Maine’s close-knit community of deaf and hard of hearing people is grieving in the wake of the Lewiston shootings that killed beloved members, many of whom were ardent advocates.
The shootings, at a bowling alley and a bar in Lewiston, killed at least four people in the deaf community, the Maine Educational Center for the Deaf said Friday. The shootings killed 18 people in total and injured 13 others.
Joshua Seal, 36, was a sign language interpreter among those killed while he was playing in a cornhole tournament at Schemengees Bar with friends. In the past couple years, he became known as an interpreter during Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s pandemic briefings.
His wife Elizabeth Seal said in a Facebook post that he was “a wonderful husband, my best friend, and my soulmate. He was also a wonderful boss, an incredible interpreter, a great friend, a loving son, brother, uncle, and grandson.”
“It is with a heavy heart that I share with you all that Joshua Seal has passed away … no, he was murdered, in the 10/25 shooting in Lewiston. It still feels surreal,” she wrote.
Billy Brackett, 48; Steve Vozzella, 45; and Bryan MacFarlane, 41, were also stalwart members of Maine’s community of deaf people who died in the shootings, the educational center said. The Maine Educational Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf are located on Mackworth Island in Falmouth, near Portland.
All 18 victims of the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine have been identified
Maine Department of Public Safety
The school and center were closed on Friday due to the shooting, but the island became a gathering place for people to share stories and grieve, said Karen Hopkins, the executive director.
“We have had some people come today to this island to be present and think about the loss in our community,” Hopkins said. “How is this affecting our community? It’s horrific. It’s unimaginable.”
Police were still investigating the shootings and searching for suspect Robert Card on Friday afternoon. They have not speculated on a motivate for the shootings.
The four slain members of the deaf community all have connections to the Maine Educational Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf. Seal had four deaf children who were all connected to the institutions’ educational programs, Hopkins said.
Brackett attended the school and had a daughter who was in early intervention, Hopkins said. MacFarlane also attended the school as a student and Vozzella’s wife Megan was an alumnus of the school, Hopkins said.
“Our staff is struggling because they are our friends,” Hopkins said.
An assault-style firearm was found in the abandoned vehicle belonging to the suspect in the Lewiston, Maine, mass shooting, CBS News has learned. The firearm had been legally purchased. The suspect’s cell phone has also been found, and investigators hope it could shed details on the motive into the killings. Jeff Pegues has details.
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The Coast Guard is now involved in the search for the man suspected of committing two mass shootings in Lewiston, Maine, after the suspect’s vehicle was found abandoned near a boat launch near the Androscoggin River. Helicopters and divers were canvassing the river for the 40-year-old Army reservist. Jericka Duncan reports.
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Mike Sauschuck, the commissioner of the Maine Department of Public Safety, said in a Friday news conference that the divers would be “checking for evidence” and possible “potential bodies” after 18 people were killed and 13 injured on Wednesday night.
“There will be a lot of activity in the water today,” Sauschuck said. “… The river is a big piece of this.”
Card’s car, a white Subaru Outback, was found near a boat launch on the Androscoggin River. He is now believed to be in a 15-foot lake boat. According to a law enforcement bulletin reviewed by CBS News, Card also has a 2019 Sea Doo green boat registered in his name. It’s not clear whether that’s the same vessel as the lake boat.
The Androscoggin River connects to the Kennebec River. Both rivers are more than 170 miles long and empty into the Gulf of Maine. Some of the gulf’s shoreline is in Canada.
Sauschuck said that there would be air flyovers to help determine where divers should enter the river. Where they go into the water will depend on currents, visibility and other factors, Sauschuck said. Sonar technology will also be used in the search. Sauschuck also said that the Brookfield Power Company, which operates two dams on the river, will try to lower the current to make it easier for divers to navigate the waterway.
The Maine State Police dive team will lead the charge, and officers from the agency will work the shore line along the river.
Card remains missing after carrying out a mass shooting on Wednesday at two locations in Lewiston, Maine. Eighteen people were killed, and 13 others were injured. Card has been missing ever since.
