On Wednesday October 25, U.S. Army reservist Robert Card II shot 31 people at a bowling alley and a restaurant in Lewiston, Maine. The mass shooting left 18 people dead, and 13 injured.
After the shootings, Card went missing, instilling fear in much of the town’s population, and a massive search was launched. Authorities found Card’s body after a two day man hunt at a place of his recent employment. The tragedy has left Lewiston, and much of the United States mourning the losses of so many citizens, with even President Joe Biden addressing the devastation.
“This has been a tragic two days – not just for Lewiston, Maine, but for our entire country,” Biden said in a statement earlier this week. “Once again, an American community and American families have been devastated by gun violence. Americans should not have to live like this. I will continue to do everything in my power to end this gun violence epidemic. The Lewiston community – and all Americans – deserve nothing less.”
Many civilians of the town have been paying their respects through vigils, masses, and signs placed on trees in downtown Lewiston.
Although Card was found, and the immediate shock has faded, the tragic effects of the shooting on Lewiston will not fade for those whose families have been lost.
“And I don’t know, telling you the truth, what kind of night this is going to be from now until tomorrow when I wake up to the true facts that my son is dead — and I know he’s dead,” father of Schemengees Bar and Grille’s manager, Leroy Walker said according to NBC. “I know it as well as I know I’m standing here telling you because he’s not here and he’s not at any other hospital and he’s not running the streets or he would have called us.”
