The man identified as a person of interest in a mass killing in Maine is a firearms instructor trained by the military and was recently committed to a mental health facility, according to a state police bulletin.
The police intelligence bulletin, reviewed by The Associated Press, was being circulated to law enforcement officials on Wednesday night after the shootings that left at least 16 people dead.
The bulletin says the man, Robert Card, had been trained as a firearms instructor at a U.S. Army Reserve training facility in Maine. The document says Card had been committed to a mental health facility for two weeks in the summer of 2023. It did not provide specific details about his treatment or condition.
The document also said Card had reported hearing voices and had threatened to carry out a shooting at the military training base in Saco, Maine.
Card was being sought by police as a person of interest in Wednesday’s shootings. A telephone number listed for Card in public records was not in service.
Lewiston Police confirmed in a Facebook post that Card was a person of interest in the shooting and said he should be considered armed and dangerous.
The shootings at a bowling alley and a bar in Lewiston on Wednesday night killed at least 16 people and engulfed the state's second-largest city in chaos. The suspect remained at large as authorities ordered residents and business owners to stay inside and off the streets.
Two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press dozens of people also had been wounded. The officials were not authorized to publicly discuss details of the ongoing investigation and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.
Lewiston Police said in an earlier Facebook post that they were dealing with an active shooter incident at Schemengees Bar and Grille and Sparetime Recreation, a bowling alley about 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) away. The Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office released two photos of the suspect on its Facebook page that showed a shooter walking into an establishment with a weapon raised to their shoulder.
“Please stay off the roads to allow emergency responders access to the hospitals,” police said.
On its website, Central Maine Medical Center said staff were “reacting to a mass casualty, mass shooter event” and were coordinating with area hospitals to take in patients. A woman who answered the phone in the emergency department said no further information could be released and that the hospital itself was on lockdown.