Law enforcement officials gather in the road leading to the home of the suspect being sought in connection with two mass shootings on October 26, in Bowdoin, Maine. Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Law enforcement agencies have descended upon southern Maine to search for Robert Card, the suspect in Wednesday’s mass shootings — but his background could make the effort to find him both challenging and dangerous, experts told CNN.
“This is a person who has military training. They have an elevated level of firearms proficiency, but they also have the knowledge of military tactics, most notably evasion and the strategy on how to go undetected,” said CNN Law Enforcement Analyst Jonathan Wackrow. “All of that going on is challenging to law enforcement.”
His experience with guns: Card is a certified firearms instructor, law enforcement officials in Maine told CNN. And while he’s had no deployments, records provided by the Army indicate Card is a petroleum supply specialist in the Army reserve.
The 40-year-old never saw combat, according to Clifford Steeves, a former colleague in Card’s Army Reserve Unit. But Card received extensive training, including with firearms, he said, adding Card was a skilled marksman and among the best shooters in their unit.
Familiar with the outdoors: Much of the search is happening in a wooded area — and Card may be comfortable in the outdoors simply by virtue of being a resident of Maine, said Rob D’Amico, a retired FBI agent and former member of the bureau’s Hostage Rescue Team.
“I would say living up in Maine he has more outdoor experience than most people get in their bootcamp experience in the Army,” D’Amico said.
His careful planning: Several law enforcement experts also pointed to what they said was evidence of careful planning by the suspect.
One example is the location where his white Subaru was found — at the Pejepscot Boat Launch in Lisbon, about 8 miles southeast of Lewiston, raising the possibility that he absconded on the water.
“The question is, does he have a boat there? Or is he aware of a boat he could take there, and is that a second part of the plan, or just because he has done his shooting and he is in escape mode and it’s where he ended up? Those are unknowns,” said CNN Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst John Miller.
The manhunt continued Friday for the suspect in the mass shootings that killed 18 people and injured 13 in Lewiston, Maine, on Wednesday night.
Authorities are searching for 40-year-old Robert Card, Maine Public Safety Commissioner Mike Sauschuck told reporters during a news conference Thursday. Police said he should be considered armed and dangerous.
Hundreds of police and about 80 FBI agents, as well as federal marshals and people from other agencies, are involved in the search.
Residents of local communities remained under shelter-in-place advisories.
Details about many of the shooting victims were being revealed as the search for Card intensified.
Heavily armed law enforcement officers were seen surrounding a house in the nearby town of Bowdoin, where Card is from, Thursday night.
“Law enforcement is at a home in Bowdoin as part of the investigation into the Lewiston shootings and the search for Robert Card,” the Maine Department of Public Safety confirmed. But officers completed their search and cleared the scene without finding the suspect.
Law enforcement officials gather in the road in Bowdoin, Maine, leading to the home of a suspect being sought in connection with two mass shootings in nearby Lewiston, Oct. 26, 2023.
Getty Images
The deadly rampage began a little before 7 p.m. Wednesday evening at Sparetime Recreation, a bowling alley in Lewiston, where seven people were killed; six males and one female died of apparent gunshot wounds, state police Col. William Ross said during the news conference.
At the second shooting scene, Schemengees Bar and Grille, about 4 miles away, seven males inside the establishment and one outside were killed, Ross said. Three other people died at an area hospital.
“For me it was incomprehensible that this can happen in Lewiston, Maine,” Mayor Carl Sheline told CBS News Boston.
“Our city is facing this incredible loss and I am completely broken for our city, and my heart really goes out to the victims and their families right now,” Sheline said.
Investigators are looking into whether the suspect was targeting a specific individual, who is believed to be a current or former girlfriend, two U.S. officials and a former high-ranking official told CBS News. It wasn’t clear if the individual was at either of the two locations that were attacked.
Police received a 911 call about the bowling alley shooting at about 6:56 p.m. EDT, Ross said. Just over 10 minutes later, at about 7:08 p.m., police received multiple calls about the second shooting. Police from Lewiston and the surrounding area responded to the shootings.
The weapon used in the shootings was a semi-automatic rifle with an extended magazine and scope, CBS News senior investigative producer Pat Milton reported.
