A multistate, multiday manhunt came to an end last night when the man accused of killing 18 people in mass shootings Wednesday was found dead in parking lot on Maine Recycling Corporation property in Lisbon Falls, Maine.
A tactical team with Maine State police found the body of Robert Card in a trailer Friday night. Law enforcement had cleared the recycling facility twice before, but only checked the parking lot across nearby once the owner suggested it.
Authorities say they don’t have access to any “forcibly committed for treatment information” for the suspect, which may mean that a background check in Maine would not have stopped Card from purchasing the weapons used in the deadly rampage.
The victims of the bar and bowling alley shootings, who range in age from 14 to 76 years old, have all been identified. Law enforcement were not able to confirm if the suspect had any prior relationship to the victims.
A note found in the shooting suspect’s home wasn’t explicitly identified by authorities as a suicide note, but had the “tone and tenor” that “the individual was not going to be around,” said Michael Sauschuck, commissioner for Maine Department of Public Safety. The note was addressed to a loved one and had the passcode to his phone and his bank account numbers, according to Sauschuck.
“If you talk about is there a motive here, right, I think clearly, there’s a mental health component to this,” Sauschuck said at a briefing Saturday.
A candlelight vigil to remember the victims killed in the shooting was held Saturday evening at the Worumbo Mills site in Lisbon Falls.
Gathering helps bring sense of peace, resident says
LISBON, Maine — Julia Bergerom-Smith, of Auburn, Maine, said being able to have a vigil has allowed the community to be together and that has offered a sense of peace.
"I'm just really proud of Lewiston. I’m proud of the all the law enforcement that came in," she said. "I’m proud of everyone who did check on each other and how quickly there was kind of like a behind the scenes network of victims and their families and friends knew who had been involved before anything was released."
Vigil a chance for healing
LISBON, Maine — Chris Rugullies, of Lisbon, came out to a vigil for the victims tonight with his wife. He said he hopes what happened will lead to change.
“As a country, we have to figure this problem out. People have some very serious mental health issues that aren’t being addressed,” he said. “Combine that with the powerful weapon that guy had, you have to address it.”
The vigil was organized by Positive Change Lisbon. Board member Bill Kuhl said he thought it was important that they give the grieving community an opportunity for them to come together.
“Two days of lockdown for such a reason is tough on folks,” he said. “Something like this scared so many people. It’s not the kind of thing you expect in Maine, in small towns, and this gives people a chance to come together and hopefully, it’ll be cathartic in a way.”
'It’s about supporting our community': Vigil held in Lisbon
LISBON, Maine — Dozens of people gathered in Lisbon tonight, for the first time since a shelter-in-place order was lifted, to honor the victims of the Lewiston shootings.
“This is a tough week,” a local pastor said at a vigil at the Worumbo Riverfront Event Center. “My heart, as your hearts, this past week broke for the city of Lewiston.”
The pastor thanked local police and law enforcement officers who traveled from other states for their assistance. As he talked, families hugged each other and held hands.
Faith Hauger and her husband, Gary Hauger, from Lisbon, said they came to the vigil because they felt it was important to support the community.
“We know the facilities in Lewiston. We are aware of some of the people who are victims, but overall, it’s about supporting our community,” Faith said.
Gary added: “Emotions are high, but we all need to get to a point where we need to move on.”
The couple said they never imagined such horrific violence would happen in the tight-knit community of Lewiston, about 8 miles from Lisbon.
Gary said he believes by coming together, everyone can start to heal.
“I’m relieved at this point that things are over, but there’s still a lot of people that are hurting and that’s the reason to be here,” he said.
Area where suspect's body was found was overlooked in two previous searches
Authorities said the area where the suspect's body was found yesterday was overlooked during two previous sweeps of the property — a Lisbon, Maine recycling facility — that were conducted on Thursday.
Those searches failed to clear a parking lot on the perimeter of Maine Recycling Corp.'s property, as it was entirely overlooked, state and local police leaders said today and yesterday.
The reason why wasn't entirely clear.
The suspect was found dead in one of many big-rig trailers in the lot used to store and transport material to be recycled, Maine Department of Public Safety Commissioner Mike Sauschuck said today.
Lisbon Police Chief Ryan McGee said his department didn't have necessary resources of its own to search the lot; another agency would have been needed to provide a tactical team, often used to extract armed-and-volatile threats, because he doesn't have one.
