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LAST UPDATE | 26 Oct 2023
US PRESIDENT JOE Biden has condemned the “senseless and tragic” mass shooting in Maine which killed 18 people and he called on rival Republicans to back a ban on high-powered weapons.
“Today, in the wake of yet another tragedy, I urge Republican lawmakers in Congress to fulfill their duty to protect the American people. Work with us to pass a bill banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines,” the Democratic president said in a statement.
It has been confirmed that 18 people were killed and another 13 wounded in the shooting yesterday.
The state’s governor Janet Mills shared the figures after it was estimated that the death toll was as high as 22.
“I am profoundly saddened to stand before you today to report that 18 people lost their lives and 13 people injured in last night’s attacks,” she said.
Two officials told AP the shootings happened yesterday evening at a bar and bowling alley.
The officials were not authorised to publicly discuss details of the ongoing investigation and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.
Investigators were still processing the crime scenes and working to gather evidence.
No words can truly or fully measure the grief of Maine people. Our small state, of just 1.3 million, has long been known as one of the safest states in the nation. This attack strikes at the very heart of who we are and the values we hold dear for this precious place we call home
— Governor Janet Mills (@GovJanetMills) October 26, 2023
Lewiston city councillor Robert McCarthy had previously told CNN that law enforcement had “confirmed 22 dead, many, many more injured”.
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 police were flooding the streets as they sought the gunman.
“We have literally hundreds of police officers working around the state of Maine to investigate this case, to locate Mr Card (the suspect),” he told reporters.
Eight murder warrants were issued for Robert Card (40) after authorities identified eight of the victims. Ten more will likely be issued once the names of the rest of the dead are confirmed, said Maine State Police spokesman William Ross.
Three of the 13 people wounded in the shootings were in a critical condition and five were in hospital but stable, Central Maine Medical Centre officials said.
US President Joe Biden has ordered flags to be lowered to half-mast at the White House and all government buildings.
He said in a statement that the move was “mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence” in the small town.
Police are still searching for the man who opened fire at two locations in the Maine city.
Card had been trained as a firearms instructor at a US Army Reserve training facility in Maine, according to a state police bulletin.
Lewiston Police confirmed in a social media post that Robert Card was a person of interest in the shooting and said he should be considered armed and dangerous.
The force said in an earlier post that they were dealing with an active shooter incident at Schemengees Bar and Grille and Sparetime Recreation, a bowling alley.
“Please stay off the roads to allow emergency responders access to the hospitals,” police said.
Caution to the public.
— Maine State Police (@MEStatePolice) October 26, 2023
A shooting incident with multiple casualties has occurred in multiple locations in Lewiston. Police are currently searching for Robert R. Card (04/04/83) of Bowdoin. Card is considered armed and dangerous. If seen people should not approach Card or https://t.co/UzToVkLGkq
On its website, Central Maine Medical Centre said staff were “reacting to a mass casualty, mass shooter event” and were coordinating with area hospitals to take in patients.
The alert for Lewiston was made shortly after 8pm local time as the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office reported that law enforcement agencies were investigating “two active shooter events”.
The sheriff’s office said the suspect was still at large.
“We are encouraging all businesses to lock down and or close while we investigate,” the sheriff’s office reported.
A spokesperson for Maine Department of Public Safety urged residents to stay in their homes with their doors locked.
In a post on social media this afternoon, Maine State Police said it was “expanding the shelter in place advisory and school closings” to include the town of Bowdoin.
“Please state inside your homes while more than 100 investigators, both local and federal, work to locate Robert Card who is a person of interest in the Lewiston shootings,” it said.
Card underwent a mental health evaluation in mid-July after he began acting erratically during training, a US official told The Associated Press.
A US official said Card was training with the Army Reserve’s 3rd Battalion, 304th Infantry Regiment in West Point, New York, when commanders became concerned about him.
State police took Card to the Keller Army Community Hospital at West Point for evaluation, according to the official.
