Maine shooting updates: Biden tells Lewiston ‘you are not alone’
President will meet with families and victims of the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, amid questions around whether Robert Card could have been stopped
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President Joe Biden headed to Lewiston today to meet with families and victims of the mass shooting.
The president and first lady spent time with first responders on the front lines of the response and met those who lost loved ones in the horrific attack. Speaking to the Maine community, Mr Biden said, we “want to make sure you know you’re not alone.”
“This tragedy opens a painful wound across the country,” he continued. “Too many Americans have lost loved ones or have survived the trauma of gun violence.”
The visit comes after Maine Governor Janet Mills launched a probe into the missed chances to stop the shooting, after it emerged that police were warned multiple times about the gunman’s concerning and threatening behaviour prior to the massacre.
Authorities said Robert Card’s “concerned” family had alerted the local sheriff about his mental health – and that they were concerned he had access to firearms – in May this year. The Maine National Guard asked local police in September to check on the US Army reservist amid concerns he would “snap and commit a mass shooting”, according to CNN.
Newly-released court documents also revealed that the gunman who killed 18 and wounded 13 believed locals were spreading conspiracies calling him a “paedophile” at the bowling alley and the bar where he opened fire.
Joe Biden will visit Lewiston on Friday
“The President and First Lady will pay respects to the victims of this horrific attack and grieve with families and community members, as well as meet with first responders, nurses, and others on the front lines of the response,” the White House said in statement.
ICYMI: The timeline
- In May, family members contacted authorities, concerned about his mental health in combination with his possession of firearms.
- Months before the deadly attacks, Robert Card, a US Army reservist, was reportedly held in a mental facility for two weeks over the summer. He was taken by police in July for evaluation at the urging of concerned military officials. He was then released.
- In mid-September, a statewide awareness alert was issued after Card made threats against the base in Saco, Maine.
- Also in mid-September, authorities attempted to conduct a welfare check on Card after prompting from the National Guard after he “made threats to shoot up the Saco National Guard facility.”
Fast forward to Wednesday, 25 October...
- Minutes before 7pm on Wednesday night, shots were fired at Just-in-Time Recreation, a bowling alley on Mollison Way in Lewiston, Maine.
- At 7.08pm, multiple 911 calls reported an active shooter at Schemengees Bar and Grill on Lincoln Street, just four miles from the bowling alley.
- Just after 8pm, Maine State Police urged Lewiston residents to shelter in place. “Please stay inside your home with the doors locked. Law enforcement is currently investigating at multiple locations,” the department wrote.
- At 8.06pm, police released a photo of the shooter to the media, and an hour and a half later, the Lewiston Police Department received a call identifying the man in photos as Card. Among the first calls were from Card’s family members, officials revealed on Saturday morning.
- Two hours later, at 9.56pm, state police officers alerted that they had found a “vehicle of interest” in Lisbon at Pejepscot Boat Launch, prompting the shelter-in-place advisory to extend to Lisbon. The Lewiston Police posted a photo on Wednesday night of a white Subaru station wagon. That vehicle was registered to Card, police said. A long gun was found in the vehicle.
- By Friday evening, police had found Card’s body — in a box trailer in Maine Recycling Corporation’s overflow lot. Authorities believe he took his own life. It’s not entirely clear how Card wound up at the recycling facility, but it is believed that he walked from the boat landing via a trail that linked the two locations.
Documents point to potential motive
On Tuesday, Maine State Police and the Maine Department of Public Safety released a trove of affidavits, search warrants and other documents in the case, including harrowing witness accounts from suspect Robert Card’s son and brother as well as survivors of the massacre.
The documents reveal that witnesses told law enforcement officials that, in the run-up to the 25 October attacks, the US Army reservist believed that people at the Schemengees Bar & Grille and Just-In-Time bowling alley were spreading conspiracies online that he was a paedophile.
He also believed that the bar manager – one of the victims he killed in the shooting rampage – had once called him “gay”, witnesses said.
And he had also met his ex-girlfriend at the bar – an ex-girlfriend who had not long broken up with him.
Read the full story...
Maine shooting suspect’s possible motive revealed in new documents
Unsealed documents reveal the suspect believed people were spreading ‘conspiracies’ about him at the bowling alley and bar – and that he had met his ex-girlfriend at the bar
In photos: Locals remember victims of the tragedy
A deputy takes on Maine State Police’s handling of the shooting
An Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office deputy blasted the Maine State Police as “utter clowns” for its response to the mass shooting that quickly became the deadliest this year.
In a since-deleted scathing Facebook post, seen by Bangor Daily News before it was taken down, Sgt Jon Guay aired his grievances with the inner workings of the law enforcement operation, which at one point consisted of hundreds of officers on the hunt for suspected shooter Robert Card.
