US: 18 people confirmed dead in Maine mass shooting

Police in the US city of Lewiston, Maine launched a manhunt for a suspect who opened fire on a bar and a bowling alley on Wednesday evening. 

The governor of Maine, Janet Mills, told a press conference Thursday that 18 people were killed and 13 were injured in the shootings. 

The suspect in the shooting is still at large and is considered "armed and dangerous," Mills said.

Public school districts canceled classes and police cordoned off the roads leading to the shooting sites.

"This is a dark day for Maine," Mills said during a Thursday press conference. Maine authorities said they were looking for a suspect identified as Robert C.

They called on residents in the area to stay inside, with Mills saying he was considered "armed and dangerous." He had reportedly been committed to a mental health facility over the summer. 

Mills said she has deployed all available state resources, including mental health professionals.

Police expand 'shelter in place' advisory

Maine State Police said the suspect is a 40-year-old man from nearby town of Bowdoin. The US Army said he is a member of the US Army Reserve, with no prior overseas deployment. Police added the suspect is a certified firearms instructor. 

"We are expanding the shelter in place advisory and school closings to include the town of Bowdoin. Please stay inside your homes," police said in a statement posted on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

"We have literally hundreds of police officers working around the state of Maine to investigate this case," Maine Public Safety Commissioner Mike Sauschuck told a news conference.

Sauschuck said he was not prepared to give a death toll, calling it "a very fluid situation."

Lewiston police said the incident took place at Schemengees Bar and Grille and at Sparetime Recreation, a bowling alley about 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) away.

Police said they found a white SUV, which they believe the suspect used to drive to the town of Lisbon, situated 7 miles (11 kilometers) southeast of Lewiston

Biden calls for gun control 

US President Joe Biden condemned the "senseless and tragic" shooting and called on residents to heed the warnings of local authorities.

Biden also acknowledged steps taken by his administration toward stricter gun control, such as the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, yet stressed more needed to be done. 

The US president called on Republican lawmakers in Congress to work with his Democrat administration on passing a bill that would ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, among other measures, to tighten gun control.

"This is the very least we owe every American who will now bear the scars — physical and mental — of this latest attack," Biden said in a White House statement.

Over 500 mass shootings in the US in 2023 — NGO

Gun violence and mass shootings are a regular occurrence in the United States, and over the years there have been calls for tighter controls. However, opponents of proposed measures cite the Second Amendment, which is the right to bear arms.

The US has recorded more than 500 mass shooting incidents in 2023 according to data from the Gun Violence Archive (GVA) which is a non-governmental organization.

The GVA defines a mass shooting incident as anything with four or more victims who have been shot and includes people who have been killed or injured.

Editor's note: DW follows the German press code, which stresses the importance of protecting the privacy of suspected criminals or victims and urges us to refrain from revealing the full names of alleged criminals.

kb/lo,wmr (Reuters, AP)