Police said they have had no reported sightings of Card since the shootings at Schemengees Bar and Grille and at Sparetime Recreation, a bowling alley about four miles away. The Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office released two photos of the suspect walking into the bowling alley with a rifle raised to his shoulder.
The attack started at Sparetime, where a children’s bowling league was taking place, just before 7pm on Wednesday. One bowler, who identified himself only as Brandon, said he heard about 10 shots, thinking the first was a balloon popping.
“I had my back turned to the door. And as soon as I turned and saw it was not a balloon — he was holding a weapon — I just booked it,” he told the AP.
Brandon said he scrambled down the length of the alley, sliding into the pin area and climbing up to hide in the machinery.
Less than 15 minutes after the shooting began, numerous 911 calls started coming in from Schemengees, which was offering 25% discounts to customers who work in the bar or restaurant industry.
Patrick Poulin was supposed to be at the bowling centre with his 15-year-old son, who is in a league that was practising yesterday.
They stayed at home but he estimates there were probably several dozen young bowlers, aged 4 to 18, along with their parents, in the facility. Poulin said his brother was there and shepherded some of the children outside when the shooting began.
“He’s pretty shook up,” Poulin said. “And it’s just sinking in today, like, wow, I was very close to being there. And a lot of the people that got hurt, I know.”
April Stevens lives in the same neighborhood where one of the shootings took place. She turned on all her lights overnight and locked her doors. She knew someone killed at the bar and another person injured who needed surgery.
“I’m still working because I can work from home. My husband cancelled his jobs today to stay home with me. We’re praying for everyone,” Stevens said through tears.
Authorities launched a multi-state search for Card on land and water. The Coast Guard sent out a patrol boat this morning along the Kennebec River but after hours of searching, they found “nothing out of the ordinary”, said Chief Petty Officer Ryan Smith, who is in charge of the Coast Guard’s Boothbay Harbour Station.
Maine governor Janet Mills promised to do whatever was needed to find Card and to “hold whoever is responsible for this atrocity accountable … and to seek full justice for the victims and their families”.
“We are not, and we will not, rest in this endeavour,” she said.
US President Joe Biden had spoken by phone to Mills and the state’s Congress members, offering “full federal support in the wake of this horrific attack”, a White House statement said.
Maine Congressman Jared Golden wrote on social media that “like all Mainers, I’m horrified by the events in Lewison tonight. This is my hometown”.
“Right now, all of us are looking to local law enforcement as they gain control of the situation and gather information. Our hearts break for those who are affected,” he said.
Several Maine school boards and educational institutions, including Bates College, said they would not be holding classes today, according to statements.
With reporting by © AFP 2023 and Press Association
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British media should calm down a bit….Every week on BBC and Ch4 they have Trump bashing and Russia bashing TV documantary programmes…..Getting a bit Orwellian…After leaving EU they will need a few friends to bring them into sunny uplands of post Brexit Britian…
@John McQuirk: Actually in Orwell’s resignation letter to the BBC…His reason for leaving was because he felt government was using BBC to broadcast propaganda to India….Even today not sure the BBC is always totally objective as their legal charter promises….
@pc_comments: He was probably right. But your handle ‘pc_comments’ and ill-conceived invoking of Orwell belie an Alt-Right racist who thinks they are ‘raging against the machine’, your ilk are two-a-penny, and prone to abusing the memories of those who would find your views abhorrent.
@John McQuirk: “prone to abusing the memories of those who would find your views abhorrent”
Who, exactly, are those whose memory is being abused?
@Dessie Deratta: Orwell himself for one. Unless you’re trying to tell us he would have been a member of the Redpill movement if he were around today.
@Harry Whitehead: Well Animal Farm where the most wise animal was a donkey…..Partly inspired by Orwell’s bring disillusioned with socialism and Russian communism….While fighting in Spanish civil war…. Not sure Orwell would be lefty Guardian reader today either….
@Harry Whitehead: If he were around today he’d be seriously impressed by how prescient he was.
