The man suspected of killing 18 people and wounding 13 in a shooting rampage in Lewiston, Maine, was found dead on Friday, ending a 48-hour manhunt that followed the most lethal episode of gun violence in the state’s history, police said.
“All we can confirm is that he’s deceased and there’ll be a press release,” said a spokeswoman for the police department in the neighboring town of Lisbon.
ABC News, citing unnamed law enforcement sources, said the suspect, Robert R. Card, 40, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Card’s body was found in the woods near Lisbon by a recycling center from which he had recently been fired, CNN reported, citing a law enforcement source.
Maine Department of Public Safety Commissioner Mike Sauschuck speaks to the press during a press conference at Lewiston City Hall in Lewiston, Maine, under a picture of suspect Robert Card on October 27, 2023. (AFP)
The US Army reservist was believed to have opened fire in a bowling alley and then a bar minutes later on Wednesday night.
The shootings and prolonged manhunt convulsed the normally bustling but serene community of Lewiston, a former textile hub and the second-most populous city in Maine.
Early in the day, police deployed along the Androscoggin River in nearby Lisbon, seven miles (11 km) southeast of Lewiston, with divers using sonar to look for evidence — or a body. Card’s white SUV was found nearby, Maine public safety commissioner Mike Sauschuck said.
Sauschuck told an afternoon news briefing that businesses in the area can reopen, though hunting was prohibited in Lewiston and a few surrounding towns to avoid confusion from gunshots ringing out.
“We want our residents to remain vigilant,” Sauschuck said.
The town lies on the banks of the Androscoggin River about 35 miles (56 km) north of the state’s largest city, Portland, and nearly as far southwest of Maine’s capital, Augusta.
Card, an Army Reserve sergeant from the neighboring town of Bowdoin, has been described by authorities as a trained firearms instructor who served as a petroleum supply specialist when on duty at the military reserve base in Saco, Maine.
aw enforcement officials also said he has a history of mental illness and was committed to a psychiatric facility for two weeks during the summer of 2023, after which he was released.
Within hours of Wednesday night’s bloodshed, police circulated surveillance camera photos from one of the crime scenes of a bearded man wearing a brown, hooded sweatshirt and jeans and carrying what appeared to be a semi-automatic rifle.
