AUGUSTA (Maine), USA: The suspect in a mass shooting in the US state of Maine in which as least 22 people were killed, has been found dead after a two-day manhunt that activated hundreds of law-enforcement personnel to find the culprit in the deadliest mass shooting in the country this year.
According to Maine public safety commissioner, Mike Sauschuck, Robert Card, a 40-year-old Army reservist, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and his body was found at 7:45 pm (2345 GMT).
Robert Card is believed to be the perpetrator of a rampage that left 18 people dead and 13 others wounded in a bowling alley and a bar-restaurant in this hard-scrabble city in the northeastern state of Maine on Wednesday evening. However, the commissioner could not immediately say when Card shot himself.
“I’m breathing a sigh of relief tonight knowing that Robert Card is no longer a threat to anyone,” governor Janet Mills told a news conference called on a short notice.
Authorities Friday revealed the identities of the victims, ranging from a husband and wife in their 70s to a 14-year-old boy killed alongside his father.
US media said Card’s body, found in Lisbon Falls, southeast of Lewiston, was in a wooded area near a recycling center that was his place of employment before he lost his job there.
The shooting and Card’s fugitive status had brought fear to southern Maine over the past two days. Earlier Friday, authorities said they were chasing down more than 530 tips and leads on Card’s possible whereabouts. This latest shooting is one of the deadliest in the country since 2017, when a gunman opened fire on a crowded music festival in Las Vegas, killing 60 people.
