2023-10-28 02:15:09
The alleged perpetrator of the massacre which left 18 dead in Maine, in the northeast of the United States, was found dead Friday evening, after two days of an intense manhunt, authorities said. He probably killed himself with a gun.
“He is dead […] Maine State Police have located the body,” said Maine Governor Janet Mills. He appears to have committed suicide with a firearm, according to Maine’s public safety official. was found at 7:45 p.m. near a river in Lisbon Falls, a town located about fifteen kilometers from Lewinston, the scene of the killing.
“Tonight, the people of Maine can breathe a sigh of relief,” reacted on the social network X (formerly Twitter) Maine Senator Susan Collins, who said she had been warned by US President Joe Biden.
Semi-automatic rifle
Armed with a semi-automatic rifle, the suspect, Robert Card, a 40-year-old army reservist, opened fire in a bowling alley and a bar-restaurant in the town of Lewiston, killing 18 people and leaving 13 wounded.
The victims are aged between 14 and 76, local authorities had indicated shortly before, who also released their photographs and names. Among them are a father and his son, aged 44 and 14, as well as a couple aged 73 and 76. Seven people lost their lives in the bowling alley, eight in the bar-restaurant and three injured people died in hospital.
On Friday, the police and the FBI combed several sites, including rural or forest areas and probed the bottom of a river near which the main suspect’s car was found.
At the end of the afternoon and while the suspect had still not been located, local authorities announced the lifting of confinement in the area, while warning that the situation remained “dangerous” and calling on residents to stay ” vigilant.”
>> Read also: The hunt for the perpetrator of the shooting continues in the American state of Maine
The worst since 2022
Wednesday’s killing is the worst in the United States since that of the Uvalde school in Texas, where a shooter killed 19 children and two teachers in May 2022.
Denouncing a “tragic and senseless” act, President Joe Biden asked Congress on Thursday to adopt “a ban on assault weapons”, yet another call of its kind by the Democrat, despite a majority not found for decades for such change of legislation.
The country is paying a very heavy price for the spread of firearms on its territory and the ease with which Americans have access to them. The United States has more individual weapons than people.
Excluding suicides, more than 15,000 people have died in gun violence since the start of the year in the country, according to the Gun Violence Archive (GVA) association.
Maine is one of the states with the lowest per capita homicide rate. Wednesday’s 18 deaths represent, according to the Everytown association, more than the annual average of firearm homicides in the state.
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