LEWISTON, Maine (THE WASHINGTON POST) – The alleged gunman in Wednesday’s mass killing in Maine was found dead late Friday just miles from the scenes of the rampage, ending a massive manhunt that had left authorities scrambling for answers.
Robert Card, the suspected shooter, is believed to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His body was found in Lisbon, a town neighbouring Lewiston.
The Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office issued a terse statement: “The suspect in Wednesday night’s shootings has been located and is deceased.”
Card, a 40-year-old Army reservist, allegedly killed 18 people at a bowling alley and a bar before disappearing Wednesday night.
The victims included a 14-year-old boy and his father out for a night of bowling; four people from the area’s deaf community who had gathered at the bar to play cornhole; a married couple in their 70s; and two men who witnesses said confronted the shooter at the start of the rampage.
On Friday, law enforcement authorities had deployed divers to search the Androscoggin River and combed through nearby forests as the search for the gunman stretched into a third day and the city of Lewiston began to reckon with unfathomable loss.
Officials earlier Friday rescinded an order that had directed tens of thousands of people to shelter in place in Lewiston, Auburn, Lisbon and Bowdoin but asked residents to stay vigilant.
The manhunt has grown to include hundreds of federal, state, county and local officials who have searched Card’s home and properties associated with his family. They have retrieved his cellphone and a note he left behind but declined to discuss the contents.
One area of focus was a boat dock about eight miles from Lewiston and near where Card’s Subaru was found earlier.