Airstrip One wasn’t exactly a beacon of democracy or “liberal values” – was it?
@pc_comments: Donkeys are the epitome of wisdom and insight.
@Dessie Deratta: Donkeys answer to every question in animal farm was. “Donkeys live a long time”
@pc_comments: If you knew anything about Orwell you’d know his opposition to communism was due to his hatred for all things totalitarian, not because he was some sort of closet right-winger. He leaned left his entire adult life.
He hated fascism just as much if not more than he hated communism. He did, of course, take up arms against Franco’s fascists and got shot in the neck doing so.
It’s always hard to ventriloquise the dead but you can be almost certain Vladimir Putin would be much higher on his $hitlist than the BBC would.
You can also be almost sure that he would despise those who misappropriated his work, as you did so elegantly in your original comment.
Russia now invokes the tired old Dr Goebbels reference.
Russia can hardly be surprised that it is the obvious candidate for accusation . It has previous firm and the circumstances point on a highly indicative but not conclusive basis to Russia.
The alternative theories posed by Russia that this was a distracting stunt to divert attention away from Brexit seems implausible.
There is a rogue State quality to Russia where the Rule of Law is treated with naked contempt and disregard.
@Michael Lang: Please back you assertions up with some facts or you’re just another sheep who has fallen for the MSM brainwashing.
@Michael Lang:
That’s the problem when you’ve been caught out blatantly lying to the international community several times (Crimea, MH17 etc.) – they’re less likely to believe you the next time.
@Michael Lang: bolloxology
@Derek Fergus: Please back up your assertions that the MSM are wrong all of the time? Lazy populist assertion.
@Derek Fergus: look at all of the circumstances, look at Russia’s previous form, look at the status and position of the primary victim, consider the alternatives, apply Occam’s razor and then make a common sense judgment. The perpetrators were hardly likely to leave a Russian calling card.
I am making no asserion that Russia committed this crime but I’m of the opinion that compared to any other alternative, including the far fetched notion that Theresa May instructed this crime so as to distract from Brexit, Russia is the more obvious and the more probable suspect. We all know that Russia has a shockingly bad record in ignoring the law and act8ng extra legally.
@Michael Lang: For someone who whines about “bots” you are obsessively focused on Russia threads and appear to be waiting 24/7 to get in as soon as a thread opens.
US Embassy maybe? Pentagon bot?
@Dessie Deratta: seems to be more any thread than just Russia, almost as if he is giving his opinion in the news!!!
@Walt Jabsco: “international community”!
Lmfao
The EU plus US and a few allies are not the “international community”.
Based on population alone Russia plus China have a better claim to that status.
You are recycling MSM gibberish propaganda….
@Dessie Deratta: you evade the points and attack me. This topic is nit about bits, it is about human beings using a highly toxic and publicly dangerous nerve agents in an attempt to murder a man and his daughter. Someone committed the attack, that is fact and real, and the circumstances point indicatively, plausibly and probably to Russian involvement.
As for the US, there is a rogue President and inadequate security services performance to protect against domestic threats in the US as well as external threats.
@Dave O Keeffe: Yeah…maybe he doesn’t have a life – always a possibility.
@Michael Lang: I have no idea why you imagine the topic is “nit about bits”.
I don’t even know what that means…but it is no more meaningless than most of your posts.
@Dessie Deratta: I have a broken screen, “ not about bots”.
It would take a minimum level of intelligence to figure that out and I accept your incapacity to do so, which is why I have clarified this for you.
@Dessie Deratta: go placidly among the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence
@Michael Lang: Sorry Mick… “nit about bits” didn’t immediately strike me as meaning “not about bots”!
Call me stoopid.
Oh……. you already did!
@Dave O Keeffe: “go placidly among the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence”
I’ve tried that loads of times but it doesn’t seem to work for me!
@Derek Fergus: ‘MSM’ and ‘sheep’ – the calling cards of tinfoil-wearing loons and cranks everywhere…
@Michael Lang: whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty.?
