Maine manhunt for Lewiston mass shooter suspect continues

Police in Maine extended their round-the-clock search into Friday for U.S. army reservist Robert R. Card, their main suspect in a mass shooting on Wednesday at a bar and bowling alley in Lewiston in which 18 people were killed and 13 were injured.

Officials urged tens of thousands of residents in the area to stay indoors for their safety.

Part of the search played out on live television Thursday night when officials executed several search warrants in the neighboring town of Bowdoin, Maine, where Card lives.

Law enforcement officials surrounded Card’s house in the woods for more than two hours, with an FBI agent issuing orders over a bullhorn to “come out with your hands up,” but apparently nobody was inside.

Police did not know if Card was inside when the effort began and the amplified messages were “standard search warrant announcements,” a Maine Department of Public Safety spokesperson said.

Lewiston, a former textile hub of 38,000 people on the banks of the Androscoggin River, and neighboring communities have been largely shut down since the Wednesday evening attacks to enable hundreds of officers to conduct their search. Colleges and public schools in the area canceled classes for a second day.

There were almost no cars on the roads, just a few people outside, and many businesses in downtown Lewiston were closed. Security agents with rifles and bulletproof vests guarded the hospital where many of the shooting victims were taken.

Card, 40, is a sergeant at a nearby U.S. Army Reserve base who law enforcement officials said had been temporarily committed to a mental health facility over the summer.