By Gabriella Borter
LEWISTON, Maine (Reuters) -The man suspected of killing 18 people and wounding 13 in a shooting rampage in Lewiston, Maine, was found dead on Friday, ending a 48-hour manhunt that followed the most lethal episode of gun violence in the state’s history, according to multiple media reports.
ABC News, citing unnamed law enforcement sources, said the suspect, Robert R. Card, 40, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Card’s body was found in the woods near Lisbon city by a recycling center from which he had recently been fired, CNN reported, citing a law enforcement source.
The U.S. Army reservist was believed to have opened fire in a bowling alley and then a bar minutes later on Wednesday night.
The shootings and prolonged manhunt convulsed the normally bustling but serene community of Lewiston, a former textile hub and the second-most populous city in Maine.
The town lies on the banks of the Androscoggin River about 35 miles (56 km) north of the state’s largest city, Portland, and nearly as far southwest of Maine’s capital, Augusta.
Card, an Army Reserve sergeant from the neighboring town of Bowdoin, has been described by authorities as a trained firearms instructor who served as a petroleum supply specialist when on duty at the military reserve base in Saco, Maine.
Law enforcement officials also said he has a history of mental illness and was committed to a psychiatric facility for two weeks during the summer of 2023, after which he was released.
Within hours of Wednesday night’s bloodshed, police circulated surveillance camera photos from one of the crime scenes of a bearded man wearing a brown, hooded sweatshirt and jeans and carrying what appeared to be a semi-automatic rifle.
Meanwhile, hundreds of officers from an array of agencies ranging from local police and sheriff’s deputies to the FBI and U.S. Coast Guard joined the search. Canadian authorities, including its border officers, were on alert.
The initial trail of clues led to Lisbon, about 7 miles (11 km) to the southeast, where Maine State Police found a white SUV they believed Card used to make his getaway and parked at a boat launch on the river. Public records showed he owned at least one vessel made by Sea-Doo, a company known for its jet ski-style personal watercraft.
As part of their search for Card, police trawled the waters of the Androscoggin River with divers and sonar on Friday, and sent teams of officers door-to-door in neighborhood canvasses seeking additional clues and possible eyewitnesses.
According to the U.S. Army, Card enlisted in the military in 2002 but has never seen combat. A Maine law enforcement bulletin issued on Wednesday night said Card “had recently reported mental health issues,” including auditory hallucinations, and had made “threats to shoot up the National Guard Base in Saco.”
(Reporting by Gabriella Borter in Lewiston; Additional reporting by Nick Pfosi in Lewiston and Lisbon, Maine, and by Rich McKay; Writing by Daniel Trotta and Steve Gorman; Editing by Mark Porter, Jonathan Oatis, David Gregorio, Leslie Adler, William Malard and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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