@Dessie Deratta:
So what are you trying to say? When Vlad said there were no Russian ‘little green men’ in Crimea he was lying to “the US, the EU and a few allies” but telling the truth to everyone else?? Some mental gymnastics right there lad!
Oh, and “lmfao” is so 2012.
@Harry Whitehead: ‘MSM’ and ‘sheep’ – the calling cards of tinfoil-wearing loons and cranks everywhere”
Nah. Conspiracy theories about Russian assassinations are the calling card of loons and cranks and tin-foil wearing bullshit merchants.
@Walt Jabsco: No..he was just telling fibs…like the US/UK were about Saddam’s WMDs.
No mental gymnastics required…at least not on my part….
@Dessie Deratta: I’d recommend a change of name then
@Dessie Deratta:
So what makes you so certain he’s not “just telling fibs” now??
@Walt Jabsco: all any rational person can do is compate british form for lying on Iraq, Libya, Yemen and Suria against Russian form for lying on Crimea and Georgia. The brits are responsible for almost 1.5 million deaths. At the rate they are going, history books will compare them to the Nazi regime.
@Cal Mooney: favourably obviously
“We have told our British colleagues that ‘you’re playing with fire and you’ll be sorry’.”
Would you care to explain exactly what you mean by that remark, Mr Nebenzia?
@George Sheils: it’s unlikely to be a stern letter of protest.
@George Sheils:
Well they did produce an animation of missiles striking Florida, but according to the Puteenies on here it’s the west who’s being provocative.
@Walt Jabsco: The only person who things there is missile gap in favour of Russia is the crazy guy John Bolton….
@pc_comments:
Oh that’s ok then, it wasn’t provocative at all…..
@George Sheils: Hopefully he means that if the West uses some false flag to attack Russia than the West will be incinerated….
Hopefully the West takes him seriously – or we WILL be incinerated.
@Dessie Deratta: laughing derisively at your alarmism and over statement. Such silliness.
@Michael Lang: So, you are sitting in front of your laptop laughing derisively?
High point in your life I’d guess….
@Dessie Deratta: you crack me up. You have a refreshing and endearing gormless quality to your comments. It’s like Dougal in Father Ted. Give me a few more to laugh about.
@Michael Lang: I’ll have to google some jokes for you…
There’s no so called civilised country silencing and jailing its opposition, whether its business, political or media like Russia do. For Russia to even bandy about the word ‘propaganda’ on its so called high horse, is frankly and simply hilarious!
@The Dons: man, you dont know anything about what is going on in british allied countries like saudi arabia, israel or ukraine then. Even tweets are enough justification for assassination, execution or life in prison. We saw what happened whistle blowers in the north of this island like Pat Finucane. All dead. The brits are murderers.
@Cal Mooney: as I said apparent civilised countries, obviously Saudi Arabia and apartheid Israel wouldn’t fit that bill. Using old examples from the past has nothing to do with the present either. Do we include Germany too for its crimes over 70 years ago?!
This is one for us to stay out of, let the big boys fight it out between themselves, this one is none of our business………….
@Sean Higgins: Coward.
@John McQuirk: Idiot
@Dessie Deratta: Agreed, he is. People who roll over to have their bellies tickled because they are afraid of the consequences of standing up are idiots, and so beyond contempt it is ridiculous.
@Sean Higgins: with the Russians being permitted to build the largest structure in any Western country despite a 30% reduction in the number of Russian nationals living or based in Ireland and the huge reduction in trade between Russia and Ireland.
@John McQuirk: “People who roll over to have their bellies tickled because they are afraid of the consequences of standing up are idiots, and so beyond contempt it is ridiculous.”
Indeed they are. Covney and Leo and FFG rolling over and over again for NATO is utterly beyond contempt.
@John McQuirk: we are supposed to row in behind Britain because they are up to their armpits in espionage, let MI5 and MI6 sort it out and while they are at it they can get the fück out of our country.
