International
USA: At least 16 dead in Maine shooting; police search for assailant
October 26 |
A man shot dead at least 16 people at a restaurant and bowling alley in Lewiston, Maine, on Wednesday and then fled into the night, prompting a massive search by hundreds of officers as frightened residents remained holed up in their homes.
A police bulletin identified Robert Card, 40, as a person of interest in the attack who opened fire at the bowling alley at about 7:00 p.m. The man was described as a firearms instructor.
Card was described as a firearms instructor believed to be in the Army Reserve and assigned to a training facility in Saco, Maine.
The document, distributed to police said Card had been committed to a mental health facility for two weeks in the summer of 2023. It did not provide details about his treatment or condition, but said Card had reported “hearing voices and threats to shoot up” the military base.
A phone number listed in Card’s public records was not in service.
Earlier, Lewiston police said in a Facebook post that they were dealing with an active shooter incident at Schemengees Bar and Grille and Sparetime Recreation, a bowling alley about 6.4 miles away.
A bowler, who identified himself only as Brandon, said he heard about 10 shots and thought the first was a balloon burst. He then saw a man with a gun and ran to hide in the bowling area on top of the machinery.
He and a group of survivors were driven to a high school in the neighboring city of Auburn to meet with family and friends.
Melinda Small, owner of Legends Sports Bar and Grill restaurant, said her staff immediately locked its doors and moved the 25 customers and employees away from the doors after a customer reported hearing about the shooting at the bowling alley nearby.
Soon, police flooded the road and a police officer eventually escorted everyone out of the building.
After the shooting, police, many of them armed with rifles, took up positions as the city descended into an eerie silence, punctuated by occasional sirens, as people took shelter in their homes. Schools are closed Thursday in Lewiston, Lisbon and Auburn, as are municipal offices in Lewiston.
The Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office posted two photographs of the suspect on its Facebook page showing the shooter entering an establishment pointing a gun.
Two law enforcement officials told AP that at least 16 people were killed and the number was expected to rise.
However, Michael Sauschuck, commissioner of the Maine Department of Public Safety, declined to provide a specific estimate at a news conference, calling it a “fluid situation.” State police were scheduled to hold a mid-morning news conference Thursday.
The two officials also said dozens of people had also been injured.
On its website, Central Maine Medical Center said staff was “reacting to a mass casualty event and mass shooting” and coordinating with area hospitals to receive patients. The hospital was locked down and police, some armed with rifles, remained at the entrances.
Meanwhile, hospitals as far away as Portland, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) to the south, were on alert for possible victims.
The order for residents and business owners to stay inside and off the streets of the city of 37,000 was extended Wednesday night from Lewiston to Lisbon, about 13 kilometers (8 miles) away, after a “vehicle of interest” was found there, authorities said.
Gov. Janet Mills issued a statement echoing instructions for people to take shelter. She said she had been briefed on the situation and will remain in close contact with public safety officials.
President Joe Biden spoke by phone with Mills and members of the state Senate and House of Representatives, offering “full federal support in the wake of this horrific attack,” according to a White House statement.
Maine does not require permits to carry guns, and the state has a long-standing culture of gun ownership that is tied to its hunting and sport shooting traditions.
International
Austrian man arrested in Croatia with deceased woman as passenger in his car
A 65-year-old Austrian citizen was arrested at a border checkpoint in Croatia after attempting to enter the country in his car with a deceased woman sitting as a passenger, police announced on Tuesday.
The man was detained in a routine check in late November in Gunja, a border area separating Bosnia from Croatia, the police told AFP. Suspicious because they saw “no consciousness or movement” from the passenger, Croatian officers called a doctor, who confirmed the death of the 83-year-old woman, also Austrian, according to her identification.
The woman’s relationship to the suspect is unknown. She had died in Bosnia, and the man intended to repatriate her body to Austria to “avoid the formalities related to transporting a corpse,” according to the police. Croatian media reported that the man was her legal guardian.
Once her death was confirmed, a funeral service took charge of the body.
International
Colombian nationals arrested for human trafficking and disappearance of migrant boat
Colombian authorities arrested two nationals accused of the illegal trafficking of migrants to the United States and of endangering lives due to the disappearance of a boat with 40 people aboard, U.S. Department of Justice officials reported on Tuesday.
Hernando Manuel de la Cruz Rivera Orjuela, 52, and Luis Enrique Linero Pinto, 40, both Colombian citizens, were arrested on December 13 in Colombia at the request of the United States for their alleged involvement in a “transnational human trafficking operation,” the department said in a statement.
According to the charges, the detainees were transporting migrants to San Andrés Island in the Caribbean, where they would then be taken by boat to Nicaragua. The goal was to reach the United States through Central America and Mexico.
The accused are said to have advised the migrants on how to reach San Andrés Island, where they personally received them, arranged accommodations, and “took them to the boats that transported them to Nicaragua so they could enter the United States illegally,” the statement reads.
“These defendants put several migrants on the boat that disappeared off the coast of Nicaragua in 2023,” said Deputy Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, as cited in the statement.
Both men are “directly and personally responsible for the illicit trafficking of migrants on that vessel,” according to the indictment dated October 23.
International
Homemade landmine explosion in Michoacán kills two soldiers, injures five
Two soldiers were killed and five others were injured by the explosion of homemade landmines planted by a criminal group in a mountainous area of the Mexican state of Michoacán (west), the Secretary of Defense reported on Tuesday.
The attack occurred on Monday morning in the municipality of Cotija, a border area between Michoacán and the state of Jalisco, when the military was conducting a reconnaissance mission after receiving information about an armed camp in the area, explained Secretary General Ricardo Trevilla.
“At that moment, an improvised explosive device detonated. Unfortunately, two soldiers lost their lives, and five others were injured,” the military leader detailed. The affected soldiers were airlifted to hospitals in the region by a military helicopter, while the rest of the team continued with the reconnaissance of the area.
Trevilla stated that before the explosion, the military unit had located the dismembered bodies of three people, and upon continuing the mission, they confirmed the camp was abandoned.
Asked about the individuals responsible for placing the explosives, the general suggested they could be criminals linked to the local group Cárteles Unidos, which operates in Michoacán and uses these tactics in their territorial dispute with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the country.
Austrian man arrested in Croatia with deceased woman as passenger in his car
Colombian nationals arrested for human trafficking and disappearance of migrant boat
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