The main suspect in the shootings that left 18 dead this Wednesday in Lewiston (Maine, United States), Robert Card, has been found dead in the town of Lisbon with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, according to reports.
The body was located on Friday night in a forest located about 13 kilometers from the place where the massacre took place, near a recycling center where the suspect used to work, who was wearing the same clothes as was seen on Wednesday.
“I am here tonight to report that the Maine State Police have located the body of Robert Card in Lisbon. He is dead,” confirmed this Friday in a press conference the governor of Maine, Janet Mills, who said that she has “called President Biden to inform him of the news” and thanked law enforcement “for their unwavering bravery, determination and strength” in the search for the suspect.
Mills, who has expressed his relief at knowing that “Card is no longer a threat to anyone”, has assured that, “law enforcement continues to thoroughly investigate the facts” to “bring closure” to this “tragedy” and offer an explanation to the victims and their families.
For his part, Lewiston Police Chief David St. Pierre has assured that “our officers are being notified now as we speak. Some obviously know before others. There are many who are still at home. They are at home with their families. And I’m pretty sure at this point we all know about this. This is something that all of our law enforcement personnel, ours and any surrounding community have been paying close attention to in anticipation of positive news or good “And this is by far the best news we’ve had in quite some time. Thank you.”
For his part, Maine Public Safety Commissioner Mike Sauschuck stressed that “the search has been extensive, thorough, uninterrupted,” that “all of these options were on the table” and that they hope to soon have “more information about how exactly” the event happened.
Sauschuck has stated that they wanted to provide information about the discovery “as quickly as possible and in the most responsible manner possible”, but that in the time that has elapsed between the notification of the press conference and its holding “there has not been much new details. In this sense, the commissioner has announced that there will be a new press conference at 10:00 a.m. (local time) on Saturday.
This same Friday, the authorities of Maine lifted the shelter order implemented in some parts of the US state after the shootings on Wednesday in the city of Lewiston, recommending the inhabitants of the aforementioned areas to remain “vigilant” while the search for the perpetrator of The shots continued their course.
Shortly before, the same day, an exhaustive search with divers was launched in the area near the pier where the vehicle of Robert Card, the main suspect in the shooting, was found.
With the mass shooting in Maine, there are already 565 committed this year in the United States, according to the non-profit organization Gun Violence Archive (GVA), which compiles statistics on these types of incidents.