The fatalities
Arthur Strout, a 42-year-old father of three, was at Schemengees playing pool with his father, Arthur Barnard, who told CBS News he left the bar before the shooting that claimed his son’s life. Strout was described by his family as “a great dad.”
Those who knew 76-year-old Bob Violette told CBS News Boston he was gunned down doing what he loved: bowling. Violette was teaching at a youth bowling league inside Sparetime Recreation, a friend said, when the gunfire erupted.
Michael Deslauriers II was bowling with family and friends at Sparetime at the time of the shootings. Michael’s father confirmed to CBS News Boston that he is one of the deceased. Deslauriers Sr. said his son and a friend made sure their wives and several children were safe before charging at the shooter. He said both men were killed.
Joseph Walker was a bar manager at Schemengees and was working when the shooting began. His father confirmed his death to CBS News. Auburn City Councilor Leroy Walker told CBS New Boston Joseph Walker was killed as he went after the gunman with a butcher knife.
Karen Hopkins, executive director of the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf in Falmouth, Maine, said on Facebook that, “We lost four of our cherished community members in (the) Lewiston shootings. Including two fathers of children in our programs.” She said the four were Joshua Seal, Billy Brackett, Steve Vozzella and Bryan MacFarlane. CBS Portland, Maine affiliate WGME-TV says Seal was “a familiar face during the pandemic as an interpreter for the Maine Center for Disease Control & Prevention.
The schools superintendent in Winthrop, Maine, Jim Hodgkin, said in a letter to parents that a freshman at the high school, his father and an uncle of another high school student were killed in Lewiston.
General Dynamics Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Peyton Brewer-Ross, a member of the company’s pipe shop test crew, was slain in the shootings. The company said he was “a valuable part of our team” and “will be sorely missed.”
Suspect’s military and mental health history
The suspect, a sergeant first class in the U.S. Army Reserve, is a petroleum supply specialist, according to the Army. He enlisted in the Reserve in 2002 and doesn’t have any combat deployments. He is assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 304th Infantry Regiment in Saco, Maine, U.S. Army spokesperson Bryce Dubee told CBS News.
A Maine law enforcement bulletin seen by CBS News had said the suspect was a trained firearms instructor, but an updated bulletin said there’s no indication that he was an instructor.
He recently reported mental health issues, including hearing voices, according to the bulletin. He had also threatened to shoot up the National Guard base in Saco, the bulletin said, and he was reported to have been committed to a mental health facility for two weeks this summer.
In July, while training at the U.S. Military Academy in New York, leaders of the suspect’s unit told garrison staff that he was “behaving erratically,” a New York Army National Guard spokesperson told CBS News.
The New York State Police was contacted and took the suspect to an Army hospital at West Point to be evaluated, the spokesperson told CBS News. When asked about the incident, the state police told CBS News it was an active investigation and declined to comment.
Dubee, the Army spokesperson, told CBS News there aren’t any records to indicate the suspect participated in the West Point training. A U.S. official said this is because almost within the first day, he started acting erratically.
Authorities shared images of the suspect and asked people to contact them “if you recognize this individual.”
Law enforcement officials released a photo of a man with a semiautomatic rifle they were calling a suspect in a mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, on Oct. 25, 2023.
Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office via REUTERS
On Thursday morning, amid a massive search for the suspect, the police chief for Lisbon, Maine, some 7 miles southeast of Lewiston, urged people to contact authorities if they see anything suspicious.
“If something isn’t right, if you look out in your yard and you’re like, that door wasn’t open or, you know, that trailer wasn’t positioned that way, if you see anything suspicious, please call us because that’s how we’re going to be able to work together and be able to get to the bottom of this,” Chief Ryan McGee told reporters.
The suspect has connections to Massachusetts, according to CBS News Boston sources, and Massachusetts State Police and federal agents are staged at the Maine border. Canada’s Border Services Agency issued an “armed and dangerous” alert to its officers along the U.S.-Canada border, according to the Canadian Press.
According to the Maine law enforcement bulletin, a white Subaru Outback registered to the suspect was found. Maine State Police said earlier the “vehicle of interest” was recovered by police in Lisbon.
