The US Army reservist accused of killing 18 people and injuring 13 others in a shooting rampage in Maine this week was found dead Friday evening – apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot – after a two-day manhunt, a state official said.
Robert Card, accused of committing Wednesday’s massacre at a bowling alley and a restaurant in Lewiston, Maine, was found dead around 7:45 p.m. Friday near the Androscoggin River in the Lisbon Falls area, some 10 miles Lewiston, state Public Safety Commissioner Michael Sauschuck told reporters.
Maine Gov. Janet Mills said she is “breathing a sigh of relief tonight knowing that … Card is no longer a threat to anyone.”
“Now is a time to heal,” Mills, who said Maine State Police found the body, told reporters at the news conference.
“Tonight, the city of Lewiston and the state of Maine begin to move forward on a long road to healing.”
Card’s body was found in an area near a recycling center from which he had recently been fired, a law enforcement source told CNN.
Earlier this week, authorities had found Card’s vehicle abandoned after the shooting near a boat launch in the Lisbon area.
Details about when Card died “remains to be seen,” Sauschuck said, and authorities haven’t announced a motive in the shooting.
The discovery of Card’s body ended an intense two-day search that saw hundreds of officers scour parts of southern Maine by land, water and air.
The shootings and subsequent manhunt left communities simultaneously grieving and riddled with anxiety.
Shelter-in-place orders for Androscoggin and northern Sagadahoc counties were in place from Wednesday night until they were lifted Friday afternoon. Schools, businesses and facilities were closed much of that period.
Part of the reason the search for Card was expanded to waterways was due to a note left by him before his death, a law enforcement official told CNN.
The message was akin to a suicide note and suggested that Card didn’t expect to be alive by the time the note was found, the official added.
The note essentially gave information to others about where things could be found and how things could be disposed of, the official said.
Authorities had executed at least three search warrants Thursday on his vehicle, home and another property, the source said, which have informed their search procedures Friday.
Wednesday evening’s shooting was the deadliest US mass shooting since last year’s massacre at a school in Uvalde, Texas.
Sources: Suspect bought gun legally days before psychiatric evaluation
Earlier Friday, multiple law enforcement sources told CNN the gun investigators believe Card used to carry out the massacre was purchased legally just days before he was hospitalized and ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
In mid-July, New York State Police were called to Camp Smith in Cortlandt, New York, the military base where Card served, because he was acting “belligerently and possibly intoxicated,” according to a source briefed on the matter.
Three law enforcement sources confirm State Police brought Card to a nearby hospital, where he was treated for suspected intoxication and released the next day.
When asked for information about the encounter, a New York State Police spokesperson told CNN: “This is an active investigation, and the New York State Police does not comment on active investigations.”
A federal law enforcement source told CNN the army gave Card a “Command Referral” to seek treatment after he told army personnel at Camp Smith Card had been “hearing voices” and had thoughts about “hurting other soldiers.”
A National Guard spokesperson confirmed to CNN Card was transported to the nearby Keller Army Community Hospital at the United States Military Academy for “medical evaluation,” after Army Reserve officials reported Card for “behaving erratically.”
Card’s encounters with New York State Police and his National Guard superiors occurred just 10 days after Card had purchased the high-powered rifle at a Maine gun store, according to law enforcement sources.
The rifle was a Ruger SFAR chambered for high-powered .308 ammunition. The .308 round is favored by military snipers firing at long distances and big game hunters.
It is larger and more powerful than the regular ammunition carried in the rifles of soldiers and SWAT teams.
Sources say the weapon found inside Card’s 2013 white Subaru Outback appears to be the same one fired by the gunman at the bowling alley and a local bar, though a ballistics match has not been confirmed.
The weapon will be processed by the FBI and ATF for fingerprints and DNA and then run through laboratory testing to determine if the bullets and shell casings found at the scene match.
REF: CNN
