In this image taken from video released by the Androscoggin County Sheriff's Office, an unidentified shooter points a gun while entering Sparetime Recreation in Lewiston, Maine, on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. Maine State Police ordered residents in the state's second-largest city to shelter in place Wednesday night as the suspect remains at large. (Androscoggin County Sheriff's Office via AP)
LEWISTON, Maine (AP) – A U.S. Army reservist suspected of killing at least 18 people in Maine had been taken by police for an evaluation after military officials became concerned that he was acting erratically in mid-July, a U.S. official told The Associated Press.
The official said commanders in the Army Reserve’s 3rd Battalion, 304th Infantry Regiment became concerned in mid-July that Robert Card was acting erratically while the unit was training at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in New York.
The official said military commanders became concerned about Card’s safety and asked for the police to be called. New York state police took Card to the Keller Army Community Hospital at West Point for evaluation, the official said.
The official was not authorized to publicly discuss information about the incident and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
A warrant is out for the arrest of Card, 40, in the attack in Lewiston that sent panicked bowlers scrambling behind pins, into corners and a back room when shots rang out around 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Maine State Police Col. William Ross said police have issued a warrant for Card on eight counts of murder. He said those counts will increase when the other 10 victims are identified.
A police bulletin document that had been circulated to law enforcement officials as Card was identified as a person of interest in the attack, said he had been committed to a mental health facility for two weeks in the summer of 2023. It did not provide details about his treatment or condition but said Card had reported “hearing voices and threats to shoot up” the military base.
A telephone number listed for Card in public records was not in service.
On Wednesday, Lewiston Police reported an active shooter incident at Schemengees Bar and Grille and at Sparetime Recreation, a bowling alley about 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) away. A number of parents and children were at Sparetime as part of a children’s bowling league.
One bowler, who identified himself only as Brandon, said he heard about 10 shots, thinking the first was a balloon popping.
“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.
Brandon said he scrambled down the length of the alley, sliding into the pin area and climbing up to hide in the machinery.
“I was putting on my bowling shoes when when it started. I’ve been barefoot for five hours,” he said.
The bowling alley is home to traditional tenpin bowling as well as candlepin, a variant of bowling found in New England. It’s located about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) north of the Bates College campus, on the outskirts of downtown. The alley has a small bar and is popular for local bowling leagues and children’s parties.
Wednesday was “industry night” at Schemengees Bar and Grille, with 25% discounts offered to customers who work in the bar or restaurant industry.
“In a split second your world gets turn upside down for no good reason,” the business posted online, saying “great people in this community” were lost.
After the shooting, police, many armed with rifles, took up positions while the city descended into eerie quiet – punctuated by occasional sirens – as people hunkered down at home. Schools as far away as Kennebunk, more than 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Lewiston, closed out of caution on Thursday. And schools and public buildings were closed in Portland, the state’s largest city.
Bates and Bowdoin colleges canceled classes, as did the Gorham and Portland campuses of the University of Southern Maine.
Diana Florence said her son, a sophomore at Bates College, stayed in his dorm with his roommate with the blinds closed. Her daughter is a senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which was locked down twice last month, once when a professor was killed and again two weeks later when a man brandished a gun in the student union building.
“I could not believe it ““ that this is happening again. It’s happening to my son after it just happened to my daughter,” she said in a phone interview Thursday.
Ten-year-old Zoey Levesque, who was at the bowling alley with her mother, told WMTW-TV she was grazed by a bullet.
“It’s scary,” she said. “I had never thought I’d grow up and get a bullet in my leg. And it’s just like, why? Why do people do this?”
The Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office released two photos of the suspect on its Facebook page that showed the shooter walking into an establishment with a weapon raised to his shoulder.
It’s the 36th mass killing in the United States this year, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University.
Lewiston, the second largest city in Maine with a population of 37,000, emerged as a major center for African immigration into Maine. The Somali population, which numbers in the thousands, has changed the demographics of the once overwhelmingly white mill city into one of the most diverse in northern New England.
A shelter-in-place advisory was issued Wednesday night for Androscoggin County. That included the community of Lisbon, about 8 miles (13 kilometers) away, after a “vehicle of interest” was found there, authorities said. It was extended Thursday to Bowdoin, which is in Sagadahoc County.
Wednesday’s death toll was staggering for a state that in 2022 had 29 homicides the entire year.
Author Stephen King responded to the shootings Thursday morning in a pair of posts on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“The shootings occurred less than 50 miles from where I live. I went to high school in Lisbon. It’s the rapid-fire killing machines, people. This is madness in the name of freedom. Stop electing apologists for murder,” he wrote.
Maine doesn’t require permits to carry guns, and the state has a longstanding culture of gun ownership that is tied to its traditions of hunting and sport shooting.
Florence, of New York, said she and her son at Bates College spoke and texted late into the night, and that he was shaken up but OK. Meanwhile, she was left angry.
“I think this is about our laws, frankly. That we cannot seem to pass any sort of sensible gun laws or attack mental health in the way we should,” she said. “And our kids are paying the price. And even if they’re not killed or injured, the trauma that is going to linger long past the semester is palpable.”
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Associated Press journalists Patrick Whittle in Portland, Maine, Michael Balsamo in New York, Darlene Superville and Lolita Baldor in Washington, Michael Casey in Boston and Holly Ramer and Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire, contributed to this report.
