Dhe gun attack in Maine on Wednesday evening was one of the worst in the United States in recent years. Shortly before 9 a.m., Lewiston police called on city residents to seek shelter. The attack is still ongoing. Two hours later, American media, citing officials, reported at least 22 dead and up to 60 injured.
The crime scenes: a bar and a bowling alley in the city of 37,000 residents. The perpetrator, who has since been identified, was still on the run at the time and, according to the police, “probably armed and dangerous”.
Mayor Carl Sheline said in the evening that he was “heartbroken” about what had happened to the city and its residents. According to police, the suspected perpetrator is a 40-year-old white man who was wanted by mugshot.
suspect on the run
Footage shows him with an AR-15 assault rifle at the ready. As the AP news agency reported, a document passed among police officers after the attack identified the man as a military-trained firearms trainer.
The reservist is said to have been admitted to a psychiatric facility for two weeks in the summer. He had previously reported hearing voices and was said to have threatened a gun attack on a military training area. According to authorities, the possible murder vehicle that police were looking for was found shortly before midnight about eight kilometers from Lewiston. Until then, however, there was still no trace of the perpetrator.
The White House said President Joe Biden had been informed of the incident and had spoken by telephone with Governor Janet Mills. He promised full support after this “terrible attack”. In the evening, people gathered outside the hospital in Lewistown trying to find out about the whereabouts of their relatives.
On local station WCSH, a woman reported that her former husband and son were playing billiards in the bar in question. She hasn’t heard from them since. The hospital says it has set up a triage system and canceled non-urgent procedures on Thursday.
Serious gun attacks with several deaths occur again and again in the United States. The state of Maine has rather lenient gun laws. For example, convicted domestic abusers do not have to give up their weapons and there is no so-called red flag law that allows people who pose a danger to themselves or others to take away their weapons.
Despite such incidents, there is no bipartisan majority in Congress in Washington for stricter gun laws. In January of this year, a man shot and killed around 11 people and injured nine others in Monterey Park, California. Last May, a young man killed 19 elementary school students and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas.
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