Lewiston, in the state of Maine, is already part of the tragic map of the chronic gun epidemic in the United States.
This town, with 38,000 inhabitants, and others around it were described this Thursday as ghost towns. Schools closed. Many businesses did not raise their shutters. The streets were empty, while numerous police patrol cars were circulating.
"He is armed and dangerous. If anyone sees him, don't go near him," warned William Ross, colonel of the state police.
He was talking about Robert Card, 40, who fled after leaving 18 dead and 13 injured, three of whom were in critical condition, on Wednesday night.
Seven people lost their lives in a restaurant (six men), and eight in a bowling alley (all men). One was outside the compound. There were three others who were taken to the hospital, but efforts to save them were in vain.
The neighbors did not hide the feeling of fear and uncertainty because they know that evil was lurking. In the statements to the media, the sadness and psychosis that has been created with this slaughter, the most important of those recorded this year, was perceived. And they are not few.
According to the non-profit Gun Violence Archive, there have been 562 mass shootings (at least 4 shots fired) and 31 mass killings (four or more deaths). Ròssec in a list that already exceeds 22,000 deceased in 2022.
Agents from local, state and FBI police were deployed in a massive manhunt across the state.
Nothing comparable to this deployment could be remembered in a state with a low level of crime, despite the large number of weapons there, given the great tradition and fondness for hunting. In turn, this means that the regulation to buy them is very lax.
All this can be understood if the figures are put into play. Maine recorded 29 violent deaths in 2022, in a population of just under 1.4 million residents. In 2020, 20 homicides were recorded.
Unlike other times, this time the alarm seems more than justified by the characteristics of the fugitive.
"Armed and dangerous", Governor Janet Mills insisted in a press conference when she referred to the accused of the bloodbath.
Card's print captured in the security videos caused the sense of risk to be accentuated. He appears holding a semi-automatic assault rifle, ready to pull the trigger on the AR-15, so fashionable among gunmen in this country and to which they have access in any armory, despite the fact that it is a cloned weapon of war.
The fact that he went with his face uncovered also suggested that he was not trying to act and hide, but rather that he was on a suicidal mission: to die by killing.
He was soon identified and it became known that Card, a resident of Bowdoin (Maine), has military training - he enlisted in late 2002 - and is a reservist who received a medal for "humanitarian services". It was never deployed on the fronts of Iraq or Afghanistan.
A lover of weapons, one of his occupations consisted of acting as a shooting coach.
He heard voices and that's why he planned an attack on the National Guard base. His military unit and his family managed to get him admitted to a psychiatric facility for a couple of weeks
"I don't know what's wrong with this man or what's wrong with him, but this is a nightmare," replied Leroy Walker, in tears, to MSNBC. 25 years ago he lost a daughter in a car accident. On Thursday, he did not receive the message that his son Joey sent him every night, at half past eleven, when he was closing the bar where he worked, where the first shooting began, shortly before seven in the evening.
After 14 hours of waiting, his youngest son contacted him. Joey was dead. Police told the family that he died when he tried to attack the gunman with a razor.
Once again the eternal debate arose as to how it is possible for a person with a history of mental illness to acquire an AR-15.
Maine Public Safety Commissioner Mike Sauschuck acknowledged that the question was more than legitimate, however, "that's part of the investigation and I can't answer it." After a while it transpired that Card bought the weapon legally that same year.
Chad Vicent was bowling at the bowling alley when he heard a thump, like a table falling to the floor. After five seconds, one of his friends exclaimed: "Those are shots!". And they started running.
President Joe Biden once again urged Republicans to work together to ban the sale of assault weapons. All too soon, they were all praying for the dead. It is clear that, although they believe in God, he does not pay attention to them.
