Who Is Robert Card? Police Hunt For Suspect In Maine Mass Shooting

Hundreds of police are searching Lewiston and surrounding areas of US’ Maine for a man sought in connection with mass shootings, as media report a death toll ranging from 16 to 22.

If the 22 fatalities is confirmed, the massacre would be the deadliest in the country since at least August 2019, when a gunman killed 23 people at an El Paso Walmart.

The toll would also be on par with the number of homicides that normally occur in Maine in any given year. The number of annual homicides has fluctuated between 16 and 29 since 2012.

Cops Release Safety Guidelines

Dozens more sustained injuries in Wednesday’s shooting at a bar and a bowling alley – about 6.5 km apart in Lewiston, a town of 38,000 people in Androscoggin County about 56 km north of Portland.

“There is an active shooter in Lewiston. We ask people to shelter in place. Please stay inside your home with the doors locked,” Maine State Police said on X, previously called Twitter.

Local police posted a photo of the suspect on Facebook carrying a semi-automatic style weapon and said he should be “considered armed and dangerous”.

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Who Is Robert Card?

Card, 40, is a retired military officer who has been arrested previously for domestic violence. After the shooting, he was seen driving a White Subaru, of which officers have released pictures.

Earlier this year, he reported mental health problems such as hearing voices and had threatened to shoot up a National Guard base. He had to be admitted to a mental health facility for 2 weeks.

While media reports earlier said there was a third shooting site at a Walmart distribution centre, the company later confirmed to local media that no shooting occured on their property.

Banning The Powerful Weapons

Joe Biden has been briefed, a US official said in Washington. The president spoke by phone to Governor Janet Mills about the shooting and offered full federal support, the White House said.

The number of US mass shootings has surged since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, with 647 recorded last year and 679 projected to occur in 2023, based on trends.

Efforts to ban the powerful weapons have run up against opposition from Republicans, staunch defenders of the constitutional right to bear arms.