Maine mass shooting: Police say youngest killed was aged 14 as divers trawl river for gunman

ITV News' US Correspondent Dan Rivers reports on the latest from Maine, where divers are searching an area of water near to the gunman's abandoned car


Authorities in the United States say they have identified all 18 of the those who died in a mass shooting in Maine, ranging in age from 14 to 76 years old.

The number of victims - whose names have not yet been released - have made the incident the deadliest US mass shooting of 2023 so far.

Police are still pursuing the gunman, and have said divers will search an area of water near to where the suspect abandoned his car after the killing spree.

Robert Card, 40, remains at large after he opened fire in a bowling alley and bar in Lewiston, Maine, on Wednesday.

Card, who trained as a firearms instructor at a Maine US Army Reserve training facility, is considered to be "armed and dangerous".

Seven people are continuing to be treated in hospital as a result of the shooting - three of which are in a critical condition, according to officials.

As the manhunt continues into a second day, police have said dive teams will search a river near to the town of Lisbon, where Card's vehicle was found abandoned.

Michael Sauschuck, Maine public safety commissioner, said state police will lead the search efforts, and will use sonar via a remote operating vehicle to detect activity under water.

Robert Card's vehicle (pictured) was found abandoned near the town of Lisbon. Credit: AP

"Of course they're looking for evidence, anything that may help them down the road," he told reporters on Friday.

Mr Sauschuck said that although searches of the river are taking place, it does not mean police "know the suspect is in the water".

He added that police had received 500 tip-offs since they began the manhunt and that each one is being checked by investigators.

The Boston division of the FBI, along with the Maine and Lewiston police forces, are asking "anyone with photos or videos relevant to the shootings" to submit them via a digital tipline.

On Thursday, FBI agents and other heavily armed officers surrounded a home where relatives of Card live, near the town of Bowdoin.

Officers could be heard repeatedly ordering Card or anyone inside to "come out with your hands up", whilst the property was surrounded.

Police officers stand guard in Bowdoin, Maine. Credit: AP

After several hours, police left the scene, and have said it was still unclear whether Card had ever been at the location.

Richard Goddard, who lives on the road where the search took place in Bowdoin, said he knows the Card family and that Robert knows the terrain well.

"This is is his stomping ground. He grew up here. He knows every ledge to hide behind, every thicket," he said.

The shooting began at Just-In-Time Recreation's bowling alley, in the city of Lewiston, at around 7pm local time (11pm GMT) on Wednesday evening.

Police said one woman and six men were killed here.A further eight men were shot dead at Schemengees Bar and Grille Restaurant.

Initially, 16 people were taken to local hospitals, where three later died.

Robert Card points a gun while entering Just-In-Time Recreation on Wednesday. Credit: AP

Several victims have now been named, including Tricia Asselin and Bob Violette, who were both killed at the bowling alley.

Ms Asselin's sister, Bobbi Nichols, said she was told by police that her sibling was shot dead "while she was calling for help".

She told CNN that she and her sister were playing in a recreational league when a "big bang" went off.

"Everybody was yelling 'it's a gun, it's a gun run, run'. People were running until everybody was running," she said. 

"I got trampled a little bit and you're running outside in your bowling shoes, you leave everything behind. 

"And I just kept running and a bunch of us just kept running, running and running."


'We just kept running, running and running,' Bobbi Nichols describes how she escaped the bowling alley with her life


Auburn City Councillor Leroy Walker, meanwhile, told media outlets that his son, Joseph Walker, a manager at Schemengees Bar and Grille Restaurant, died going after the gunman with a butcher knife.

Arthur Strout, Bryan MacFarlane and Peyton Brewer-Ross were also shot dead at the restaurant - which both Mr MacFarlane and Mr Brewer-Ross had been visiting to play in a cornhole tournament.

Seven people injured in the attack remain in hospital at Central Maine Medical Centre, officials said on Friday.

Four of the patients are in a stable condition and three are critical - their names and ages have not been released, according to the hospital.

Card was committed to a mental health facility for two weeks in the summer of 2023, according to a police bulletin.

It came after he had reported "hearing voices and threats to shoot up a military installation in southern Maine".

A police officer stops to question a driver in Maine while the manhunt was ongoing. Credit: AP

As police continued their manhunt on Friday, schools across Lewiston remain closed.

"We remain in a shelter in place situation," according to a post by Lewiston Public Schools Superintendent Jake Langlais on the district's website.

It also said: "We will not open buildings or run bus transportation."

The search for Card has incorporated land, air and sea resources, and extended to the US border with Canada.

Canada's Border Services Agency has warned Canadians to "be on the lookout" for Card and says it is working with Canadian and US law enforcement to "protect Canada's borders against any threat or attempt at illegal entry".

On Thursday morning, the US Coast Guard sent out a patrol boat along the Kennebec River, but after hours of searching, authorities found "nothing out of the ordinary" said Chief Petty Officer Ryan Smith.

Wednesday's mass shooting is the latest in a list of 565 reported across the United States this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

Maine, which has a population of 1.3 million people, has one of the country's lowest homicide rates - 29 in all of 2022.

The state does not require permits to carry guns, and has a longstanding culture of gun ownership, which is tied to its traditions of hunting and sport shooting.


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