Police in Maine, United States, yesterday launched a manhunt for a suspected gunman who killed at least 16 people on Wednesday at a bowling alley and a bar in the deadliest mass shooting this year in America.
Dozens more people were reported wounded in the rampage in the small town of Lewiston and, in the absence of a formal death toll, local officials estimated the number of fatalities at between 16 and 22.
Lewiston was in lockdown yesterday morning, with schools closed and residents ordered to stay indoors.
Police said a man named Robert Card, 40, was seen in surveillance footage pointing a semi-automatic rifle with an extended clip as he walked into the bowling alley in Lewiston should be considered armed and dangerous.
News platforms had broadcast footage of people fleeing in terror from the venue after the shooting started on Wednesday evening.
One survivor whose name was not given told CNN he was 15 feet (5 metres) from the gunman when he opened fire. He thought at first it was a balloon popping.
“And as soon as I turned and saw it was not a balloon and he was holding a weapon, I just bolted down the lane and I slid basically into where the pins are and climbed up into the machine and was on top of the machines for about 10 minutes until the cops got there,” he told CNN.
Card is a certified firearms instructor and a member of the US Army Reserve, according to multiple law enforcement sources.
Lewiston city councillor Robert McCarthy told CNN Wednesday night as many as 22 people may have died, but others put the toll at 16.
Maine public safety official Mike Sauschuck said he was not prepared to give a death toll, calling it “a very fluid situation.”
He told reporters that police were flooding the streets in search of the gunman.
“We have literally hundreds of police officers working around the state of Maine to investigate this case, to locate Mr. Card,” he said.
President Joe Biden made calls – stepping away from a state dinner honouring Australia’s prime minister to Maine’s governor, its two senators and a local congressman to offer federal support, the White House said.
Police and rescuers reportedly arrived at the Sparetime Recreation bowling alley at about 7:15 pm (00:15 Thursday GMT) in response to an active shooter, and then received reports of another shooting at the Schemengees Bar & Grille.
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