The United States Police search was intense for an army reservist who last night shot dead 22 people and wounded more than 50 when he opened fire in a bowling and in a bar Restaurant of the state of Mainein the northeast of the country.
The massacre shocked the city of lewistonwhere the population was urged to stay in their homes due to the risk posed by this “armed and dangerous” man who fled after the shootings.
Police identified the attacker as Robert Card, 40 years oldand spread his photograph, although he said that his motivations were unknown at the moment.
The news network CNN, citing police sources, said that card He is a certified instructor and Army reservist.
“We have confirmed 22 dead and many, many more injured”declared Robert McCarthycouncilor of Lewistona city of more than 36,000 inhabitantsto CNN.
“Our hospitals are not equipped to handle this type of shooting”he specified, after which he added that there were between 50 and 60 injured.
The person responsible for public safety Maine, Mike Sauschucktold reporters that the streets were full of police looking for the suspect.
“We have literally hundreds of police officers working all over the country. State of Maine to locate Card,” he said.
This new massacre, one of the deadliest since that of Las Vegas in 2017is added to the long list of shootings that regularly mourn USAwhere they are plentiful and easy to acquire.
After being informed of what happened, the president Joe Biden skipped a state dinner honoring the Australian prime minister to communicate with local officials and offer federal support, according to the White House.
Released photos of the suspect show a bearded man, wearing a brown jacket, blue pants and brown shoes, holding a semi-automatic rifle.
Police found an abandoned white van about ten kilometers from Lewiston
The shootings They occurred in at least two places: a bowling and a bar-restaurant.
He FBI He indicated that he is also participating in the search for the suspect.
Several media outlets also mentioned a shooting at a supermarket logistics center. Walmartbut the authorities did not confirm it at the moment.
“It is an overwhelming situation. We have never experienced anything like this,” a witness to the attack told local television. Cynthia Hunterwho lives in Lewiston since 2012.
Meanwhile, public schools will remain closed today in the district, according to a local official in the social network X (ex Twitter).
“I am horrified by what happened in Lewiston tonight,” said a congressman for Maine of the House of Representatives of the US Congress, Jared Goldenit’s a statement.
The United States has more guns than people: one adult in three owns at least one gun and almost one adult in two lives in a home where there is a gun.
The consequence of this proliferation is the very high rate of deaths from firearms, incomparable with that of other developed countries.
Excluding suicides, more than 15,000 people have died from gun violence since the beginning of the year in the country, and Wednesday’s attack is the deadliest recorded during the period, according to the association Gun Violence Archive (GVA).
Efforts to tighten gun control in that country have run into opposition for years from members of the Republican Partydefenders of the constitutional right to bear arms.
The political paralysis is maintained despite widespread indignation by the appellants shootings.
Source: Ambito