Chemical Vlad’s propaganda machine is on a full spin cycle. Just like they did when they were balls deep in the Donbass in Ukraine, they’re going full steam on the misdirection, deflection, denial, “it aint us gov”.
The old over used Hitler/Nazi comparison. Godwin’s rule… someone should tell him Stalin killed more Russians than Adolf
@Rear Admiral: Vladimir Putin is nothing more than a disgusting dictator, his contempt for democracy and freedom of the press is vile, held up as a paragon by Alt-Right bro’s who get off on naked bareback horse-riding.
@John McQuirk:
And by the usual anti-establishment malcontent west-bashers across the spectrum who in reality don’t realise how lucky they have it compared to many other countries…
@Walt Jabsco: You said it, the greatest conundrum of the second decade of the 21st century, pro-Trump trolls who love Vladimir Putin, despite the latter’s interference in the former’s Presidential elections.
@John McQuirk: …in retaliation for the formers country’s interference in elections not only in Russia but across the globe.
Yeah it’s a conundrum that any sane person could get worked up about some social media ads by Russia – or is it the suspicion that they leaked the TRUTH about Killary stitching up Bernie Sanders?
@Dessie Deratta:
Wrong. It was the DNC not Clinton.
Are you saying Chemical Vlad’s hackers leaked the emails for the good of the american people and to support freedom of speech?
Here is a few fun facts ,
In September 2017 – the OPCW signed off on the fact that Russia had destroyed all of it`s chemical weapons programs.
The Russian Chemist who revealed the existence of Novichok published a book with it`s formula in 2008 saying it can be made with ingredients from fertilisers and pesticides. – Turns out, that not only states can make it, but anyone with an amazon account and a decent lab can make it…
@Pearse Mc Mullen: RT ROFL. Great joke. I think it is safe to say that you no between very little to nothing of chemical warfare and the agents used. Call of duty doesn’t count.
Will they ever all just go for a few points and a good chat and work through this difficult time with each other by talking it out over a few jars
@courageous: it would depend on what is added to the jars.
@courageous: the british engurland fan boys would blame the russians for the hangover the next day. Just read their bbc government propoganda site daily with the amount of hategul articles againt russia gor the last 2 years, while suggesting that israel is always right in their use of military oppression against the palestinians. Even the scottish parliament call the bbc the bullsh*t broadcasting corporatiin.
Anyway, we can see where Western hypocrisy might lead…
“Trump threatens China with $100bn more in tariffs as response to Beijing’s ‘unfair retaliation’”
“Unfair retaliation”!
Isn’t that more or less what Coveney said when the Russians expelled a diplomat in response to our expelling one of theirs without any legitimate reason?
It would appear that the Western Oligarchy will happily see us all wiped out rather than surrender their global hegemony.
@Dessie Deratta: the West being wiped out! You give good entertainment.
@Michael Lang: So then Mick…how do YOU think a nuclear war might end???
@Dessie Deratta: “western oligarchy” ahem, Russia and China? Putin is a dictator being backed by oligarchs and China is well on its way to becoming one!
Won’t be long before the Russians will be trying the old Jedi mind trick, “there was no poisoning here”
@League of shadows: borris started that one by claimimg he was 100 percent certain the russians did it based on the feedback from portin downs. Porton downs then called him a liar. No one believes the brits anymore. They have cried wolf once too many times.
One Question for the Putinistas. Why has Julia Skripal refused to speak to anyone from the Russian Embassy?
She made a public statement today but made no mention of seeking assistance from the Embassy.
And if you listen to the Phone Call to the cousin. It is the most un-natural phone conversation one could imagine. Just listen to it. To start with she says her full name, “this is Julia Skripal”. Now ask yourself have you ever felt the need while telephoning a family member or even a friend to use your surname? It would normally be something like “hi it’s Julia”!!! And for someone talking to a close relative it’s very formal and far too short. Plus the recording came from the FSB. Why would they feel the need to tap the cousins phone?