The vehicle was found near a boat launch near the Androscoggin River, which flows into the Kennebec River, CBS News’ Milton reported.
The U.S. Coast Guard is searching waterways for the suspect’s boat with a response vessel from Boothbay Harbor, Maine, and a fixed-wing aircraft from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Milton and CBS News’ Robert Legare reported.
Two other vehicles were registered to the suspect in Maine: a 2022 Yamaha motorcycle and a 2019 Sea-Doo green boat, according to the bulletin.
Police in Lewiston, Maine, have released a photo of this car wanted in connection with an active shooting situation on Oct. 25, 2023.
Lewiston Police Department
State police urged residents of Lewiston and Lisbon to shelter in place. “Please stay inside your home with the doors locked,” they wrote on social media.
Authorities later expanded the shelter-in-place advisory to Bowdoin. “Please stay inside your homes while more than 100 investigators, both local and federal work to locate Robert Card,” they said.
The city of Auburn, Maine, which borders Lewiston to the west, also advised residents to shelter in place. Lewiston is about 45 minutes north of Portland.
Numerous schools in the region closed Thursday due to the manhunt, WGME reported. Portland is among the places where schools were shut.
Heavily armed police stand at the ambulance entrance to the Central Maine Medical Center on Oct. 26, 2023, in Lewiston, Maine, where many of the shooting victims were brought.
John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
“My heart is crushed”
An owner of Schemengees said in a Facebook post: “My heart is crushed. I am at a loss for words. In a split second your world gets turn upside down for no good reason. We loss great people in this community. How can we make any sense of this. Sending out prayers to everyone.”
One man at the bowling alley said he heard about 10 shots and thought the first was a balloon popping. “I had my back turned to the door. And as soon as I turned and saw it was not a balloon — he was holding a weapon — I just booked it,” he told The Associated Press, adding that he then hurried down the length of the alley and hid in the machinery behind the pins.
At Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, three patients from the shooting died, according to Dr. John Alexander, chief medical officer of Central Maine Healthcare. Three other patients were in critical condition, while five more were in stable condition and two additional patients were transferred to other hospitals.
Maine has had between 16 to 29 homicides each year since 2012, according to the Reuters news service, citing state police.
A police officer walks along a rural road during a manhunt for the suspect of Wednesday’s mass shootings, Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023, in Lisbon, Maine.
Robert F. Bukaty / AP
President Biden was initially briefed on the shooting during Wednesday night’s state dinner honoring Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Thursday afternoon. Mr. Biden also spoke with Maine Governor Janet Mills; the state’s senators, Susan Collins and Angus King; and one of its members of Congress, Jared Golden.
“He pledged full federal support in the wake of this horrific tragedy,” Jean-Pierre said, adding that the president received another briefing Thursday morning.
Mr. Biden called the shooting a tragedy and urged Republicans in Congress to work with his administration to pass gun control measures including an assault weapons ban and a ban on high capacity magazines.
“For countless Americans who have survived gun violence and been traumatized by it, a shooting such as this reopens deep and painful wounds,” the president said in a statement. “Far too many Americans have now had a family member killed or injured as a result of gun violence. That is not normal, and we cannot accept it.”
The FBI is also responding to the shooting, an agency official told CBS News.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has also been briefed.
“The entire Department of Homeland Security grieves with the loved ones of those killed and injured, and stands with the brave law enforcement officers and first responders who are currently working to secure and safeguard the people of Lewiston,” Mayorkas said in a statement.
Mills released a statement saying she was briefed on the situation. “I urge all people in the area to follow the direction of State and local enforcement,” Mills said. “I will continue to monitor the situation and remain in close contact with public safety officials.”
King’s office said in a statement that he was “deeply sad for the city of Lewiston and all those worried about their family, friends and neighbors.”
Collins noted on social media that she had also spoken with Mr. Biden. “As our state mourns this horrific mass shooting, we appreciate the support we’ve received from across the country, including the call I received from President Biden offering assistance,” she wrote.
“I have opposed efforts to ban deadly weapons of war, like the assault rifle used to carry out this crime,” Golden said at a news conference. “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.”
-Evan Coan and Eleanor Watson contributed reporting. The Associated Press contributed reporting.
