The tense two-day manhunt for Maine mass shooting suspect Robert Card is over.
“He is dead,” Maine Gov. Janet Mills said at a Friday night press conference.
“Like many people, I am breathing a sigh of relief tonight knowing that Robert Card is no longer a threat to anyone.”
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In a press conference Saturday morning Commissioner Michael Sauschuck, of the Maine Department For Public Safety, revealed more details about how Card’s body was found.
Card was discovered in the back of large tractor-trailer filled with scrap metal, located in the overflow parking lot of Maine Recycling Corporation in Lisbon, where he had once worked, Sauschuck said. The main site of the recycling plant had been searched twice previously, but it was only when authorities examined unlocked trailers in the overflow lot that Card was discovered, according to Sauschuck.
Card’s car was found nearby hours after the Wednesday night carnage in Lewiston. Sauschuck confirmed that police found a firearm in the white Subaru, which he described as a “long gun,” but did not specify the make or model.
“He was located deceased from a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” Sauschuck said.
Authorities also confirmed that Card had left a note behind before embarking on his killing spree. Sauschuck did not read the note, but described its contents.
“It’s a note to a loved one and it’s saying, this is the passcode for my phone and this is the bank account number. I wouldn’t describe it as an explicit suicide note, but the tone and tenor was that the individual was not going to be around and wanted to make sure that this loved one had access to his phone and whatever was in his phone,” Sauschuck said.
On whether police had found a motive, Sauschuck said there was “clearly a mental health component to this,” but stressed the investigation is ongoing. He said there was no evidence so far that Card had been “forcibly committed” for mental health issues, and that therefore he would not have been “prohibited” from buying firearms.
“Our work is not done here,” Lewiston Police Chief Dave St. Pierre said on Friday. “I just don’t want to forget the families that are grieving and will continue to grieve.”
Sauschuck said Card’s family had been “incredibly cooperative,” and the first three people to “positively identify” Card based on photographs the police released had been family members.
Police had been flooded with more than 800 tips and leads from the community that they were continuing to investigate, Sauschuck continued.
He said the manhunt had been “intensive,” with police and tactical units working around the clock.
“We were concerned right into the last second that we didn’t know what this individual was going to do next, or where he was going to it,” Sauschuck said.
Sauschuck announced a family assistance center for anyone who was present at the site of the shootings, and a separate mental health site for the wider community.
“We have an investigation,” Sauschuck said. “This will slowly evolve over to a wellness and resiliency conversation for the community, and for the victims and others.”
<p><em><strong>If you or a loved one are struggling with suicidal thoughts, please reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by dialing or texting 988.</em></strong></p>
Card, a 40-year-old Army reservist whose mental health had deteriorated severely in recent months, killed 18 people at two locations in Lewiston on Wednesday night.
Among those killed and injured at the Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley and Schemengees Bar were kids participating in a children’s bowling league and deaf bar-goers taking part in a cornhole night.
“It’s relieving, so the community itself can definitely move on,” Tammy Asselin, who was at the bowling alley with her 10-year-old daughter when Card opened fire, told CNN as the news of his death broke.
“But it’s also sad because we have so many questions left unanswered,” she said, weeping. “I just want to ask him: Why?”
Police confirmed that Card left a note at his home, but refused to provide further details or address a potential motive behind the murder spree.
Katie Card, the suspect’s sister-in-law, told The Daily Beast on Thursday that Card had claimed he was hearing voices after getting powerful hearing aids a few months ago. “He truly believed he was hearing people say things,” she added. “This all just happened within the last few months.”
Police on Friday afternoon released a full list of the 18 people who were killed.
Maine State PoliceOn Friday evening, before Card’s body was found, Sauschuck confirmed the identities of the 18 victims, whose ages ranged from 14 to 76.
They were identified as Ronald Morin, 55; Peyton Brewer, 40; Joshua Seal, 36; Bryan MacFarlane, 41; Joseph Walker, 57; Arthur Strout, 42; Maxx Hathaway, 35; Stephen Vozzella, 45; Thomas Conrad, 34; Michael Deslauriers, 51; Jason Adam, 51; Tricia Asselin, 53; William Young, 44; Aaron Young, 14; Robert Violette, 76; Lucille Violette, 73; William Brackett, 48; and Keith Macneir, 64.
Card had been hospitalized briefly over summer after he began “behaving erratically” while in training at the United States Military Academy, the New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs said. A former Army colleague told CNN that Card was one of the best shooters in their unit, and was “very comfortable in the woods.”