"I have 17 officers, I don't have a tactical team," the chief said in an interview. "My guys have, you know, gear but not to the extent that a tactical team would have. And we have to coordinate with the state police on situations like this, and we did."
Nonetheless, his department did do the first search of the property, with the exception of the lot, according to Sauschuck. "It was cleared by Chief McGee and the Lisbon Police Department," he said at today's news conference.
Then, Sauschuck said, a joint team including Maine State Police officers and local law enforcement, cleared the property a second time Thursday.
There was no definitive answer about why the parking lot was overlooked.
"There was a focus on the main recycling [facility]," McGee said. "You have to understand that there was 55 to 60 trailers, and they're full of ... crushed up plastic, crushed up tin and so forth."
Sauschuck said officers conducting the two searchers were focused on a core portion of the property he described as a triangle. He described the parking lot almost as an appendage, across a small road from the main facility.
It took the owner of the facility, who wasn't identified, to suggest to officers at the scene that they should look around in that lot because the suspect, who used to work for the recycler, may know the layout of the property well, Sauschuck said.
"He could be tucked in the back of one of these trailers," the commissioner quoted the owner as saying.
Sauschuck continued, "Nobody had any idea that across the street, across Capital Avenue, there’s an overflow parking lot, which is [Maine] Recycling Corp. property."
McGee described is as an area where the only truck traffic is allowed on the property and where large box trailers are parked.
The body was discovered in a box trailer in the lot, Sauschuck said. The doors to the trailer were unlocked, he said.
Carl Sheline, the mayor of Lewiston, expressed his gratitude for the law enforcement who helped in the investigation.
Speaking on "TODAY" after the gunman was found dead, Sheline said the violence was "tragic and senseless," and "Now the healing process can begin."
'We will not forget'
Bre Allard and her children, 8-year-old Zeke and 5-year-old Lucy, place crosses and signs in the ground near the Schemengees Bar, where a gunman opened fire on Wednesday.
Victims' families react to death of suspect
LEWISTON, Maine — Some loved ones of the victims in Maine’s deadliest mass shooting said that Card being found dead has given them relief, but they will still seek accountability.
Alicia Lachance, whose daughter, Tricia Asselin, worked part-time at the Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley, one of two targeted locations, said she had “no mercy” for Card.
She said that based on the reports that he suffered from serious mental health issues and continued to own a firearm, there remain outstanding questions.
“Everyone that died and lost their life because of the negligence along the way, their families should be able to get some form of justice,” Lachance said. Card “should have been properly treated, and something was lacking.”
Leroy Walker, whose son, Joseph “Joey” Walker, was a manager at Schemengees Bar and Grille and died in the shooting there, said with Card’s death, “I have no real closure.”
“I sure was hoping they would find him alive,” Walker said. “Although there will be a lot of closure for the people searching for him and the people living in the areas.”
Ralph Brewer, whose brother, Peyton Brewer-Ross, was killed at Schemengees, added that he is “thankful for the tireless effort by local, state and federal law enforcement to bring this chapter to a close. Maine can begin the healing process in earnest now.”
Candlelight vigil to remember victims will be held tonight in Lisbon
A candlelight vigil to remember the victims killed in the Lewiston shooting will be held tonight in Maine at 6 p.m., Lisbon Police Chief Ryan McGee said.
It will be held at the Worumbo Mill site in Lisbon Falls, according to McGee.
It's not clear if schools in the area will be opened Monday, added McGee
Lisbon Police Chief: 'We used every resource that was available'
Lisbon Police Chief Ryan McGee said numerous resources from across the state and agencies were used to assist in the search for the Lewiston shooting suspect.
"As you can imagine, it was an astronomical amount of resources being used across our community," McGee said at a briefing today. "Not everybody’s in marked police cars, not everybody’s in full uniform. But there was a lot of resources from across New England that was here, including helicopters moments after I arrived on scene when that car was located. So we used every resource that was available."
McGee defended the allocation of resources, saying the search area for the suspect was a large industrial park.
"But I can say that there was numerous resources from state, state police, all the local agencies, all the sheriff's departments across the state of Maine, federal agencies," he said.
Law enforcement would not confirm if suspect had prior relationship with any victims
Law enforcement would not confirm or comment on if Robert Card had a previous relationship with any of the victims.