Manhunt continues for firearms instructor Robert Card, person of interest in Lewiston mass shooting

Residents in Maine hunkered down in their homes on Thursday amid authorities’ intense manhunt for Robert Card, a certified firearms instructor and a member of the U.S. Army Reserve being sought in connection with a shooting that killed more than a dozen people.

Card was identified late Wednesday as a person of interest in a deadly massacre that occurred inside a Lewiston bowling alley and bar, the nation’s 36th mass killing since January. He should be “considered armed and dangerous,” police warned.

“If people see him, they should not approach Card or make contact with him in any way,” Maine Public Safety Commissioner Mike Sauschuck told reporters at a news conference.

Authorities provided few other details about 40-year-old Card, but a bulletin put out by the Maine Information and Analysis Center — a database for law enforcement officials — said he’d been suffering from mental health issues in recent months. The document, circulated among authorities, revealed Card had been committed to a mental health facility for two weeks in the summer of 2023. Before his commitment, he reported “hearing voices” and threatened “to shoot up” a training facility in Saco, Maine, where he’d been assigned.

In this image taken from video released by the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office, shooter points a gun while entering Sparetime Recreation in Lewiston, Maine, on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023.

At least 16 people were fatally shot and 50 more wounded Wednesday in a bloody rampage spanning two locations in Maine’s second-largest city, about 30 miles north of Portland. Authorities have not yet confirmed the total number of victims killed, but the death toll could be as high as 22, Sauschuck said.

Gunfire initially erupted inside the Sparetime Recreation bowling alley just before 7 p.m., sending terrified bowlers, among them children, rushing for cover. One person, who identified himself only as Brandon, said he was putting on his shoes when he heard about 10 shots, the first of which he believed to be a popping balloon.

Law enforcement gather outside Schemengee’s Bar and Grille, Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023, in Lewiston, Maine. Residents have been ordered to shelter in place as police continue to search for the suspect of Wednesday’s mass shooting at the bar. (Robert F. Bukaty/AP)

“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, recalling how he rushed barefoot down an alleyway before ducking behind the pins and hiding amidst the machinery.

Police said the gunman then targeted Schemengees Bar & Grille, a restaurant less than five miles away from the bowling alley. Co-owner Kathy Lebel, who was not present during the attack, said her employees saw a person walk into the watering hole and then he immediately “started shooting,” according to the Lewiston Sun Journal.

“My heart is crushed. I am at a loss for words,” reads a post on Schemengees’ Facebook page. “In a split second your world gets turn upside down for no good reason. We [lost] great people in this community. How can we make any sense of this?”

In this image taken from video released by the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office, an unidentified gunman points a gun while entering Sparetime Recreation in Lewiston, Maine, on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. (Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office via AP)

The violence Wednesday night triggered a shelter-in-place order for residents across Lewiston. By Thursday morning, the directive had spread to surrounding areas, including Bowdoin, located about about 14 miles from the site of the mass shooting.

“We are expanding the shelter in place advisory and school closings to include the town of Bowdoin,” Maine State Police announced on Facebook. “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 shootings.”

Schools and municipal buildings in Lewiston were are closed, and non-emergency personnel have also been told to stay home.

With News Wire Services