Suspected gunman in Maine shootings found dead at recycling center newsbhunt

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Robert Card, the suspect wanted in connection with Wednesday’s deadly mass shootings at two businesses in Maine, was found dead at a recycling center Friday night.Maine Department of Public Safety Commissioner Mike Sauschuck said Saturday morning that Card’s body was found at about 7:45 p.m. Friday inside of a box trailer located in an overflow parking lot for the Maine Recycling Corporation at 61 Capital Ave. in Lisbon.”This is a tractor-trailer style (trailer). You know, you picture that 18-wheeler, this is what the trailer would look like. A box trailer is where he was located, right in the back of that,” Sauschuck said. “Some of those trailers are locked. Some of those trailers aren’t. He was found inside one of those boxes that was unlocked from the outside.”Sauschuck confirmed that Card died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Sauschuck also said two guns were found inside the trailer with Card’s body, and that Card appeared to be wearing the same sweatshirt he appeared to be wearing the night of the shootings. According to Sauschuck, authorities had previously cleared the Maine Recycling Corporation facility and the immediate surrounding area twice before the owner of the business suggested they check the overflow parking location.”We cleared trailers that are there on that business footprint. Nobody had any idea that across the street, across Capital Avenue, there’s an overflow parking lot which is Recycling Corporation property,” Sauschuck said. “The owner was very diligent and said: ‘Did you clear those trailers?’ ‘Well, what trailers are you talking about?'”Sauschuck said members of the Maine State Police Tactical Team were the ones who found Card’s body in a trailer at the overflow parking lot.Video below: Maine’s public safety commissioner explains how authorities found suspect’s bodyIn a statement, the Maine Recycling Corporation said it had employed Card as a commercial driver for approximately one year until he voluntarily left the company late last spring.”We understand that Maine Recycling Corporation (MRC) is now a part of this tragic story, and as such, we continue to assist this investigation in every way possible,” reads the statement from the company. “We may never know, and certainly will never comprehend, why he committed these horrific acts against our neighbors and friends, or why he chose to end his life where he did. We do know that our employees, along with the rest of our community, are shaken to the core.”Card was wanted on murder charges in connection with the deaths of 18 people who were shot at Schemengees Bar and Grille Restaurant on Lincoln Street and Just-In-Time Recreation on Mollison Way in the city of Lewiston. Another 13 people were injured, three of whom were in critical care as of Saturday morning.”Like many people, I’m breathing a sigh of relief tonight, knowing that Robert Card is no longer a threat,” Maine Gov. Janet Mills said. “Now with this search concluded, I know that law enforcement continues to fully investigate all the facts so we can bring what closure we can to the victims and their families.”Video below: Gov. announces end of search for suspectAll of the victims who were killed were identified by officials on Friday afternoon. The victims ranged in age from 14 to 76.Sauschuck said a family assistance center for individuals who were present at the shooting sites is open at the Lewiston Memorial Armory at 65 Central Ave.”That’s intended to be a one-stop shop kind of thing, one central space for victims and their support persons to gather so that they don’t have to make multiple stops at multiple different agencies to seek assistance,” Sauschuck said. “Whether you were a victim, physically stating that you were injured during this event, or you were there and traumatized — in either one of those situations, the family assistance center will be a good spot for those individuals to go.”Sauschuck said mental health services for the general public will be provided at the Ramada hotel in Lewiston.Sauschuck said a note was found in Card’s residence that was addressed to a loved one. That note detailed the passcode to Card’s phone and his bank account information.”I wouldn’t describe it as an explicit suicide note, but the tone and tenor was that the individual was not going to be around and wanted to make sure that this loved one had access to his phone and whatever was in his phone,” Sauschuck said.Sauschuck said law enforcement is in the process of obtaining a search warrant to access Card’s phone.”I think, clearly, there’s a mental health component to this,” he said.Sauschuck also said paranoia likely played a part in Card’s decision to target Schemengees Bar and Grille Restaurant and Just-In-Time Recreation.”What I’ve read and what I’ve seen is that the individual felt like people were talking about him,” Sauschuck said.According to Sauschuck, a long gun was recovered from Card’s white Subaru station wagon that was being sought in the immediate aftermath of the shootings and found at a boat launch in Lisbon later that night. The boat launch is about a mile from the Maine Recycling Corporation, according to Lisbon police Chief Ryan McGee.Jim Ferguson, special agent in charge of the ATF’s Boston Field Division, said the firearms that have been recovered as part of the investigation appear to have been legally purchased by Card.Card’s family is well-known in the town of Bowdoin, Maine, which is about two and a half hours north of Boston. Sauschuck said law enforcement had received approximately 820 tips and leads in regards to the shootings, but the first three people who called to positively identify Card were members of his family.”That family has taken a great deal of grief to include threats, people hanging out at their houses and saying: ‘Did they know? Is it their fault? Are they enabling?’ — all of those things,” Sauschuck said. “It would have been detrimental if they didn’t come forward immediately to let us know who this individual was.”The U.S. Army confirmed that Card has been an Army reservist since December 2002. His current rank is as a sergeant first class, and his job is a petroleum supply specialist, the Army said.Last month, Card allegedly threatened to attack a U.S. Army Reserve Center in Saco, Maine, which is about an hour south of his home. The police chief says they increased patrols but didn’t take further action.Card was ordered to go to the Keller Army Community Hospital near West Point, where he stayed for two weeks. Video below: 5 Investigates reports on Card’s lifeShelter-in-place orders were lifted earlier Friday night and, as a result of Card’s death, limitations on hunting in the area were also lifted.

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