John Dickerson reports on the manhunt for a mass shooting suspect in Maine, what makes up the country’s budget, and what author McKay Coppins reveals about Mitt Romney in his new book.
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Lewiston, Maine — Arthur Strout, a 42-year-old father of three, was at Schemengees Bar and Grill in Lewiston, Maine, on Wednesday evening, playing pool with his father, Arthur Barnard.
Barnard told CBS News he left the bar prior to the shooting that claimed his son’s life. Barnard said Strout had initially planned to leave with him but decided to stay at the bar.
“[Arthur] was supposed to leave with me because he didn’t bring his car,” Bernard said, describing his son as someone who “could always laugh at something no matter how bad it was.”
Many people in the quiet city of Lewiston — with a population of about 38,000 — woke up Thursday morning to the news that someone they knew had been killed in Wednesday night’s mass shootings, which left at least 18 people dead and 13 injured.
The gunman opened fire at two locations: Schemengees, and Sparetime Recreation, a bowling alley about four miles away.
Maine State Police Col. William Ross said Thursday that seven people were fatally shot inside Schemengees, and another was killed outside the bar.
“I said, ‘OK,’ and he said ‘I love you,’ because all my kids tell me that every time we see each other,” Barnard said of his words to Strout as he left the bar. “Ten minutes later, I get a phone call.”
Kristy Strout, Arthur’s wife, said the two had been married for almost seven years.
“He’s helped me raise my children since they were very, very little,” Strout’s wife, Kristy Strout, said. “His daughter’s only 13 and without a dad because of all of this. Because of one man’s choices, my daughter has to grow up without a father.”
“He tried to be tough with his kids, but at the same time he was just, he was a great dad,” Barnard said. “I just was proud of him.”
The suspect in the shooting, identified as 40-year-old Robert Card, remained at large as of Thursday evening.
“I hope they catch this person,” Kristy said. “I’m angry my husband is dead and he’s running free.”
Law enforcement officials on Thursday surrounded the last known address of the suspect in two shootings that left at least 18 people dead and dozens wounded in Lewiston, Maine.
The Associated Press (AP) reported heavily armed officials returned to a house in the town of Bowdoin a few minutes before 8 p.m. The homeowner is a relative of Robert Card, authorities’ lone suspect in Wednesday’s deadly shootings at a bowling alley and a bar. As of press time, it was not known if Card was inside the residence.
“You need to come outside now with nothing in your hands. Your hands in the air,” police shouted through a megaphone, instructing Card or anyone in the house to come outside, according to the AP.
The gunman on Wednesday opened fire at Schemengees Bar and Grille and Just-In-Time Recreation in Lewiston, police said.
Law enforcement officials gather in a Bowdoin, Maine, road leading to the last known home of the suspect in two mass shootings in Lewiston on Wednesday. Joe Raedle/Getty Images
According to information released by the Maine State Police, Card is a trained firearms instructor believed to be in the U.S. Army Reserve stationed in Saco, Maine.
Newsweek reached out to the state police via email for more details on Thursday night.
Authorities said Card had recently reported suffering from mental health issues, including hearing voices and threatening to shoot up the National Guard Base in Saco. Card was also reportedly admitted into a mental health facility for two weeks in the summer, but a police document did not provide details of the treatment he received or his condition.
While hundreds of law enforcement agents search for Card, residents in Lewiston and the surrounding area have been warned to stay inside their homes as he is considered armed and dangerous.
Card was last seen wearing brown clothing and carrying an assault-style rifle. According to police, Card was last known to be driving a white 2013 Subaru Outback bearing Maine license plate number 9246PD.
Authorities have shared a photo of the Subaru as well as multiple photographs of Card on social media.
Along with hunting for Card on land, authorities are also searching on water.
On Thursday morning, the Coast Guard sent a patrol boat out along the Kennebec River. A Coast Guard officer told the AP they had no direct intelligence that suggested Card may have tried to escape by boat but were “just doing our due diligence.”
Maine Governor Janet Mills, a Democrat, said in a Thursday statement that “the full weight” of her administration is backing law enforcement efforts to capture Card.
