Maine mass shootings: Community mourns while in lockdown

In the aftermath of Maine’s worst mass shootings, a constant refrain has been heard: We thought it could never happen here. Until it did. 

And when it did – after a man armed with a semi-automatic rifle sprayed bullets at families out bowling and, minutes later, at adults relaxing at a bar on a warm Wednesday night – a shell-shocked community found itself angry, anxious – and atomized. 

The suspect, a U.S. Army reservist, is still at large, pursued by local, state, and federal law enforcement, so residents in Lewiston and nearby towns have been told to shelter in place. The streets are deserted; businesses and schools are closed. Grieving for the 18 people killed and the processing of the trauma of those who fled the attacks are happening behind closed doors.

A broader reckoning with the enormity of the crime – and the fact that it happened here in Maine, a state with a population of 1.3 million, permissive gun laws, and low levels of violent crime – has yet to ripple outward. But questions are already being asked about why Robert Card, the suspect who reportedly had serious mental health problems that required a formal evaluation, still had access to firearms. 

State police said Mr. Card had abandoned a vehicle at a boat landing in Lisbon on Wednesday night, hours after the shootings that also injured 13 people, three critically. A heavy police presence in the area was scaled back on Thursday, as the search widened and divers were called in, and some residents began to leave their homes. 

“We’re all holding our breath and hoping he’s caught,” says Meranda Delnegro, as she pushes a stroller outside her apartment building in Lisbon. She notes that Maine is “one of the safest states” in the United States, but she adds, “I’m feeling a little uncertain now.” When she held a baby shower two years ago, the venue was the bowling alley that the shooter attacked first.  

Ms. Delnegro, who grew up in Lewiston and works there as a medical assistant, says it’s a city that cares for its own. “Lewiston is open-hearted. You go out of your way to help people,” she says.  

Earlier that day, Maine Gov. Janet Mills told a news conference in Lewiston that she felt deeply for a community where she met her husband and raised her daughters. “This city did not deserve this terrible assault on its citizens, on its peace of mind, on its sense of security. No city does. No state. No people,” she said.

“A resilient and caring people”

Governor Mills spoke of a “dark day” for Maine that struck at “the very heart of who we are.” She added, “We are a resilient and caring people. In the days and weeks ahead, we will need to lean on those qualities more than ever before.”

On Friday, Maine Department of Public Safety Commissioner Michael Sauschuck was asked at a news conference about whether an extended shelter-in-place policy could delay the recovery process for the community after such a traumatic event. Mr. Sauschuck said that bringing the suspect to justice was the priority, but that healing must happen next. “It’s going to take a while for the community to work through this. It’s going to take a lifetime for the families,” he said. At the end of the day, he announced that the policy has been rescinded, effective on Saturday, though hunting in the area is prohibited.

For Leroy Walker Jr., Wednesday night was a long, sleepless nightmare that began with a phone call just after 7 p.m. “My youngest son called me up and said, ‘Dad, something’s going on at Schemengees. I think a gunman went in and shot my brother.’ I almost fell apart,” he says. 

Schemengees Bar and Grille Restaurant was the second shooting site. Joseph “Joey” Walker was the manager and was working on Wednesday. His father had to wait until mid-morning Thursday to learn from state police that Joey had been shot dead. He died with a butcher’s knife by his body, presumably after trying to tackle the shooter, a police major told him. 

“The ambulance people said when they went in it was like walking on marbles. The floor was so covered with shells from the gun,” he says. 

Standing near his apartment in Auburn, the twin riverside city to Lewiston, Mr. Walker spoke of his son’s deep ties to the community. Yes, Joey managed the bar, but not just the bar. He ran the darts league, the billiards games, and the cornhole league on Wednesday nights. 

“He was a great son. He loved a thousand [people] from these two cities, and a thousand of them loved him back,” he says. “He had the biggest heart in the world.”

Recreational games leagues are part of the social glue that holds communities together, and their demise has been lamented by sociologists tracking America’s political polarization and the estrangement felt within communities. Unwittingly or not, the shooter that terrorized Lewiston struck at two venues where bowling and cornhole brought people together and built bonds. 

A police bulletin issued after the attacks said Mr. Card had been committed to a mental health facility for two weeks over the summer after “hearing voices and threats to shoot up” a military base, The Associated Press reported. 

Mind changed on assault rifle ban

Mr. Walker, a city councilor and a retired parks superintendent, says he can’t begin to understand the killer’s actions or why his mental health evaluators didn’t intervene. “I don’t have the answers. I just wish my son was here,” he says.  

Democratic Rep. Jared Golden, a former Marine who represents Lewiston and surrounding towns, said Thursday that he had changed his mind on assault rifle ownership. Speaking at the same podium where Governor Mills had spoken earlier, he said he would work in Congress to pass federal gun control laws, after previously opposing his party’s efforts. His opposition, he said, represented “a false confidence that our community was above this, and that we could be in full control,” among other misjudgments.

“To the people of Lewiston, my constituents throughout the 2nd District, to the families who lost loved ones, and to those who have been harmed, I ask for forgiveness and support as I seek to put an end to these terrible shootings,” he said. 

Pro-gun groups argue that AR-15-style rifles are useful for self-defense and hunting. Robert Spitzer, a political scientist and author of “Guns Across America: Reconciling Gun Rules and Rights,” says this week’s events underscore that their main purpose is as an offensive weapon. “This event punctures the notion that these weapons are just as good for self-defense and hunting as other weapons.”

Professor Spitzer adds that the killings in Lewiston, the deadliest in the U.S. since the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting in May 2022, “raises the question of civilian access to military-style weaponry with large capacity magazines. It brings that debate into Maine.”

Mr. Walker and his son used to run the darts league at a social club in Auburn before it moved to Schemengees. Some years back, they discussed installing metal detectors on the doors. “We talked about what would happen if a gunman came down here and started shooting,” he says. 

Still, there was a sense that such things didn’t happen here. “We never did it. But we talked about it,” he says. 

Staff writer Patrik Jonsson contributed to this story.  

Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect that the shelter-in-place policy has been rescinded, effective Saturday.