No trace of Maine gunman two days after deadliest mass shooting in US this year

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

Some 48 hours after the rampage which left 18 people dead, there is still no sign of the suspect.

Robert Card’s car was found near a boat ramp not far from the family home, but the authorities have no idea if he is dead or alive.

Tonight, the police started searching the river, close to where the trail went cold, in case they could find a body.

So far they have discovered nothing.

The topography here is challenging. Miles of remote woodlands, numerous rivers, leading to the sea and hardly any CCTV cameras to give police a chance of mapping Card’s movements.

Maine was considered an extremely peaceful state with some of the lowest crime rates in the country.

That reputation was shredded on Wednesday when a man armed with an AR15 style assault weapon opened fire at a bar and a bowling alley.

The attack has plunged the small city of Lewiston into shock and left many in Maine wondering if their lax gun laws now must be tightened.

Some states have brought in so-called Red Flag laws allowing police to confiscate guns if they are concerned about the mental state of the owner.

Maine introduced a yellow flag law, requiring the police to first get a medical professional to sign off, before the police could ask a judge to order guns to be confiscated.

In Robert Card’s case, all the warning signs were there.

He had been hospitalised with severe mental illness, and was reportedly hearing voices instructing him to attack the army base where he served as a reservist.

Despite this, he was discharged and still had access to an assault rifle, with devastating results.

Maine’s State legislature is controlled by the Democrats, but there has been bipartisan reluctance to introduce tougher gun control here, with many politicians determined to preserve Maine’s traditional hunting freedoms.

That may change in light of this mass shooting, but wider federal legal reform is still impossible, with the Republican Party deeply entrenched in its support of the second Amendment right to bear arms.

That is historically the result of the powerful National Rifle Association lobby, which despite losing 40 percent of its membership in recent years, still holds enormous influence over the Right.

Lewiston now joins a grim roll-call of places associated with firearms massacres, none of which appear to have shifted the political dial enough for meaningful change to happen.

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