She also vowed “to hold whoever is responsible for this atrocity accountable under the full force of state and federal law; and to seek full justice for the victims and their families. We are not, and we will not, rest in this endeavor.”
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Lewiston, a former mill town that is now home to colleges and health care systems, now joins the list of American cities forever linked by the tragedy of a mass shooting. Jericka Duncan has more.
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Many people in the quiet city of Lewiston woke up Thursday morning to the news that someone they knew had been killed in Wednesday night’s mass shootings. Elaine Quijano has more.
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CBS News has learned that investigators are looking into whether the 40-year-old suspect in Wednesday’s mass shootings in Lewiston, Maine, was targeting his current or former girlfriend. Jeff Pegues has more.
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Authorities are actively searching for a 40-year-old Army reservist suspected in the mass shootings in Lewiston, Maine, Wednesday night which left at least 18 people dead and 13 wounded. Jericka Duncan has the latest.
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The investigation into a mass shooting that left at least 18 people dead at a bar and a bowling alley in Lewiston, Maine on Wednesday evening continues to unfold, but advocates and experts say the attack has already highlighted Maine’s legal laxity on gun safety.
Specifically, Maine doesn’t have some measures that have been shown to reduce gun deaths among adults, such background checks for handgun sales or laws that require gun permits— which in his own research found was associated with a 60% reduced risk of mass shootings.
Michael Rocque, a professor who has studied gun laws at Bates University in Lewiston, Maine—which was on lockdown at the time of Rocque’s interview with TIME— said that he is already worried the shooting could quickly be forgotten without taking measures to prevent more gun deaths. “We have tools at our disposal that maybe won’t stop all crime from happening, but potentially could prevent one tragedy. Isn’t that worth it, if we can do it without infringing on people’s rights?” said Rocque.
In recent years, efforts to enact gun safety measures have floundered in the state. In June, the state Senate rejected a bill that would have required background checks for private gun sales, including at gun shows, and instead passed a law prohibiting people from buying guns for someone banned from owning them. And while other states have embraced red flag laws, Maine currently only has what has been called a “yellow flag law,” which requires getting a medical professional’s opinion, in addition to a court order, to confiscate someone’s firearm temporarily; and up until recently, the law wasn’t being strongly enforced, the Portland Press Herald reported,
As Monisha Henley, senior vice president of government affairs at gun safety activist group Everytown, put it, “Gun laws really do save lives, and Maine doesn’t have that many.”
In Rocque’s view, Maine has been slow to enact gun control, in part, because residents tend to see the state as safe. In 2021, Maine had a gun death rate of 12.6 per 100,000, below the national average, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics. Many people in Maine—Rocque included—are also hunters, and Mainers often see themselves as “blue collar people who handle their own business,” he says. Many residents are also gun owners: from 2007 to 2016, about 45% of adults in the state were gun owners, compared to a national average of 32% in 2016, according to research from the RAND Corporation.
However, Rocque argues that he’s optimistic that Maine residents will find common ground after the shooting, and people can work to prevent violence before it happens. In particular, he says, Maine’s yellow flag law has received bipartisan support, and could be an important tool going forward to prevent future tragedies if law enforcement continues to be willing to enforce them. Mass shootings “rarely happen out of the blue,” he says, noting that shooters often make threats or share their plans with others.
Rosanna Smart, co-director of RAND’s Gun Policy in America initiative—which analyzes the effectiveness of gun safety measures— says that while there’s limited evidence showing which laws prevent mass shootings specifically, given that they’re relatively rare—bans on high-capacity magazines appear to reduce the number of deaths in mass shootings. Beyond mass shootings, there’s also evidence that some policies are associated with a lower rate of gun homicides overall, says Smart, including background checks and permits for buying guns.
Maine could also consider enacting laws that could not only prevent homicides, but prevent gun deaths by suicide, says Smart. Despite the relatively low rate of violent crime in the state, the state has a high rate of suicide gun deaths, at a rate of 9.2 deaths per 100,000 people compared to 6.9 per 100,000 nationwide. In particular, she says, requiring a waiting period before buying guns seem to reduce suicide deaths. “If the goal is to reduce firearm deaths, a focus on firearm suicides is certainly needed alongside any focus on interpersonal forms of firearm violence,” she says.
