Searching for a Hunting suspect in the Bowdoin woods with the Maine Department of Interior and Public Safety, and a gun-in-the-field investigation
Pingree says those on the ground include a mix of traditional, small-town police who are used to being in the woods looking for lost hikers and hunters, as well as “the serious professionals from out of town who unfortunately are used to these kinds of searches.”
The start of deer hunting season on Saturday may make those efforts even more complicated. Sauschuck said investigators are corresponding with local leaders to figure out how to safeguard woodsy search sites from hunters.
Lewiston and the surrounding area remains under shelter-in-place orders as the search continues. School districts and many local businesses are closed.
Card is thought to be armed, though has not been offered details. Surveillance video from the night of the shooting appears to show Card holding a semiautomatic rifle.
It’s not clear how he gained possession of the weapon, a question on the minds of many in light of reports that he had recently been dealing with mental health issues.
Card, a military man, was at a training facility for the National Guard in New York when they became concerned about his erratic behavior. They called the police and transported him to a hospital for evaluation, though it’s not clear what if any treatment he received.
They refused to say if law enforcement had been made aware of warnings about Card’s behavior that would have triggered Maine’s yellow flag law. They did not say if Card’s family was cooperating with the investigation.
Law enforcement officers swarmed the perimeter of Card’s home in Bowdoin on Thursday night, surveilling the property with drones and blaring warnings through a bullhorn over the course of some two hours.
Public safety officials said that they didn’t know for certain if Card was in the house but that loudspeaker announcements are standard when executing search warrants.
Sauschuck reiterated on Friday that just because teams are at a particular location doesn’t mean they expect Card to be there too, but they approach those situations as if he could be.
He wanted to temper expectations of police activity in the area being seen as a sign of hope. If a helicopter is hovering over a building, for example, it doesn’t mean the suspect is inside, he said.
He said that they are more and more concerned because what’s the next thing that will happen? “And we understand that, and that’s why we’re working around the clock to try and bring a person to justice and bring some kind ofclosure to our community.”
We know that justice can impact the healing process and we will continue to fight to bring this individual to justice.
She spoke with U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday about the federal officers being sent into the area, which she says include the team that helped locate the Boston Marathon bomber (after a four-day manhunt in 2013).
In Morning Edition, Rep. Pingree said that the search for Card involved more than 300 law enforcement officers from across the country.
Source: Police are searching the river near where the Maine shooting suspect’s car was found
Detection of a shooting suspect’s car in Lewiston, Maine, on Friday morning: Searching for a suspect in the river
Multiple teams of divers from multiple states will use a variety of technologies to look for potential bodies in the river. Still, he stressed that investigators do not have firm evidence to suggest the suspect’s body is in the river.
He added that Brookfield Power, the company that operates two dams on the river, is cooperating with investigators and slowing the currents to help with the search.
Officials used a large poster of various aerial maps to highlight areas that investigators will be searching on Friday, though stressed that the four locations on display were by no means an exhaustive list.
Residents of Lewiston, Maine and the surrounding area are on their second full day of sheltering in place as law enforcement continues searching for the man suspected of fatally shooting 18 people and wounding 13 others at a bowling alley and restaurant on Wednesday night.
Robert Card was described as armed and dangerous by authorities and they are asking residents not to approach him. They want people to share any evidence they have through a digital tip line.
The Lewiston Police Chief said at Friday morning’s briefing that hundreds of law enforcement officers from all over the country are trying to track down Card and keep the community safe.
The Department of Public Safety is in the process of recovering all the evidence that was found at Schemengees Bar and Grille.
Affidavits for phones and computers are also being drafted by law enforcement officers. Police are currently investigating over 3000 tips and leads and Sauschuck said the credibility of the leads is questionable.
Sauschuck said that investigators have “many irons in the fire” after teams physically searched multiple locations for evidence that might lead them to Card. There is a vehicle found in Card’s name near a boat launch, which is one emerging focus of those efforts.
Source: Police are searching the river near where the Maine shooting suspect’s car was found
New information from the investigation of the Wednesday night shooting rampage that killed 18 victims in Lisbon Falls, Maine, the sole suspect in the case, a “long gun”
More than 36 hours after the shootings, authorities tell reporters that they are ready for the long haul and plan briefings every morning and afternoon. The clock is not finished, Sauschuck said.
Maine public safety officials announced that the body of the sole alleged shooter had been found dead near the local Androscoggin River, in the small town of Lisbon Falls, about 10 miles southeast of Lewiston.
A self-inflicted gunshot wound was the apparent cause of his death, after a two-day manhunt prompted by the latest U.S. mass shooting — at a bowling alley and bar — that left 18 people dead and 13 wounded.
Sauschuck told reporters in Lewiston that police had recovered another weapon, that he called a “long gun,” inside the suspect’s car, but did not provide further details on the weapon.
A note found during the investigation had been addressed by Card to a “loved one,” Sauschuck said, and though it was not an explicit suicide note, it did include access codes to his bank accounts and a cellphone that investigators are currently trying to examine.
On Friday, police released the names of all 18 victims of the Wednesday night gun rampage that devastated the community. The dead ranged in age from a couple in their 70s to a teenage boy.
The city’s police chief told Maine Public that he and some of his officers knew some of the victims or their families, given the close-knit nature of the community in the state’s second largest city.
“Seeing these pictures come up on the board, I know a couple of them myself,” said Lewiston Police Chief David St. Pierre, speaking at a news conference Friday with the photos of the victims shown on a screen behind him.
The law enforcement scoured several local communities that had been placed on lock down, with a shelter-in-place order issued to all residents as Card described as armed and dangerous.
Across rural areas of the most forested state in the nation, hundreds of officers from various local forces and agencies had been called up to help in the search for the suspect.
Source: Maine shooter’s body was found near a scene that had been searched by police
How Did Janet Mills End the Two Days of Michael Cayley’s Dead Manhunt? The Case for a Broken Heart: Reconciliation, Support and Action
People will now be able to gather in person for the first time since the shooting to hold events like vigils, which had only been taking place online due to that active manhunt.
Janet Mills said that it was now time to heal, and that even though Card may no longer pose a threat, he would not bring solace to some people.
After she had informed the White House of the suspect’s death, President Biden issued a statement calling the episode a “tragic two days” for the entire country as well as the city of Lewiston.
“Americans have suffered greatly due to gun violence, and it’s up to Republicans in Congress to help end the problem,” Biden’s statement added, before he referred to the steps that the Republicans in Congress need to take. “Americans should not have to live like this.”