2023-10-26 09:28:00
At the gun attack in the city of Lewiston, US Maine 18 people were killed. This was announced by the Governor of Maine, Janet Mills, on Thursday in Lewiston. 13 people were injured.
On Wednesday evening (local time) in the small town in the northeast of the USA, a gunman fired at people in a barbecue restaurant and a leisure center with a bowling alley.
The suspected perpetrator, identified by police as Robert Card, fled after the attack. A major manhunt has been underway ever since. The 40-year-old is considered “armed and dangerous.” In photos from surveillance cameras he can be seen holding an assault rifle.
Police have identified Robert Card as the suspect, seen here on a surveillance camera. © IMAGO/ZUMA Wire/Lewiston Police Department
Card is said to be a military reservist and a trained firearms instructor who was said to have been receiving psychiatric treatment over the summer. Nothing was initially known about possible motives.
The suspect knows his way around the forest very well
Die According to experts, rural areas with forest areas, swamps and rivers make it difficult to find the perpetrator. The 40 year old As a local, I know my way around the forest very wellwhere the police are concentrating a large part of the search in southern Maine, former FBI agent Rob D’Amico told the US broadcaster CNN on Friday.
In addition, he has Suspect undergone extensive military training and know how to remain unnoticedsaid analyst Jonathan Wackrow to the station. “All of this is a challenge for the security forces.” Added to this is his behavior, which some have described as “erratic,” other experts told CNN.
A police officer blocks a street during the search for the Lewiston mass shooting suspect. © dpa/Matt Rourke
Card is a “gun fanatic”
A long-time neighbor, Dave Letarte, told AFP that news of the gun attack left him “speechless.” “I never would have thought that of him,” he said.
Liam Kent, a Maine resident, told NBC News he grew up near Card and his family. He described her as “Gun fanatics” who are also close to right-wing militias. “It’s known around town to stay away from them,” Kent said.
Was he looking for his ex-girlfriend?
Investigators reportedly found a note in the man’s home. However, they did not provide any information about their content. The suspect’s family is cooperating with the police. According to the ABC broadcaster, the man’s sister is said to have told investigators that she believed her brother was looking for an ex-girlfriend at the crime scenes. He and his ex-girlfriend often went to the leisure center and the barbecue restaurant.
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People in the area were asked not to leave their homes. Several schools remained closed. “Please continue to seek shelter or get to safety” said a statement from the school authorities.
On Thursday, the police expanded the security warnings to other locations around Lewiston because the perpetrator had not yet been caught many hours after the attack. Shops and restaurants were advised to close.
After the attack, the population should seek safety. © Getty Images via AFP/JOE RAEDLE
Police also released a photo of a white SUV and asked the public for help identifying the vehicle.
Hospitals unsuitable for this situation
Councilor McCarthy said the small town’s hospitals were not equipped to deal with a situation like this – “they are doing what they can”. The situation is surreal.
Lewiston has a population of just under 40,000 and is located approximately 200 kilometers north of Boston on the east coast of the USA. Maine is one of the smaller and sparsely populated states and is located in the northeastern tip of the country. Major attacks with firearms occur much less frequently there than in other parts of the country.
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In the USA, rampages and fatal shootings are sadly part of everyday life. Firearms are easily available there and are widely circulated. Bloody attacks with many victims regularly shake the country – for example at schools, supermarkets, nightclubs or at large events.
After every major attack there are new ones Calls for tightening gun laws, for example after a ban on assault rifles, which are regularly used in mass shootings. However, the demands come to nothing, not least because of resistance from the Republican ranks.
Deadly shootings in the USA
In the USA, rampages and fatal shootings are sadly part of everyday life. Firearms are readily available and widely circulated in the United States. Bloody attacks with many victims regularly shake the country. In 2023, there were previously gun attacks in Allen (Texas), Louisville (Kentucky) and East Lansing (Michigan), 16 people and the three shooters were killed.
“It’s just so unreal,” McCarthy said. “You see it on the news and say to yourself that this will never happen here. And then it happens here and it just blows your mind.”
The White House said, US President Joe Biden has been informed about the incident and will continue to be updated.
Biden spoke on the phone with Governor Mills, as well as with members of Congress from the state, and offered full federal support after the “horrible attack.”
Biden was hosting a state banquet for Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the US government headquarters on Wednesday evening (local time) while the attack occurred in Maine.
Gun attack with the most fatalities in the USA in 2023
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The gun attack in Lewiston was according to the non-governmental organization Gun Violence Archive 565th incident in the US this year in which at least four people died. The incident in Lewiston is also about that Event with the most fatalities in the USA so far in 2023as the organization wrote on the platform X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday (local time).
More on gun attacks in the USA
US investigators on Texas suspect “We know that he had the mentality of a neo-Nazi” Eight dead in a Texas shopping center Investigators are probably investigating a right-wing extremist motive – including children among the victims Hate crimes in the USA White man shoots three black people in Florida
Such incidents have already occurred in 43 of the 50 US states and the capital district of Washington DC in the first 299 days of the year. The only seven states that have not had a mass shooting this year are: Alaska, Montana, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia and Wyoming. (dpa, AFP)
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