According to NBC News, a tragic incident occurred on Wednesday in Lewiston, Maine, resulting in the loss of at least 22 lives and leaving 50 to 60 individuals injured in mass shootings at various locations, including a bowling alley and a bar. A source from the Lewiston police department was the information source.
The Lewiston Police Department, through their Facebook page, has identified an individual of interest in connection with the mass shooting at the bar and bowling alley. The person is Robert Card, 40 years old, and the public is advised to consider him “armed and dangerous.” Earlier, the police had shared three photos of an unidentified suspect who was seen with what appeared to be a semi-automatic rifle. They also posted a picture of a white SUV, seeking public assistance in identifying either of these.
The Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office also released photos of the suspect, depicting a bearded man in a brown hoodie jacket and jeans holding a rifle in a firing position.
Maine state police issued a warning on the social media platform X, alerting the public to an active shooter situation in Lewiston. They urged people to remain sheltered in their homes with locked doors, as law enforcement was conducting investigations at multiple locations.
According to information from the Sun Journal, shootings occurred at three separate businesses: the Sparetime Recreation bowling alley, Schemengees Bar & Grille Restaurant, and a Walmart distribution center. The bowling alley is approximately four miles north of the bar, and the distribution center is about a mile and a half south of the bar.
The Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston issued a statement acknowledging that they were responding to a mass casualty event related to a mass shooting and were working with local hospitals to treat patients.
Lewiston is a town of around 38,000 people in Androscoggin County, located in southern Maine, approximately 35 miles north of the state’s largest city, Portland. President Joe Biden has been briefed on the situation and will continue to receive updates.
The White House announced that President Biden spoke with various Maine officials, including Governor Janet Mills, Senators Angus King and Susan Collins, and Congressman Jared Golden, offering full federal support in the aftermath of the attack.
If the death toll of 22 is confirmed, this tragedy would be the deadliest mass shooting in the United States since at least August 2019 when a gunman opened fire at an El Paso Walmart, resulting in 23 deaths, which was labeled an anti-Hispanic hate crime by prosecutors, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
The 22 fatalities would also be comparable to the annual number of homicides typically recorded in Maine in any given year, which has fluctuated between 16 and 29 since 2012, as per Maine State Police data.
The United States has seen an increase in shootings where four or more people are shot since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, with 647 such incidents occurring in 2022 and an estimated 679 projected for 2023 based on trends as of July, according to data from the archive.
The deadliest mass shooting in the United States remains the 2017 Las Vegas country music festival attack, where 58 people lost their lives as a gunman fired from a high-rise hotel position.
Source: Reuters