Tragedy struck on Wednesday night when a series of mass shootings at various locations in Lewiston, the second largest city in the northern US state of Maine, resulted in at least 22 fatalities and left between 50 to 60 individuals wounded, according to a statement from the Lewiston Police Department.
The violent incident occurred at multiple sites, including the Sparetime Recreation bowling alley, Schemengees Bar & Grille Restaurant, and a Walmart distribution center, reported international media.
Local police identified Robert Card, a 40-year-old man with known mental illness, as a “person of interest” in a mass shooting at the bar and bowling alley in Lewiston. Images of Card, reportedly holding a semi-automatic rifle, were posted after the crime. The police have issued a warning to consider him “armed and dangerous.”
Law enforcement did not disclose the exact number of causalities in an official statement nor in the press conference following the crime. However, City Councilor Robert McCarthy confirmed that at least 22 people were killed, according to a text message he received from a city administrator.
The Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston declared that it was responding to a “mass casualty, mass shooter event” and was coordinating with neighboring hospitals to provide medical care to the injured.
Maine state police are urging residents to stay indoors, lock their doors, and remain vigilant while law enforcement investigate at multiple locations.
If the number of fatalities is confirmed, this will be the bloodiest mass shooting in the United States since at least August 2019. The most deadly mass shooting in recent U.S. history occurred in 2017 at a Las Vegas country music festival when 58 people were massacred by a sniper.
These latest incidents add to a rise in US mass shootings that began with the COVID-19 epidemic, with 647 such incidents in 2022 and a whopping 679 so far in 2023.