The search for Robert Card is over. The man suspected of killing at least 18 people in the mass shootings in Lewiston, Maine, was found dead. Card’s rampage began Wednesday night when he attacked two locations: Schemengees Bar and Grille and Spare Time Recreation (also known as Just-in-Time), a bowling alley. A youth bowling league was underway when Card opened fire. Lewiston was locked down as police hadn’t apprehended Card. Other towns and cities also came under shelter-in-place orders.
Card’s vehicle was found in nearby Lisbon by a boat ramp, which prompted some to speculate that he had escaped by watercraft. The Coast Guard was deployed in the manhunt. Federal, state, and local law enforcement followed up on all leads. Card’s house in Bowdoin was surrounded by police Thursday but was found empty when law enforcement breached the home. A letter was found inside, which officials described as a suicide note.
Two days after the shootings, the hunt is over. Card’s body was discovered Friday night. He died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound (via NBC 10 Boston):
The man suspected in Wednesday's massacre that killed 18 people in Lewiston, Maine, has been found dead, sources told the NBC10 Boston Investigators Friday night.
Robert Card was the subject of a dayslong manhunt that followed mass shootings at the Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley and Schemengees Bar and Grille.
Specific details were not immediately available, but multiple told the NBC10 Boston Investigators there was no longer a threat. Four senior law enforcement officials told NBC News that Card had been found dead.
BREAKING: Sources tell the NBC10 Boston Investigators there's no longer a threat in Maine. Lewiston mass shooting suspect Robert Card is located and is deceased. https://t.co/GZVPEnejwO
— NBC10 Boston (@NBC10Boston) October 28, 2023
#BREAKING: Maine Senator Angus King confirms to CBS13 that the body of murder suspect Robert Card has been found. pic.twitter.com/tAi8NQywT4
— CBS 13 News (@WGME) October 28, 2023
BREAKING | NBC News: Robert Card the accused mass shooter in Lewiston, ME has been found and he is deceased, four senior law enforcement officials say.
— Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) October 28, 2023
Reported w/ @jonathan4ny and @anblanx
BREAKING: Maine shooting suspect Robert Card has been found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, multiple law enforcement sources tell @ABC News. https://t.co/JkUPTgZbaN
— ABC News (@ABC) October 28, 2023
Card was reportedly part of the Army Reserve and a trained firearm instructor. We still have no motive, but he was suffering from severe mental illness, which included hearing voices and making threats to shoot up a National Guard base in Saco. Card had previously been committed to a mental health facility in the summer of 2023 for two weeks.