The governor of Maine, Janet Millsconfirmed this Saturday that Robert Cardthe suspect in carrying out two mass shootings on Wednesday in the American town of Lewistonwas found dead with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
“Like many people, tonight I breathe a sigh of relief knowing that Robert Card is no longer a threat to anyone. “Now is the time to heal,” she expressed. Maine Governor Janet Millsconfirming the news at a press conference.
For his part, the county sheriff Androscoggin confirmed on Facebook that card was found dead last night, stating: “The suspect in Wednesday night’s shooting has been located and has died”.
cardreservist of the United States Armywas found in the woods near Lisbon, which is about 12 kilometers from Lewiston, sources from the investigation cited by the CNN news network.
A police source detailed that the suspect’s body was found near the recycling center from which he had recently been fired.
At the press conference, Maine Public Safety Commissioner Mike Sauschucksaid that the body of card It was located around 7:45 p.m. (8:45 p.m. in Argentina), along the river in Lisbon Falls.
Massacre that left 18 dead and 13 injured
Since the mass shootings, which claimed the lives of 18 people and injured 13 others, police have launched a massive search to find card.
Authorities issued shelter-in-place orders in several places in Maine, while schools and businesses closed their doors. The attack was the deadliest in the United States since a massacre last year at a school in Uvalde, Texas.
Hours earlier, authorities found a note from card which indicated that he did not expect to be alive when the writing was found, in some ways the equivalent of a suicide note, an official explained.
The note essentially provided information and instructions to others on where their stuff could be found and how to get rid of it, ultimately suggesting that when it was found or read, card I would no longer be alive.
Investigators searched his car Thursday and recovered a .308-caliber AR15 rifle. Another official said the weapon is similar in description and caliber to the one used in the attack.
Authorities believe the gun he used to carry out the shootings was purchased legally just days before he was hospitalized and ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation, according to multiple law enforcement sources.
In mid-July, New York State Police were called to Camp Smith in Cortlandt, New York, the military base where he served, because he was acting “in a belligerent manner and possibly while intoxicated”according to a source with knowledge of the case.
Three law enforcement sources confirmed that state police carried out card to a nearby hospital, where he was treated for suspected poisoning and released the next day.
When asked for information about the incident, a New York State Police spokesperson declined to respond, arguing that it is an ongoing investigation.
An FBI source, however, revealed that the Army granted him a “referral” to seek treatment after he told staff at Camp Smith that he had been “hearing voices” and had thought about “hurting other soldiers.” .
image.png
An “erratic behavior” evaluated in the Army
In turn, a spokesperson for the National Guard confirmed to cnn that card He was transported to nearby Keller Army Community Hospital at the United States Military Academy for a “medical evaluation,” after Army Reserve officials reported him for “behaving erratically.”
The subject’s incidents with the New York State Police and his National Guard superiors occurred just 10 days after the man purchased the high-powered rifle at a Maine gun store, according to police sources.
The rifle was a Ruger SFAR chambered for high-powered .308 ammunition, the sources added. The .308 bullet is preferred by military snipers who shoot at long ranges and those who hunt big game. It is larger and more powerful than the normal ammunition carried in soldiers’ rifles and SWAT teams.
Sources say the gun found inside the white 2013 Subaru Outback of card It appears to be the same one used in the mass shootings, although a ballistics match has not been confirmed.
The gun will be processed by the FBI for fingerprints and DNA and will then undergo laboratory testing to determine if the bullets and casings found at the scene match.
An FBI team is reviewing the fingerprint left by the suspect on the social networks in order to identify a possible motive, additional attack plans and any associates who may be witnesses in the investigation, another federal law enforcement source said.
Eighteen people died in the attack, 15 immediately and three seriously injured in the hospital.
The country is paying a very high price for proliferation of firearms in their territory and the ease with which citizens have access to them.
Excluding suicides, more than 15,000 people have died from gun violence since the beginning of the year in the country, according to the non-governmental organization Gun Violence Archive.
Source: Ambito