He criticised the handling of the manhunt by state police’s top brass, saying he wouldn’t hire the state police’s crimes unit to “manage the morning rush at Dunkin Donuts much less an investigation of this size,” he wrote.
Six missed warning signs ahead of the deadliest mass shooting, revealed
In July, Card was put under psychiatric evaluation for two weeks after an incident with fellow Army soldiers.
In September, the Army Reserve contacted the sheriff’s office seeking a welfare check on Card over a fellow soldier’s concern that he would carry out a mass shooting. Authorities responded by issuing an alert to law enforcement agencies statewide which cautioned that Card was “known to be armed and dangerous” and was suffering from psychotic episodes.
That alert was cancelled exactly one week before Card allegedly opened fire on two Lewiston businesses, killing 18 people and wounding 13 others. He was found dead by apparent suicide two days later.
Read the full story...
Six missed warning signs before the Maine mass shooting explained
In the aftermath of the shooting, authorities are facing mounting pressure to explain whether they could have done more to stop the tragedy. Kelly Rissman reports
Maine schools went under shelter-in-place order after man threatened to bring a gun to elementary school week after mass shooting
Maine School Administrative District 75, which includes six elementary schools, was ordered to shelter in place after a man allegedly threatened to bring an AR-15 to an unnamed elementary school, WGME reported.
The order has since been lifted and Adam Green, 36, is now in custody, after being charged with terrorizing and harassment by telephone or another electronic device.
Police told the outlet that the suspect had been joking about the mass shooting in Lewiston on social media. After a local questioned why he was speaking so callously about the mass shooting that took 18 lives, Green allegedly asked the local for his address and then made threats to show up at a local elementary school with an AR-15, officials told the outlet.
Teenager arrested for threatening ‘Lewiston Part 2’
A teenager has been arrested for threatening to carry out “Lewiston Part 2”.
Michael Bowden, 18, posted a photo of himself on Snapchat holding a rifle and ammunition in the parking lot of a Walmart where he used to work, according to WABI.
He captioned the post: “Lewiston Part 2.”
Mr Bowden was arrestedat his home in Etna, Maine, and charged with domestic violence terrorising and aggravated reckless conduct.
He was released on $10,000 bond.
Police said that the suspect was fired from Walmart back in 2021 and had made multiple trips to the store’s parking lot in recent days.
ICYMI: Who was Robert Card?
Police identified 40-year-old Robert Card as the “person of interest” and later suspect in a deadly shooting.
Photos of the gunman, made public for identification, showed him wearing brown clothes and brandishing a high-powered assault-style rifle – law enforcement described the weapon as an AR-15-style rifle with a possible telescopic sight.
Officials at Saturday morning’s press conference said the first three calls that “positively identified” the gunman were from his relatives; they also said “strong mental health cloud over what happened,” and clarified that police have not found records indicating that he was “forcibly committed for treatment.”
Card served as a firearms instructor in the US Army Reserve.
He joined the US Army in 2022 and became a Sgt 1st class and Petroleum Supply Specialist. He had no combat deployments during his enlistment.
But recently, the gunman had disclosed mental health issues, citing experiences of auditory hallucinations and threats to attack the National Guard Base in Saco, according to records. His ex-wife and son had also contacted law enforcement out of concern, given Card’s mental state and his nearly 15 firearms.
Over the summer, he was admitted to a mental health facility for two weeks.
“I have known Rob my whole life,” Katie Card told The Daily Beast. “He is quiet but the most loving, hardworking, and kind person that I know. But in the past year, he had an acute episode of mental health, and it’s been a struggle.”
She explained that her brother-in-law had begun wearing hearing aids and was convinced he could hear people talking about him at the two locations of the shooting.
“He truly believed he was hearing people say things,” she said. “This all just happened within the last few months.”
Gov Janet Mills plans to launch an independent commission of experts to probe the shooting’s run-up and response
“It is important to recognize that, from what we know thus far, on multiple occasions over the last ten months, concerns about Mr. Card’s mental health and his behavior were brought to the attention of his Army National Reserve Unit, as well as law enforcement agencies here in Maine and in New York. This raises crucial questions about actions taken and what more could have been done to prevent this tragedy from occurring,” the statement read.
She mentioned that Maine State Police are in the midst of conducting “a thorough and comprehensive criminal investigation of the shooting.”
She added: “I also believe that the gravity of this attack on our people – an attack that strikes at the core of who we are and the values we hold dear – demands a higher level of scrutiny.”
Read the full story...
Maine governor launches probe into shooter’s missed warning signs
Robert Card’s family members had alerted police about his concerning behaviour months before the Lewiston mass shooting
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