The unknowns about the fate of Robert Card, the 40-year-old reserve soldier who murdered 18 people last Wednesday and injured 13 others in separate mass shootings in Lewiston (Maine), came closer to being resolved this Saturday morning. resolved during a press conference given by local authorities at the city’s City Hall. The news was given, as has been customary, by state official Michael Sauschuk, who has become the official spokesperson for the tragedy. He confirmed that Card had shot himself and that his body was lying in a truck parked near a recycling plant where the suspect worked until he was fired.
Regarding the reasons that could have led the attacker to act, Sasuchuck admitted that “there is clearly an element of mental health involved in this tragedy.” “We believe paranoia and conspiracy theories may have come into play,” he added. He also said that authorities were not aware that he had been in psychiatric treatment for two weeks last summer, so there was no reason to prevent him from purchasing a gun in the State of Maine. An agent present at the press conference said Card had “several” properties, “some purchased recently,” and “some years ago.”
Regarding the exact moment of death, he did not want to say anything: “We have to wait for the autopsy.”
After robbing a bowling alley and the Schemengees restaurant, two popular entertainment venues in this rural community, with a military-style semi-automatic rifle, Card abandoned the car, a white SUV, in the neighboring town of Lisbon. At the wheel of that vehicle, he covered the journey between both points to continue his homicidal madness. Inside him was the weapon he used to kill all those people. In the truck where his body was, they found two other pistols. A kilometer and a half or so separates the place where trace was lost and where he committed suicide. Sauschuck confirmed that the place had been inspected by the police on two occasions, although without results.
The Maine Public Safety official also gave details about a letter he left with a “loved one” before leaving for the bowling alley. In it, he entrusted her with “the access code” to his phone, and the keys to the bank accounts. “I wouldn’t describe it as an explicit suicide note,” Sauschuck added, “but the tone and tenor makes it clear that the individual did not expect to be alive much longer, and he wanted to make sure this loved one had access to his phone. and everything that was on his phone. Something that is not uncommon in suicide cases.”
The discovery of the body occurred around 7:45 p.m., 48 hours after the attacker broke into the Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley and began shooting with his scoped rifle. It was a time when hundreds of troops from local, county, state and federal agencies combed a vast wooded area, as well as the waters of the Androscoggin River and its trails in search of a man they considered “armed and very dangerous.” for his military past and for his instruction in the arts of firearm shooting.
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The confinement of the towns of Lisbon, Lewiston, Auburn and Bowdoin, the place of the guy’s last residence, was also ordered: the authorities asked the neighbors to confine themselves to their homes and lock them. Shops, restaurants and banks also closed, giving its streets a chilling post-apocalyptic movie look.
The identity of the victims
Sauschuck justified this decision even though it is possible that during much of this state of emergency the agents were not “hunting” for a murderer but rather looking for a body. “Based on the violent nature of what occurred, we were worried until the last second.” [de esas 48 horas], because we didn’t know what this individual was going to do next or where he was going to do it. “We prefer to be very cautious about it,” he clarified.
The identity of the 18 victims was confirmed on Friday afternoon. There are 16 men and two women. Eight died in the restaurant; seven, at the bowling alley. The other three did not survive their first night at the Lewiston hospital, where the wounded, whose names have not been released, are still being treated; three of them are in critical condition. The deceased were between 14 and 76 years old, and among them were four deaf people, the restaurant manager, who tried to stop Card armed with a knife, a father and a son, or a couple in their seventies.
Sauschuck’s appearance took place with the assistance of a sign interpreter, as a sign of respect for the relatives of those murdered, and with the background of photos provided by the family. It will be the last press conference on the case, said the official, who wanted to recognize the “really valuable” collaboration of the suspect’s relatives in the search.
The president of the United States issued a press statement in which he said that “Americans should not have to live like this.” “I once again call on Republicans in Congress to fulfill their obligation to provide security to their fellow Americans. Until that day comes, I will continue to do everything in my power to end this epidemic of gun violence. The Lewiston community – and all Americans – deserve nothing less.”
The Lewiston shooting is the deadliest mass shooting so far this year, as well as the 10th deadliest in U.S. history. Maine, with its passion for the outdoors, is one of the easiest states in the country to buy a gun. Until now, it was also one of the safest: last year there were only 29 homicides in a State of just over 1.3 million inhabitants. With about 40,000 inhabitants, Lewiston is the second largest city in population, after Portland.
The organization Gun Violence Archive, which records mass shootings (more than four victims, not including the attacker) in the United States, This Saturday morning he has 569 in his account for 2023. In 2022, the number rose to 645.
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