documents. He later admitted to faking his death under his own identity and continuing with his brother’s identity, the documents indicated.

A sentencing date has not yet been set for Gonzalez, who remains free.

His attorney, Harris Mattson, said he doesn’t think the government proved all of the elements of the multiple counts against his client, and he questioned the wisdom of the imposition of a lengthy prison sentence for his client at his advanced age.

Mattson said it’s ironic that it would cost more for his client to be imprisoned than the cost of the dual benefits he had been receiving.

“At the age of 86, he doesn’t know how much longer he has to live. He could easily be in prison for the rest of his life,” Mattson said.