Lewiston mass shooting suspect found dead in Maine, officials say

LEWISTON, Maine — Lewiston resident Annette Roy told NBC News she has been in “total disbelief” about the shootings.

Speaking before the suspect was found dead, Roy said she has hunting guns at home and believes people should be able to own assault weapons like the one the shooter is alleged to have used, but said gun violence has to stop.

“We all have the Second Amendment. But not to be used for this,” she said.

Roy said more funding should be put toward supporting people who may be struggling with their mental health, and to the people who provide those services to help.

“This is just not a gun issue. It’s not just a mental issue. It’s two issues rolled into one,” she said. “And it’s just not right. The United States deserves better."

The shooter’s body was found near a former place of employment, three law enforcement sources say.

Card worked at a recycling plant, according to two sources. A former executive at Maine Recycling, who recently stepped down after 46 years, said he knew Card by his face.

The executive, Leo Madden, said Card had worked at the facility, but he couldn’t say whether he’d been fired recently or left on his own.

“I did know the employee. But we had 75 or 90 employees at that time,” he said. “I knew him facially.”

Officials, speaking at a news conference tonight, did not publicly release the exact location where Card was found dead, but said his body was near the Androscoggin River in Lisbon Falls.

Maine Recycling Corporation is located in Lisbon Falls, according to its website.

President Joe Biden on Friday night harshly criticized the use of high capacity assault weapons in his first public remarks on gun violence following this week’s shooting in Maine that left at least 18 people dead.

Speaking at a campaign fundraiser in Washington, D.C., before the suspect was found dead, Biden asked: “Who the hell needs an assault weapon that can hold, in some cases, up to 100 rounds?”

Without referring to the Lewiston shootings directly, Biden said it was “outrageous what’s happening.”

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The father of shooting victim Joseph Lawrence Walker, 57, said news of the suspect's death tonight was a mixed bag for him.

Speaking on MSNBC, city of Auburn, Maine, Councilor Leroy G. Walker said the suspect's death of will help the community move forward, but for him and other survivors of the 18 people killed Wednesday night, it means some questions might not ever be answered.

"I have mixed feelings about the whole thing because at this point we’ll have no answers from this gentleman, killer," Walker said. "That will leave me empty forever because I wanted them so badly to find him alive."

He added, "Eighteen people will never have closure no matter how hard we try."

Calling the last few days "tragic," President Joe Biden late Friday issued a statement on the conclusion of the manhunt for the suspect believed responsible for Maine's deadliest mass shooting.

"This has been a tragic two days — not just for Lewiston, Maine, but for our entire country," he said in a statement late tonight.

He expressed gratitude to law enforcement for finding the suspect's body.

"They are the best of us," Biden said of the officers, deputies, and state police who have searched nonstop for the suspect since Wednesday night.

Biden used the occasion to remind Americans that he's been calling for stricter gun laws he says would help prevent mass shootings. Biden has been a proponent of renewing the Assault Weapons Ban written by late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. Targeted at high-power semiautomatic rifles, it expired in 2004.

"Americans should not have to live like this," Biden said. "I will continue to do everything in my power to end this gun violence epidemic. The Lewiston community — and all Americans — deserve nothing less."

AUGUSTA, Maine — Bob Violette was a “fixture” of Just-in-Time Recreation, working as a youth bowling coach at the establishment where Paul Englehart and his family often hung out.

“He was just genuine and passionate about the stuff that he truly loved, like bowling, believe or not. I remember having conversations with him about bowling, and I’m not really a bowler, and he would talk about how certain boards would be waxed on the bowling lane and how that did certain things to the spin of the ball. When he talked to you, you could feel that passion for what he talked about,” Englehart said today.

Englehart had hoped that Violette could pass on his love for bowling to Englehart’s 9-year-old son, who was supposed to start taking lessons next month. Now, the little boy “wants nothing to do with the bowling alley,” Englehart said. 

The two men had been longtime friends after a chance meeting when Englehart stopped at Sears’ automotive center where Violette had worked as a mechanic. He said when he first met Violette he knew immediately how much of a “genuine person he was.”

“The one thing I’ll miss about Bob is his little sarcastic humor, comments that he would just make when you’d say something,” he said. “He was just a great, wonderful, humble man.”

Violette’s wife, Lucy Violette, was also killed in the shooting. Englehart called her a “wonderful lady” and said she was always “very genuine.”

Restrictions that were to been put in place in four of the Maine towns where law enforcement were searching for the shooting suspect have been rescinded, Mike Sauschuck, commissioner of the Maine Department of Public Safety, said tonight.

The order had been put into effect for Lewiston, Lisbon, Bowdoin and Monmouth as the deer hunting season was about to start.

"The resident hunting opportunity for tomorrow is open across the state of Maine," he said.

The Maine shooting suspect was found dead at 7:45 p.m. near the Androscoggin River in Lisbon Falls, Mike Sauschuck, commissioner of the Maine Department of Public Safety said.

He had an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, he said.

It's unclear when he died, Sauschuck said.

Card's family was notified before a news conference about his death, Mike Sauschuck, commissioner of the Maine Department of Public Safety said.

“They lost a loved one in this scenario,” Sauschuck said.

Many people in the family have been cooperative in the investigation, he said.

“They deserve that phone call,” he said.