October 25, 2023 - Lewiston, Maine mass shootings

Lewiston, Maine, is a small city — with a population of just 38,493 people as of last year, according to the US Census.

It's home to Bates College, a private liberal arts school, and is regularly ranked as one of America's safest cities.

“We know that these events have shocked and frightened our community. And we grieve for those whose lives were tragically lost in this heinous act of violence,” Bates College said in a statement late Wednesday, referring to the mass shooting.

Lewiston is the second biggest city in Maine, after Portland, and sits on the banks of the Androscoggin River.

And though Maine is the whitest state in the nation, according to the 2020 census, immigrant communities have grown in size recently, as well as in other states including Minnesota, Ohio, and Washington.

Between 2017 and 2021, more than 7% of Lewiston residents were foreign-born, according to the census — still lower than the national average of nearly 14%. And in those years, 19% of Lewiston residents spoke a language other than English at home.

As police continue to search for a person of interest involved in the Lewiston shootings, which left at least 22 dead Wednesday night, local schools have announced they will cancel classes on Thursday. 

"There remains a lot of unknowns at this time. Information moves quickly but not always accurately. Please continue to shelter in place or get to safety. We will continue to update you with information and next steps as appropriate,” Lewiston Public Schools said in a post.

“Stay close to your loved ones. Embrace them. Our prayers go out to those who lost someone tonight. Our prayers go out to all those working to stop further loss of life.” 

A number of other nearby schools and districts also announced they would be closed or have classes canceled on Thursday:

Town offices in Lisbon, which neighbors Lewiston, Maine, where the shootings took place Wednesday night, will be closed on Thursday as a manhunt continues for the suspect in two mass shootings.

The vehicle connected to Robert Card, identified by police as a person of interest, was located in Lisbon Wednesday night, according to Maine Department of Public Safety Commissioner Mike Sauschuck.

Witnesses of the shootings in Lewiston were of all ages, including teenagers, said Auburn Mayor Jason Levesque, adding that the community was in shock.

Auburn is a city less than 2 miles west of Lewiston.

Speaking to media outside a reunification center, Levesque said there was a lot of fear, panic and worry among residents there.

“You can train for this but you can never be completely prepared,” Levesque said. “It’s an all-hands-on-deck situation.”

Speaking to CNN later that night, Levesque said he wasn't aware of any children among those killed — but knows one high school student who was wounded.

He described hearing more about what unfolded Wednesday night from eyewitnesses at the reunification center, including one man who was playing the lawn game cornhole when he heard "a couple pops ... but didn't think anything of it, it is Halloween. Then he started seeing everybody scream and move."

Authorities across Maine are involved in the ongoing manhunt, with 40-year-old Robert Card identified as a person of interest.

This post has been updated with more comments from the mayor

A vehicle of interest was located in Lisbon, Maine, Mike Sauschuck, state commissioner for the Department of Public Safety, said during a news briefing Wednesday night.

Lisbon is about 8 miles southeast of the city of Lewiston, where the shooting unfolded earlier Wednesday.

Residents in Lisbon and Lewiston are being told to shelter in place as the manhunt for a person of interest, Robert Card, continues, he said.

Hundreds of officers continue to search for Card as he remains at large and is considered armed and dangerous, Sauschuck said.

Sauschuck noted the shootings began around 6:56 p.m. ET on Wednesday evening and there were multiple locations involved.

An eyewitness said that she saw "definitely more than a dozen" people leaving the bowling alley where one of the shootings in Lewiston, Maine, happened Wednesday evening.

Nichoel Wyman Arel described a large police and ambulance presence outside of Sparetime Recreation following the deadly incident. Arel said she saw officers patting people down as they came out of the bowling alley.

Arel was driving home with a friend from Girl Scouts when they came across the tragic scene. Arel captured footage of people being patted down and leaving the bowling alley.

She saw a person who looked like they "had blood all over them" but couldn't tell if they were injured themselves. "It's all kind of a blur. I wasn't really taking in a lot of the details," Arel said.

Arel also said that she saw children on the scene with their families.

Arel's young daughter was with her when she witnessed the aftermath of the shooting.

"She was definitely scared. She's like — she started crying and said, 'This is a scary world we live in mom.' I'm like, 'I know.'"

When she got home, Arel said that she locked up the house, including windows. She owns a firearm which she said made her daughter "feel better to know that I was carrying it around."

Arel said that her daughter "was scared somebody was going to come into our home."

Lewiston residents are being told to continue to shelter in place.

The Lewiston Police Department has identified Robert Card as a person of interest in the two shootings in Lewiston.

Card is 40 years old and should be “considered armed and dangerous,” according a Facebook post from the Lewiston Police Department.

Law enforcement officials in Maine describe Card as a certified firearms instructor and a member of the US Army Reserves.

Here's the full statement from Lewiston Police:

The New Hampshire State Police is assisting in the search for Card, including the use of its helicopter, state police spokesperson Amber Lagace said.

CNN's Joe Sutton contributed reporting to this post.

President Joe Biden spoke by phone with a number of Maine lawmakers in the wake of the mass shootings in Lewiston, Maine, the White House press office told pool Wednesday.

Attorney General Merrick Garland and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas both have been briefed on the shootings in Maine.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson offered condolences to those who lost loved ones in the deadly shootings.