Robert Card, the suspect in the mass shootings that killed 18 men and women in Lewiston, Maine, has been identified useless, the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Workplace verified Friday.
The entire body of 40-12 months-outdated Card was discovered by law enforcement in the vicinity of a recycling plant in the Lisbon area, various legislation enforcement sources verified to CBS Information, a city about eight miles southwest of Lewiston. His trigger of dying was not immediately recognised.
In a information conference Friday evening, Maine Gov. Janet Mills stated she termed President Biden to advise him of the suspect’s dying.
“Like many persons, I am breathing a sigh of reduction that Robert Card is no lengthier a risk to any one,” Mills claimed.
Hundreds of state and neighborhood law enforcement and federal brokers have been associated in the manhunt considering the fact that the shootings Wednesday evening. There was an arrest warrant out for Card on murder costs, police claimed.
For a number of hours Thursday evening, closely armed police experienced surrounded a house in Bowdoin, a compact higher education city where by Card is from, about 35 minutes from Lewiston, but they accomplished their search there without the need of getting him.
On Friday, law enforcement announced divers were conducting underwater queries near a locale where by Card’s automobile, a white Subaru Outback, was discovered abandoned by a boat launch on the Androscoggin River in Lisbon.
Authorities experienced recovered a weapon from the suspect’s deserted auto, law enforcement resources advised CBS News’ Pat Milton and Robert Legare earlier Friday. The firearm was lawfully bought, a law enforcement source confirmed. It was not crystal clear if the recovered weapon was applied in the shooting.
CBS Information had also learned that investigators had found Card’s cellphone and were making an attempt to crack it and pore around his on line action, together with textual content messages and e-mail, hoping to find clues as to his motive in the shootings.
The fatal rampage began a minor prior to 7 p.m. Wednesday night time, when law enforcement been given a 911 simply call about a shooting at Sparetime Recreation, a bowling alley in Lewiston. Law enforcement afterwards reported 6 males and one female there died of apparent gunshot wounds.
Just above 10 minutes later, at 7:08 p.m., law enforcement ended up known as to the scene of an additional capturing a handful of miles absent, at Schemengees Bar and Grille. 8 men and women there had been killed, police stated. 3 other people died at region hospitals.
Police explained the gunman fled in the aftermath of the shootings and they warned that he “really should be considered armed and perilous.”
Card, a member of the U.S. Military Reserve, had lately described going through mental wellness difficulties, which includes hearing voices, and threatened to shoot up a army base in Saco, a legislation enforcement bulletin witnessed by CBS News stated. In July, Card started out “behaving erratically,” a New York Military Countrywide Guard spokesperson informed CBS News, and he was dedicated to a psychological health facility for two weeks.
About 80 FBI brokers have been operating with point out and nearby regulation enforcement in the lookup, Senator Susan Collins mentioned at a news meeting Thursday evening.
Quite a few communities in the place have spent the days considering that the taking pictures under shelter-in-area warnings, with colleges canceled and citizens urged to remain indoors.
“For me it was incomprehensible that this can happen in Lewiston, Maine,” Mayor Carl Sheline instructed CBS News Boston.
“Our metropolis is dealing with this extraordinary reduction and I am completely broken for our town, and my coronary heart actually goes out to the victims and their families proper now,” Sheline said.
Investigators had been wanting into regardless of whether the suspect may well have been concentrating on a specific particular person, who is believed to be a present-day or previous girlfriend, two U.S. officials and a previous significant-position official informed CBS News. It wasn’t crystal clear if she was at either of the two spots that have been attacked.
The victims of the mass taking pictures ranged in age from 14 to 76, the medical examiner explained. They involved a bar supervisor who tried out to prevent the gunman a bowling instructor who was teaching kids a beloved father a 14-12 months-old and his dad and quite a few folks taking aspect in a cornhole tournament for deaf athletes.
— Jeff Pegues, Andres Triay, Robert Legare and Matthew Mosk contributed to this report.
