Lewiston, United States:

The suspect in a mass capturing that killed 18 individuals within the US state of Maine has been discovered useless, the state’s governor mentioned Friday, ending a two-day manhunt that mobilized a whole lot of regulation enforcement brokers and set jittery residents of the northeastern state on edge. Robert Card, a 40-year-old Army reservist, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and his physique was found at 7:45 pm (2345 GMT), Maine public security commissioner Mike Sauschuck mentioned.

Card is believed to be the perpetrator of a rampage on Wednesday night that left 18 individuals useless and 13 others wounded in a bowling alley and a bar-restaurant on this hard-scrabble metropolis.

“I’m breathing a sigh of relief tonight knowing that Robert Card is no longer a threat to anyone,” governor Janet Mills informed a rapidly known as information convention.

The sentiment was echoed by US Senator Susan Collins of Maine, who mentioned on X, previously Twitter, that President Joe Biden known as her “to tell me the perpetrator of the heinous attacks in Lewiston had been found.” 

Biden mentioned the mass capturing introduced “a tragic two days — not just for Lewiston, Maine, but for our entire country.”

“I will continue to do everything in my power to end this gun violence epidemic. The Lewiston community – and all Americans – deserve nothing less,” Biden mentioned in a press release launched by the White House. 

Authorities on Friday identified the victims, starting from a husband and spouse of their 70s, to a 14-year-old boy killed alongside his father.

The killing spree in a bowling alley and bar-restaurant marked the deadliest mass capturing within the US this 12 months.

Card’s physique was present in Lisbon Falls, southeast of Lewiston close to the Androscoggin River, authorities mentioned. US media mentioned his physique was discovered close to a recycling middle that was Card’s place of employment earlier than he misplaced his job there.

Roads resulting in the location have been blocked by police Friday night, an AFP journalist noticed.

Sauschuck mentioned he couldn’t instantly say when Card shot himself.

The capturing — and Card’s fugitive standing — had introduced dread to southern Maine over the previous two days. Authorities had described Card as “armed and dangerous.”

Earlier Friday, authorities mentioned they have been chasing down greater than 530 ideas and leads on Card’s potential whereabouts.

Card is an army reservist, however had not been deployed in any fight zone. US media reported that he had lately been despatched for psychiatric remedy after he mentioned he was listening to voices.

This newest capturing is likely one of the deadliest within the United States since 2017, when a gunman opened hearth on a crowded music pageant in Las Vegas, killing 60 individuals.

Earlier Friday, regulation enforcement brokers deployed alongside the Androscoggin River — close to the place Card’s white SUV was discovered — and divers utilizing sonar entered the river to search for proof — or a physique.

Hours earlier than the break within the case, Sauschuck introduced the lifting of a lockdown within the space round Lewiston that had shuttered faculties and companies.

Lewiston residents voiced anxiousness over how the seek for Card would play out.

“Uneasy,” Lewiston resident Jeremy Hiltz informed AFP when requested how he felt. “It’s a small community. When something like this happens, everybody knows somebody” affected.

He mentioned quite a few intersecting social crises have troubled Lewiston, a metropolis of some 38,000 inhabitants.

“This community itself has been devastated by addiction and housing crisis and poverty … So to put this on top of it, it’s really just a devastating situation for us,” Hiltz mentioned.

An training middle for the deaf and onerous of listening to, situated on a small island 45 minutes drive south of Lewiston, was notably hard-hit by the tragedy.

Among these killed on the Schemengees bar-restaurant — the place the killer appeared after the rampage on the bowling alley — have been 4 males with ties to the varsity, as former college students, educators or mother and father, Karen Hopkins, the varsity’s director, informed AFP.

“It’s a heavy time. Our community is shattered right now,” she mentioned.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is printed from a syndicated feed.)