26 October 2023 , 22:00
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The sister of suspected Lewiston mass shooter Robert Card has said he may have been looking for an ex-girlfriend at the two shooting locations where he is suspected of gunning down 18 and wounded another 13.
Authorities are desperately carrying out a multistate search on land and water for the US Army reservist.
Card is accused of opening at a bowling alley and a nearby bar, sending panicked patrons scrambling under tables and behind bowling pins. He is still on the run gripping the entire state of Maine in fear.
Card's family are cooperating with authorities as more details of what appears to be a deeply disturbed man are surfacing.
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Four human skulls wrapped in tin foil found in package going from Mexico to US
Robert Card, 40, has been named as the main suspect in the shootings (FACEBOOK)A bulletin from the Maine Information and Analysis Center, a law enforcement database, described Card as a member of the Army Reserve
It noted that Card, “recently reported mental health issues to include hearing voices and threats to shoot up the National Guard Base in Saco, ME.” It also stated he had been committed to a mental health facility for two weeks this summer and then released.
Although describing him as a firearms instructor, an updated US Army statement read:"There are no records to indicate he instructed or participated in any training. The Army did not train SFC Card as a firearms instructor, nor did he serve in that capacity for the Army."
The Army has confirmed that Card is part of the Army Reserve. He enlisted in December 2002, served as a Petroleum Supply Specialist and had no combat deployments.Eight murder warrants were issued for Card, 40, after authorities identified eight of the victims, police said. Ten more will likely be issued once the names of the rest of the dead are confirmed, said Maine State Police Col. William Ross.
Robert Card is wanted by policeThree of the 13 people wounded in the shootings were in critical condition and five were hospitalised but stable, Central Maine Medical Center officials said.
The attack started at Sparetime, where a children’s bowling league was taking place, just before 7 pm Wednesday. 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 said.
A map showing the locations of Lewiston shootingsSchools, doctor’s offices and grocery stores closed and people stayed behind locked doors in cities as far away as 50 miles (80 kilometres) from the scenes of Wednesday night’s shootings in Lewiston.
President Joe Biden ordered all U.S. flags to be flown at half-staff as condolences poured in from around the nation and at home, including from Maine native and author Stephen King, who called it “madness.” The attacks stunned a state of only 1.3 million people that has one of the country’s lowest homicide rates: 29 killings in all of 2022.