Manhunt underway for suspect in Lewiston mass shootings, 18 dead

Screenshot / CNN Video footage from Sparetime Recreation, aired on CNN and other broadcast media, show the gunman who is said to have killed 18 people on Wednesday night.

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By William Hall

In a night of horrific violence Maine has rarely before experienced, a man shot and killed a total of 18 people at two Lewiston businesses Wednesday and left 13 injured, according to multiple reports.

By Thursday morning police had not apprehended anyone in connection with the shootings. But a related manhunt was continuing for a Bowdoin man, Robert Card, 40, whom officials described as a suspect in at least eight counts of murder.

The shootings began about 6:56 p.m. Wednesday at Sparetime Recreation, a bowling alley at 24 Mollison Way, and soon after at Schemengee's Bar & Grille at 551 Lincoln St., police said.

In a Thursday news conference, officials said seven people died at the bowling alley and eight died at the restaurant. In addition, three people died while being transported to local hospitals.

Card is a member of the U.S. Army Reserve who worked as a petroleum supply specialist. He has also been a firearm instructor and was shown carrying an AR-15-style rifle on video footage.

With police saying there was no clear sign of Card's whereabouts, numerous businesses across Maine were temporarily shuttering as a precaution. Many schools had canceled classes for the day, and there were shelter-in-place orders for residents of Bowdoin, Lewiston and Lisbon.

Hannaford Supermarkets had delayed opening all of its 58 Maine stores until 10 a.m., and later announced that closures would remain until further notice at nine of them, from Lewiston to as far south as Yarmouth. The L.L.Bean retail store in Freeport was closed, as were many restaurants, banks and shops.

The Bureau of Motor Vehicles closed all its offices statewide for the day.

Central Maine Medical Center and St. Mary's Regional Medical Center in Lewiston on Wednesday received many of the victims. One was taken Wednesday night to Maine Medical Center, the state's only Level 1 regional trauma center, in Portland. The hospital was closed to non-patients on Thursday morning.

Outpourings of support and condolences have flooded Maine on social media and elsewhere.

The killings are by far the deadliest multiple homicide in Maine's history — although not the only one. In April, Joseph Eaton killed four people in a pair of shootings in Bowdoin and Yarmouth. In 2014, another shooting left four people dead. Police said at the time that a half dozen multiple homicides of four victims had occurred in Maine since 1941, according to the Portland Press Herald.

This story has been updated.