Witnesses recount scramble to survive when gunman opened fire in Lewiston, Maine, bowling alley

At least 18 people are dead and 13 more have been injured after a bowling alley and bar came under fire in Lewiston, Maine, Wednesday evening, Maine Gov. Janet Mills said.

Hours after the shooting, the deadliest of the year and one of the deadliest in recent decades, the gunman remains on the loose. Hundreds of police are searching for a suspect as communities remain under shelter-in-place orders.

The shooting unfolded in part during youth night at a local bowling alley. Witnesses described a desperate scene where people hid behind benches and tables and even inside the bowling pin machine at the end of a lane.

Mother Meghan Hutchinson said, “When I turned around, I saw the shooter. … I don’t know if that was just a warning shot or if he shot somebody with that [bullet].”

“Between the lanes there’s some swinging doors where they keep all the mechanical stuff out back, so we kind of all just ran that way,” she said. “We barricaded in there and another parent was in the room with me. She had a phone, she called 911.”

People run from the Sparetime bowling alley during a shooting in Lewiston, ME., Oct. 25, 2023.

Nichoel Wyman Arel

Her daughter, Zoey Levesque, 10, was grazed by a bullet.

“It’s just like, shocking,” she said.

“I never thought I’d grow up and get a bullet in my leg,” she said. “Like, why do people do this? I was more worried about, like, am I going to live and going to make it out of here? Like, what’s going to happen? Are the cops going to come?”

Law enforcement vehicles are shown at a scene of a shooting in Lewiston, Maine, on Oct. 25, 2023.

Nichoel Wyman Arel

Lewiston police have identified a suspect, Robert Card, who’s still at large.

Card allegedly has a history of military service, sources said.

In this released by the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office, a person of interest in an active shooter event is shown on Oct. 25, 2023.

Androscoggin County Sheriff/AFP via Getty Images

The sources said he also has a mental health history, including a two-week stay this summer at a mental health facility after he allegedly made threats about carrying out a shooting at a National Guard facility.

Authorities found his white Subaru at a location in Lisbon, Maine, sources said, but the manhunt continues.

Riley Dumont said she was at the bowling alley when she heard a loud bang. She said her father, a retired police officer, corralled them into a corner and put protection in front of them, including “tables and a big bench that the kids were hiding behind.”

Sparetime bowling alley, the site of a mass shooting in in Lewiston, Maine, Oct. 25, 2023.

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“I was laying on top of my daughter. My mother was laying on top of me,” said Dumont.

“It felt like it lasted a lifetime,” she added. “I just remember people sobbing and crying.”

Another witness at the bowling alley, whose name is Brandon but whose last name was not made available, described hearing a “loud pop.”

In this image posted to the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office, a suspect in an active shooter event is shown in Oct. 25, 2023.

Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office

“Thought it was a balloon,” Brandon said. “I had my back turned to the door. As soon as I turned and saw that it was not a balloon, he was holding a weapon. I just booked it down the lane and I slid basically into where the pins are and climbed up to the machine and was on top of the machines for about 10 minutes until the cops got there.”

According to the Gun Violence Archive, the mass shooting in Lewiston is already the deadliest shooting of the year.

Maine had just 29 homicides all of last year, according to The Associated Press.

As the manhunt continues, fearful residents are sheltered at home with their doors locked.

“We’ve locked the doors, closed the curtains and are staying aware,” Lewiston resident Tracey Blaisdell told ABC News.

“This is hard in a community like this — we are more of a town than a city, and it’s bound to impact all of us,” she said. “There is an unease and an uncertainty until this gets resolved.”

ABC News’ Jolie Lash and Jon Haworth contributed to this report.