Who is Robert Card, the army instructor who killed at least 22 people in Maine?

2023-10-26 16:41:11

Determined look, brown beard and hair, brown jacket, black fatigues… and assault rifle that he cocks and places on his shoulder. Police are looking for Robert Card, 40, suspected of being the perpetrator of one of the deadliest shootings in Maine, this state on the east coast of the United States. The individual, actively sought, is said to have caused at least 22 deaths by shooting early Wednesday evening in a bowling alley and in a bar-restaurant in Lewinston.

Since then, Maine authorities have launched a manhunt. The population is called upon to remain confined and protect themselves. “If a witness sees him, they should not approach Card or come into contact with him in any way,” warned Mike Sauschuck, in charge of public safety for the state.

According to the first elements collected by the American press, Robert Card is a firearms instructor and is believed to be in the Army Reserve. Apart from two speeding violations recorded in 2001 and 2002 by Maine court records when he was an engineering student at the University of Maine, justice has never dealt with the forty-year-old.

But according to the Maine Information and Analysis Center, cited by NBC, Robert Card has reportedly had troubled behavior in recent months. The suspect himself reportedly reported “mental health problems”, specifying “hearing voices”. The forty-year-old even threatened to shoot up the national guard base in Saco, Maine. Interned for two weeks this summer, Robert Card was then released. We do not know his mental state Wednesday evening but according to CNNhe recently lost his job.

One of his acquaintances, questioned by NBC, claims to live not far from the Cards. According to him, Robert Card’s family is known in his community, particularly for its construction business. The Cards would be supporters of the Second Amendment, one of the American founding texts which gives them the right to hold a weapon.

“Hundreds of police” looking for him

Originally from Bowdoin, a town located a few kilometers east of Lewiston, Robert Card reportedly arrived at the scene of the killings in a white Subaru Outback, which was found abandoned a few hours later by local police and the FBI, who are coordinating for this manhunt.

The authorities are currently refusing to say more about the worrying profile of the suspect, who is mobilizing, according to Mike Sauschuck of public security, “literally hundreds of police officers working throughout the state of Maine on the case” .