A Coast Guard official told CBS News that it has deployed resources to help search for Robert Card, the suspect in a mass shooting that left 18 people in Lewiston, Maine, dead late last night.
Card has been charged with eight counts of murder, officials said this morning. He’s expected to be charged with further counts as the victims of the shooting are identified. On Wednesday night, police said they were searching for a “vehicle of interest,” a white Subaru Outback that was registered to Card.
A law enforcement source told CBS News that the vehicle was found near a boat launch. Bowdoin College, an area college that is closed today amid shelter-in-place advisories, said in an emergency bulletin that the vehicle was “abandoned” by a boat dock.
The Coast Guard is now using a response vessel dispatched from Boothbay Harbor, Maine, and a fixed-wing aircraft from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, to search the waterways for Card, who is believed to be in a 15-foot lake boat. The search is focused on the northern shore of the waterway.
According to a Maine law enforcement bulletin seen by CBS News, Card has a 2022 Yamaha motorcycle and a 2019 Sea-Doo green boat registered in his name, in addition to the white Subaru. It’s not clear if the Sea-Doo boat is the same boat that Card is believed to be in.
Card’s car was found near the Androscoggin River, which flows into the Kennebec River. Both rivers are more than 170 miles long and empty into the Gulf of Maine. Some of the gulf’s shoreline is in Canada. Canada’s Border Services Agency issued an “armed and dangerous” alert to its officers along the U.S.-Canada border on Thursday, according to the Canadian Press.
Card is enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve, where he has served as a petroleum supply specialist since 2002, and has an active military ID, which gives him access to any military base, according to the law enforcement bulletin.
Card recently reported experiencing mental health issues, including hearing voices, and threatened to shoot up a military base in Saco, Maine, according to the law enforcement bulletin. Over the summer, he was committed to a mental health facility for two weeks, the bulletin said. Leaders of the U.S. Army Reserve’s 3rd battalion told garrison staff that Card was “behaving erratically” in mid-July, according to a statement from a spokesperson for the New York Army National Guard.
“Out of concern for his safety, the unit requested that law enforcement be contacted,” the spokesperson said in the statement. “New York State Police responded and transported Card to Keller Army Community Hospital at the United States Military Academy for medical evaluation.”
The shooting has led to renewed calls from President Biden for Congress to pass legislation banning semi-automatic weapons and high-capacity magazines, and enact universal background checks, though such measures are unlikely to be considered by the GOP-led House.
Still, Mr. Biden has repeatedly implored the divided Congress to act and on Thursday, he declared “this is the very least we owe every American who now bears the scars — physical and mental — of this latest attack.”
In Maine, state lawmakers considered several measures this year that would have strengthened the state’s gun laws, though unsuccessfully.
The Maine House approved in June a measure that would have tightened background checks for private gun sales, but the proposal failed in the state Senate. The state House this summer also passed a bill that would have banned bump stocks and other rapid-fire modification devices, but it, too, was rejected by the Maine Senate.
Legislation that would’ve imposed a 72-hour waiting period after a gun sale was rejected by both chambers of the Maine legislature.
A Maine law enacted in 2015 allows people who are at least 21 years old to carry a concealed handgun without a permit. Those between the ages of 18 and 20 are required to have a permit to carry concealed, according to state law.
But it remains illegal to have a gun in public places including courthouses, state parks, Acadia National Park, schools, federal buildings and the state capitol area in Augusta, and on private property where it’s barred by the owner. Guns are also prohibited in “establishments licensed for on-premises consumption of liquor” if the establishment has signs posted that bar or limit firearms, which patrons are likely to see, or if a patron has a gun while intoxicated.
People who have been involuntarily committed to a hospital because they were found to be a danger to themselves or others are prohibited from having firearms without a permit under Maine law, as are those who have been convicted of a crime punishable by at least a year in prison. For gun sellers that are not licensed dealers, there is no law requiring a background check on the buyer of a firearm.
Maine allows for the purchase of certain assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines, and does not have on the books an extreme-risk protection order law. Also known as red-flag laws, the measures allow law enforcement or family members to seek an order from a judge to temporarily restrict a person’s access to guns if they’re deemed to be a risk to themselves or others.
