On October 25, 2023, 40-year-old Robert Card carried out aspree shooting inLewiston, Maine, United States, killing 18 people and wounding 13 others.[9][10][11] The initial attack occurred at the Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley during a youth league event, followed shortly by a second shooting at the Schemengees Bar & Grille Restaurant.[12] Following these events, Card escaped, prompting theAndroscoggin County Sheriff's Office to initiate an extensive manhunt and release his photograph identifying him as the suspect.
Forty-nine hours later, on October 27, authorities discovered Card dead in atractor-trailer due to a self-inflicted gunshot wound near a recycling center inLisbon, Maine, where he had been recently employed.[13] Examination of Card's brain tissue revealed that he hadtraumatic brain injuries likely attributable to his eight years as a grenade instructor, when he was exposed to repeated blasts.[14] The shooting is thetenth-deadliest in U.S. history[15] and the deadliest in the history of Maine.[16]
The first shooting occurred on October 25, 2023, at Just-In-Time Recreation, a bowling alley inLewiston, Maine, during a youth league event.[17] The shooter, 40-year-old Robert Card, used aRuger SFARsemi-automatic rifle[18] chambered in.308 Winchester[19] and equipped with an extendedmagazine,flashlight andoptic.[20] At 6:54:20 PM, Card walked into the building and fired a single shot. The rifle jammed and Card tried manipulating the rifle. Two employees, Jason Walker and Michael Deslauriers II, ran up to Card and tried disarming him. However, Card successfully fixed the rifle and loaded a new magazine. He killed Walker and Deslauriers, and fired several more shots at other people in the bowling alley. The entire incident, starting from the moment Card entered the building and fired his first shot, lasted 45 seconds.[21] Police received the first emergency calls at 6:56p.m.EDT.[22] Plainclothes officers at a nearby shooting range also heard the gunshots and responded. The earliest officers to arrive at the scene did so within four minutes of the first call.[23] In total, Card killed eight people and injured three victims. He fired 18 rounds inside the bowling alley.[21]
Shortly after, at 7:07, a second shooting was reported at Schemengees Bar & Grille Restaurant, 4 miles (6.4 km) south of the bowling alley.[22][24] Card entered the building and shot multiple people inside while walking towards thecornhole section. At some point, while Card was reloading his rifle, a patron turned off the power of the building. Law enforcement alleged that these actions saved many lives. Card fired more shots and left the building through a side exit. In 78 seconds, Card fired 36 times in the area of the business, including outside the building. Officers arrived at the scene two minutes later.[23] Ten people were killed in this location and ten other people were injured.[21]
Three of the eighteen deceased victims died in the hospital.[22][23]
The shooter discharged his .308 rifle at least 54 times during the events of October 25.[25]
On October 26, the Maine State Police and GovernorJanet Mills confirmed the number of victims[37] and announced that anarrest warrant was issued for the suspect, who was charged with eight counts of murder.[38] Police surrounded a house inBowdoin while executing a search warrant.[39]
On October 27, Michael Sauschuck, public safety commissioner of Maine, said that police were using dive teams, sonar, andremotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs) to search for underwater activity near where Card's vehicle was found in Lisbon. Sauschuck said they did not definitively know Card's means of escape.[40] That same day, the shelter-in-place order in Lewiston was rescinded, but hunting restrictions in Bowdoin, Lewiston, Lisbon, andMonmouth were imposed.[41]
At 7:45 p.m. on October 27, Card was found dead near his former place of employment, a recycling center close to the Androscoggin River in Lisbon.[24][42] The recycling center had been searched the night before, but his body was found in a box truck on a part of the land that had not been searched previously.[23][43] Themanner of death wassuicide and thecause of death was a gunshot wound to the head fired from his handgun; the Maine Chief Medical Examiner's autopsy revealed he had likely died 8 to 12 hours before being found.[13][44][45]
The hunting restrictions that had been put in place were subsequently removed.[24]
A total of eighteen people were killed; thirteen others were injured.[46] Seven were killed at Just-In-Time Recreation, eight were killed at Schemengees Bar & Grille Restaurant, and three died in a hospital.[22][23] Four of those killed at Schemengees were deaf and had been participating in a cornhole tournament for the deaf community.[47][48] Ranging in age from 14 to 76, the dead were all identified on October 27.[49]
