Key Points
- At least 22 people have reportedly been killed with dozens more wounded after shootings in the US state of Maine.
- The Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office said the suspect was still at large.
- Maine State Police have asked people to shelter in place as the investigation continues.
At least 22 people have reportedly been killed and up to 60 wounded in shootings in the United States city of Lewiston, Maine.
The shootings occurred at multiple locations including a bowling alley and a bar, NBC News reported, citing a Lewiston police source.
This is what we know so far.
The suspect is still at large
The Lewiston Police Department on Facebook identified a person of interest in the mass shooting as Robert Card, 40, saying he should be “considered armed and dangerous”.
Police earlier posted three photographs of a suspect pointing what appeared to be a semi-automatic rifle, as well as a picture of a white SUV, asking the public for help in identifying either.
The Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office also posted pictures of the suspect, a bearded man in a brown hoodie jacket and jeans holding a rifle in the firing position.
“There is an active shooter in Lewiston,” Maine state police said on the social media platform X.
“We ask people to shelter in place. Please stay inside your home with the doors locked. Law enforcement is currently investigating at multiple locations.”
The Sun Journal, citing a Lewiston police spokesperson, reported shootings at three separate businesses: the Sparetime Recreation bowling alley, Schemengees Bar & Grille Restaurant, and a Walmart distribution centre.
The bowling alley is about 6.5km north of the bar, and the distribution centre is about 2.5km south of the bar.
The Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston issued a statement saying it was “reacting to a mass casualty, mass shooter event” and coordinating with area hospitals to take patients.
Police responding to an active shooter situation in Lewiston, Maine. Source: AP / Robert F. Bukaty
A former textile hub and town of 38,000 people in Androscoggin County, Lewiston is located in southern Maine about midway between the state capital, Augusta, and Portland, the state’s most populous city.
President Joe Biden has been briefed and will continue to receive updates, a US official said in Washington.
Biden spoke by phone individually to Maine Governor Janet Mills, Senators Angus King and Susan Collins, and Congressman Jared Golden about the shooting in Lewiston and offered full federal support in the wake of the attack, the White House said.
Senator King said he was “deeply sad for the city of Lewiston and all those worried about their family, friends and neighbours” and was monitoring the situation.
Police are yet to confirm the number of casualties
Maine’s public safety commissioner, Mike Sauschuck, refused to give a concrete number when asked how many people had been killed in the shooting. Sauschuck said it was a” fluid situation” and he was unable to give a specific number.
It had been reported earlier by NBC News, citing a Lewiston police source, that 22 people had been killed. If the latter number is confirmed, the massacre would be the deadliest mass shooting in the United States since at least 2019, when 22 people were killed in a .
22 fatalities is also on par with the number of homicides that normally occur in Maine in any given year. The number of annual homicides in the state has fluctuated between 16 and 29 since 2012, according to Maine State Police.
In May 2022, a gunman , killing 19 children and two teachers, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
The number of US shootings in which four or more people were shot has surged since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, with 647 occurring in 2022 and 679 projected to occur in 2023, based on trends as of July, according to data from the archive.
The deadliest US mass shooting on record is the massacre of 58 people by a gunman firing on a Las Vegas country music festival from a high-rise hotel perch in 2017.
