Maine Governor Janet Mills confirmed this Thursday that 18 people died and another 13 were injured in the double shooting registered the day before in Lewiston, the second city of that State.
At first, some media had raised the death toll from that attack to 22, whose alleged author was identified as Robert Carda soldier in the reserve who still cannot be located and is being searched by hundreds of agents.
The events occurred around 6:56 p.m. local time on Wednesday in a bowling alley and a restaurant in the city, the second largest in the state, with nearly 40,000 inhabitants.
In the attacked bowling alley there was a youth competition that night, but local authorities have not given details about the age of the victims.
Seven people died on the premises, eight in the restaurant and another three after being taken to the hospital.
The Chief of Medicine of the Central Maine Health Center, John Alexander, indicated in a press conference that of the eight injured people who are still admitted to his institution, which is not the only one that received victims, 5 are stable and another three are in critical situation.
The suspect, 40, is believed to be armed and dangerous.. The local population has been asked to follow the order to take shelter and that is why classes have been suspended this Thursday.
For now, Alexander added, there are sufficient blood reserves. A hundred health professionals who were not on duty this Wednesday went to work to help their colleagues.
Local law enforcement has not provided many more details about the situation. All efforts are focused on the search for the suspect, who is not ruled out as having already crossed to another state.
The homicide investigation is in its initial phase, Colonel William Ross of the Maine Police said at a press conference.
Card currently faces eight murder chargesbecause that is the number of victims already identified, but it is expected that the number of charges equals the number of deaths.
The possible perpetrator’s vehicle was located in Lisbon, about 12 kilometers from Lewiston.
One of the places where Card shot people present on Wednesday, the Just-In-Time bowling alley, lamented the attack and the loss of life.
“Nothing that is happening seems real, but unfortunately it is,” the business wrote on its Facebook account. “We lost incredible, kind-hearted members of our community and our family of bowling fans. There are no words that can fix this.”
The Department of Justice confirmed that agents from the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Marshals Service are supporting local authorities in the investigation and search for the suspect and in providing assistance to the victims.
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