Lewiston mayor Carl Sheline said that he was "heartbroken".[50]Jason Levesque, mayor ofAuburn, Lewiston'stwin city, added "we will get this situation settled."[51] Maine GovernorJanet Mills urged residents to follow law enforcement instructions.[52] Nirav Shah, former head of the Maine Center for Disease Control and currently the deputy director of the federalCenters for Disease Control and Prevention, offered his condolences for Joshua Seal, a victim who had been employed under Shah as anAmerican Sign Languageinterpreter for the deaf during theCOVID-19 pandemic. Similar condolences were offered by Karen Hopkins, director of the Maine Education Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, as three of the victims killed were graduates of the center.[47]
U.S. SenatorAngus King of Maine wrote on Twitter that he was "deeply sad".[53] Fellow SenatorSusan Collins remarked, "This is the darkest day in Maine history in my lifetime."[54]Jared Golden—who represents Lewiston—andChellie Pingree, bothU.S. Representatives from Maine, released statements expressing shock at the events.[55] Following the shooting, Golden further announced his support for an assault weapons ban, reversing his previous opposition to gun control measures and asked for "forgiveness" from the community and victims' families for his previous position.[56] On October 25, PresidentJoe Biden made calls to several Maine lawmakers to offer full federal support.[57] On October 26, he ordered that U.S. flags be lowered tohalf-staff for five days as "a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence perpetrated in Lewiston, Maine".[58][59] In a later statement, Biden urged lawmakers to impose anassault weapons ban and introduce moregun regulations, saying it is "not normal, and we cannot accept it" and that current safety measures are "simply not enough".[60]
Card attended Bowdoin Central School and laterMount Ararat High School in nearbyTopsham.[72][73] After graduating in 2001, he studiedengineering at theUniversity of Maine from 2001 to 2004 but did not complete his education.[74] Card, known for his quiet and friendly demeanor, had a history of being dependable and causing no trouble for much of his life, according to his family.[75] Before 2023, his only recorded interactions with law enforcement were a 2007 arrest forDUI, to which he pleaded guilty, and two speeding charges in 2001 and 2002.[76][68]
In 2022, Card's hearing began to deteriorate, which his family noticed was accompanied by a change in his demeanor, becoming sullen and short-tempered. By the spring of 2023, he started to believe that people at a local market and the bar where he enjoyed playing cornhole were gossiping about him and labeling him apedophile. He also experienced significant weight loss.[75]
In May 2023, Card's son and ex-wife reported his declining mental health to aSagadahoc County sheriff's deputy, associating his reports ofauditory hallucinations to being fitted forhearing aids in February 2023.[68] In July 2023, leaders of Card's unit (3rd Battalion,304th Infantry Regiment) made a report to law enforcement about Card's alarming comments and erratic behavior while training atCamp Smith (close to theU.S. Military Academy atWest Point, New York).[77][78] The Army Reserve specifically told law enforcement that he threatened to "shoot up" a military base inSaco, Maine. He was removed from training exercises, and theNew York State Police responded and transported Card to West Point's Keller Army Community Hospital forpsychological evaluation. He received two weeks of additional treatment at the Four Winds Psychiatric Hospital inKatonah, New York.[22][78] Doctors prescribedlithium but did not assess Card for atraumatic brain injury, according to his sister. After leaving the hospital, he discontinued the medication.[75]
Card returned home on August 3, 2023, and the Army barred him from handling guns or ammunition, deeming him a "non-deployable" serviceman.[79] That same day, agun shop inAuburn, Maine, denied his access to purchase asilencer because he responded "yes" to the question "Have you ever been adjudicated as a mental defective OR ever been committed to a mental institution?" on the ATFForm 4473.[80][81] In the subsequent months, Card had several angry and violent episodes. On one occasion, his mother found him crying on her front porch due to hisdelusions of being talked about. He also left his job as a recycling truck driver.[75]
In mid-September 2023, the Army Reserve requested that the Sagadahoc County Sheriff's Department conduct a well-being check on Card after he punched a fellow reservist who asked him to stop talking about "shooting up places and people". Card did not answer the door but could be heard moving inside histrailer home by the sheriff's deputy outside. Because Card was described by his commanders as a top marksman, the deputy requested backup from theKennebec County Sheriff's Department, about 45 minutes away, and wrote in a report that "due to being in a very disadvantageous position we decided to back away".[81]