The suspect in the Maine mass shooting started making statements about hearing voices and wanting to hurt fellow soldiers while serving at a military base this summer, and spent a few weeks in a hospital, law enforcement officials told CNN.
But a relative of the suspect and two former colleagues in the Army Reserve told CNN they weren’t aware of him having any longstanding history of mental health issues – although one former colleague remembered him as a skilled marksman and outdoorsman who was among the best shooters in his unit.
Robert R. Card II, who police are searching for in connection with the fatal shooting of at least 18 people in Lewiston, Maine, made his troubling statements while he was at the Camp Smith training facility in New York, the law enforcement officials said. His command referred him to a military hospital, and he spent a few weeks under evaluation, they said.
In July, Army Reserve officials reported Card for “behaving erratically,” and he was transported to the nearby Keller Army Community Hospital at the United States Military Academy for “medical evaluation,” a National Guard spokesman told CNN.
“Out of concern for his safety, the unit requested that law enforcement be contacted,” said the spokesperson, Col. Richard Goldenberg. New York State Police responded and transported Card to the hospital, he said.
Card then spent a few weeks under evaluation at the hospital, the law enforcement officials said.
The 40-year-old Card also threatened to shoot up a National Guard base in Maine, law enforcement officials previously told CNN.
Card’s sister-in-law, Katie O’Neill, said in a brief conversation with CNN Thursday that Card does not have a long history of mental health struggles.
“This is something that was an acute episode. This is not who he is,” O’Neill said. “He is not someone who has had mental health issues for his lifetime or anything like that.”
Except for an arrest in 2007 for an alleged driving under the influence charge, the suspect is not known to ATF or in FBI holdings, according to law enforcement sources. He legally possesses multiple weapons and owns a home on hundreds of acres of land in Maine, the sources said.
Card is a petroleum supply specialist in the Army Reserve and first enlisted in 2002, according to records provided by the Army on Thursday. He has no combat deployments, according to the records.
Clifford Steeves of Massachusetts told CNN he knew Card when they served in the Army Reserve together, starting in the early 2000s until about a decade ago. He said he never witnessed any concerning behavior from Card.
“He was a very nice guy – very quiet. He never overused his authority or was mean or rude to other soldiers,” Steeves said. “It’s really upsetting.”
Steeves said the two served together around the country at different points, including in Wisconsin, Georgia and New York. He said he felt as though he “grew up” with Card because they entered the Army as young men and trained together.
Steeves said that while “aggressive leadership was very prominent” in the Army, Card stuck out for being a “rational, understanding person” who “led through respect rather than fear.”
Steeves said Card never saw combat but had extensive training, including firearms training and land navigation, “so he would be very comfortable in the woods.” He described Card as an “outdoors type of guy” and a skilled marksman who was one of the best shooters in his unit.
Another former Army Reserve member who served with Card also described him as a “nice guy” who “never had an issue with anybody.” The servicemember, who asked to speak anonymously due to the sensitivity of the situation, did not recall Card showing any kind of violent behavior.
Card studied engineering technology at the University of Maine between 2001 and 2004 but did not graduate, Eric Gordon, a university spokesperson, told CNN.
Public records show addresses for Card in Bowdoin, Maine, a town near Lewiston. Card appears to have been a member of a local horseshoe-throwing club in the nearby town of Lisbon, Maine, according to a local news story and a Facebook photo that showed him wearing a t-shirt with the club’s logo.
An account on the social media platform X with Card’s name and a photo that appears to be him, which has been taken offline, had a history of liking right-wing and Republican political content.
When WNBA player Brittney Griner was released from Russian detention after a prisoner exchange for a convicted arms dealer, the account posted what appeared to be its only tweet. Responding to a CNBC story about the topic, the account wrote: “Mass murderer for a wnba player great job keep up the good work,” in an apparent jab at President Joe Biden.
The account liked a tweet earlier this year from right-wing author and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza arguing against an assault weapons ban, as well as other tweets from political figures like Donald Trump Jr. and Tucker Carlson.
