1 of 3 | The body of the man believed to be responsible for two mass shootings in Maine earlier this week has was located at a recycling center in Lisbon, Maine, police confirmed Saturday. Photo by CJ Gunther/EPA-EFE
Oct. 28 (UPI) — Authorities confirmed Saturday that the body of suspected Maine mass shooter Robert Card was found at a recycling plant that been searched earlier during an extensive manhunt.
Tactical officers discovered Card’s body Friday evening at a Maine Recycling Corporation facility in Lisbon, Maine, State Public Safety Commissioner Mike Sauschuck told reporters at the news conference on Saturday.
Card, 40, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, he said.
Police located his body along with two firearms inside a large truck trailer on the recycling property at 7:45 p.m. EDT Friday.
Sauschuck confirmed police had previously searched the property earlier this week during the multi-day manhunt for Card, who was wanted for two shootings in Lewiston, Maine, on Tuesday that left 18 people and another 13 injured.
“We cleared trailers there at that business footprint. We had no idea [that] across the street there was an overflow parking lot,” he said.
Sauschuck did not update the condition of the 13 people injured in the two shootings.
Local, state and federal law enforcement agencies have been searching for Card since the shootings. The communities of Lewiston, Lisbon and Bowdoin were all under shelter-in-place orders during the 48-hour manhunt.
“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 in a statement issued late Friday after Card’s body was discovered.
Mills’ office has launched a “Healing Together” online resource to help support victims and families.
President Joe Biden called the situation “a tragic two days — not just for Lewiston, Maine, but for our entire country.
“Once again, an American community and American families have been devastated by gun violence,” he said in a statement. “In all, at least 18 souls brutally slain, more injured, some critically, and scores of family and friends praying and experiencing trauma no one ever wants to imagine.”
Americans, he asserted, “should not have to live like this. I once again call on Republicans in Congress to fulfill their obligation to keep the American people safe.”
Until then, “I will continue to do everything in my power to end this gun violence epidemic. The Lewiston community — and all Americans — deserve nothing less,” the president said.
FBI Boston Division Special Agent in Charge Jodi Cohen sent condolences to the victims, their families and the community on Saturday, thanking the more than 350 special agents, analysts, task force officers and support personnel assigned to the manhunt.
“Even though the suspect was found deceased last night, our work does not stop,” Cohen said in a statement. “There are many questions that need to be answered, there is a lot of evidence to be processed, and, most importantly, the victims and their families deserve special care and consideration.”