According to a police affidavit, Card's family members indicated Card believed he was being broadcast as a pedophile online by businesses and people including Just-In-Time, Schemengees, and a manager at Schemengees, who was one of the eight victims there that night.[82]
At the request of the Maine Chief Medical Examiner's office, a sample of Card's brain tissue was examined atBoston University'sCTE Center.[83] The findings, released by Card's family, showed profound brain damage, including missingwhite matter; white matter with "moderately severe" damage; "disorganized clumps" ofmyelin (fatty sheaths surroundingaxons); damage to axons; and scarring andinflammation throughout the brain. Although the tissue did not show evidence ofchronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), it did confirm that Card had traumatic brain injury that resembled the brain damage in veterans exposed toblasts. Despite never seeing combat, Card's role as agrenade instructor would have exposed him to thousands of blasts over eight years.[75][84] NeurologistAnn McKee, the director of the CTE Center, stated: "These findings align with our previous studies on the effects of blast injury in humans and experimental models. While I cannot say with certainty that these pathological findings underlie Mr. Card's behavioral changes in the last 10 months of life, based on our previous work, brain injury likely played a role in his symptoms."[83][75]
Following the shootings, ashelter-in-place order was implemented in Lewiston, and schools were placed onlockdown, along with schools across the southern Maine area.[85] Auburn issued its own shelter-in-place order and told businesses to lock down as well.[86] Classes at schools in theLewiston Public Schools district,Central Maine Community College, andBates College were canceled on October 26, as well as several additional school districts within a 50-mile radius.[87][88][89] The shelter-in-place advisory was extended toBowdoin on October 26.[90] Bates College also postponed its presidential inauguration, previously scheduled for October 27, until further notice.[91] Additionally, extra security measures were taken along theCanada–U.S. border following an "armed and dangerous" alert issued by theCanada Border Services Agency.[92][93][94]
Shortly after the shooting, there was an increase in the number of individuals within the state looking to purchase a weapon. A gun store owner told reporters that he had done more business the day after the shooting than he had in the prior month. Althoughdeer season was scheduled to start the Saturday after the shooting, he believed most of the sales were safety-related. Prospective buyers allegedly waited in line for over an hour at one gun store.[95]
According toWired, right after the shooting, social media platforms such asTikTok,Facebook, andTwitter were flooded with disinformation about Card. This included false claims that he had been arrested and was no longer at large. Some stated inaccurately, based on information about someone else with the same name, that Card was arrested in 2016 for possessing and disseminating sexually explicit materials.[99][100]
Maine Governor Janet Mills established an independent commission to investigate the shooting. The seven-member commission, chaired byDaniel Wathen, reviewed thousands of pages of documents, gathered facts from many witnesses, and held public meetings. In August 2024, the commission issued a 215-page final report, announced atLewiston City Hall. The report concluded that both police and the Army Reserve missed opportunities to prevent the tragedy.[101] The report found that Card's behavior provided sufficient evidence for the local sheriff's office to have obtained a "yellow flag" order to seize Card's guns in September 2023, yet failed to do so.[101] The report also concluded that the Army Reserves failed to provide appropriate healthcare for Card or to remove his access to weapons, even after a reservist sent a text message to an Army supervisor, saying, "I believe he [Card]'s going to snap and do a mass shooting."[101]
^"Maine Mass Shooter Purchased .308-Caliber 'Battle Rifle' Days Before Mental Health Hospitalization: Report".The Messenger. October 27, 2023. Archived fromthe original on October 28, 2023. RetrievedOctober 28, 2023.CNN's John Miller, citing law enforcement sources, reports that Card purchased the Ruger SFAR during July in Maine, about 10 days before he had an encounter with New York State Police and his National Guard superiors that led to his hospitalization for mental health reasons.
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