@Mick Jordan: Tapped a phone? – she called her cousin on a strange mobile phone, of course she is going to say who she is. Remember , the recipient of the phone wouldn`t know she was being tapped
@Mick Jordan: I mentioned before it being rather suspicious that the daughter of a traitor was in a relationship with an fsb agent and having listened to the call you mention I feel now Julia may not be a victim after all……I’m saying no more for awhile as the trolls wil get me
@Mick Jordan: She just wants to get the hell out of engurland alive. MI6 thought they had taken her out. She is not even allowed to see her family. The brits release a written press statement from Borris Johnston , sorry i mean Yulia, saying she is doing fantastic and everything is great. When and if she and her father are ever released, we will here the truth. But i suspect the brits will never release her father. As long as they have him, his daughter will never be free to tell the truth about what the brits did to them.
@Mick Jordan: muck, 2 weeks ago you claimed she and her father were definitely brain dead with no hope of recovery. You also said you were 100 percent certsin that it would be shown to be a rusdian nerve agent. How are you feeling about those claims today?
Russia sounds like a petulant and protesting child caught red handed and blaming what actually happened on anyone and everyone else. It’s acting guilty, perhaps because it is guilty.
@Michael Lang: Nah…that’s Boris and his Foreign Office who can’t even manage to tell the same lies this week as they told last week!
@Dessie Deratta: Boris is a total buffoon but that does not exonerate Russia of the attempted assassination.
@Michael Lang: yeah, the british foreign office are the bastuons of truth and democracy. Can you tell us why they spent half of thursday deleting false twitter claims they had made against rusdis. Or should we ignore that too and just take your word for it that the brits wouldnt and havent lied about any part of this case so far.
@Cal Mooney:
You have done nothing but lie about this story since it broke.
@Cal Mooney: certainly more so than Russia.
Propaganda a la Goebbels, is concocting lies and presenting the lies as State sanctioned truth. That fits Russia better than the UK.
As far as I can see there was an actual attack with a nerve agent although the Russians initially took the position that even the attack was unproven.
@Michael Lang:
Then they denied there was any such thing as Novichok until that lie crumbled…
@Walt Jabsco: No, they just asked for proof behind the accusations the brits threw at them.. but apparently according to the brits their word is enough. They also asked the world to ignore all the british lies about Iraq, libya and yemen. Two thirds of the worls nations told the brits to get lost.
@Cal Mooney:
The Russian foreign ministry claimed Novichok never existed in Russia. More of your BS exposed.
@John Cassidy: their british government opponents are the bacteria that feed off human faeces. Whats your point.
Bollooooooooòoooooooox!!!! By both! Trust no one!
It’s like that film training day… Its not what you know is important but it is what you can prove….we all know this was Russia but it will never be proven as that’s the way this game works.
@Geoff Murphy: we all know thie brits are lieing from the start on this. Otherwise, why would the british have to spend so much time deleting tweets that they made false claims in.
@Cal Mooney: as much as you appear to be up to date on things you conveniently forget Buffoon Mr BJ. Understandably this wouldn’t happen in the motherland but here its a drawback of a free open democratic society….idiots can get to the top too
@John Cassidy: Newsflash me old mate,
They aren`t in Europe
The only thing I agree with the Russian administration on is this cannot be proved beyond a reasonable doubt which is precisely the point the various trolls point out. That unfortunately doesn’t mean Russian state is innocent nor does it mean they didn’t do it.
I agree with Russia on this one.
Give me proof and facts. Not allegations made up by those idiots in the UK
Anyone who buys into this Russophobic narrative spun by Britain and NATO is a gormless fool. We would have a lot more to fear if Putin was in fact unstable. It’s actually the Western powers who look hysterical in this story. And please stop spouting things about Ukraine and Syria which have not actually been proven.
@@kudzu_dub: he is a dictator and denied Russian troops in the Ukraine for several years until he then admitted it, not to mention flight MH17.
have your say