- 2 years ago
Lewiston, Maine, officials hold a press briefing as the manhunt continues for the suspect in last night's deadly mass shooting.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 As you all know, last night, local, county, state, and federal law enforcement officers
00:14 from around the state of Maine responded to reports of an active shooter at several locations
00:21 in Lewiston, including Fairtime Recreation and Shemendy's Bar and Grill.
00:28 These law enforcement officers, in the face of danger, responded swiftly, selflessly,
00:35 and with great bravery.
00:38 Bravery that they continue to demonstrate today as they search tirelessly for a person
00:43 of interest and connection with other police in that area.
00:47 On behalf of all Maine people, I express my deep gratitude for your response and for your
00:53 continued service.
00:56 I also do so for Maine's hospitals and other medical emergency response responders.
01:05 I am profoundly sad to stand before you today to report that 18 people lost their lives
01:13 and 13 people were injured in last night's attacks.
01:20 In memory of those we lost and in honor of those who were injured, President Biden and
01:27 I have ordered all U.S. flags and state of Maine flags to be lowered to half-staff immediately
01:35 for the next five days.
01:39 Maine State Police have issued a shelter-in-place order for Lewiston, Lisbon, and Bowdoin as
01:46 the manhunt for that person of interest, Robert Carr of Bowdoin, continues.
01:54 I will let law enforcement speak to the ongoing manhunt and to their investigation, but Mr.
01:59 Carr is considered armed and dangerous, and police advise that Maine people should not
02:05 approach him under any circumstances.
02:11 I continue to strongly urge Maine people to follow the direction of state and local law
02:16 enforcement amid this ever-changing situation.
02:20 Please, if you see anything suspicious, please call 911.
02:30 There are still many things we don't yet know about these attacks, but the full weight of
02:36 my administration is behind law enforcement's efforts to capture the person of interest,
02:42 Robert Carr, to hold whoever is responsible for this atrocity accountable under the full
02:50 force of state and federal law, and to seek full justice for the victims and their families.
03:00 We are – we cannot and we will not rest in this endeavor.
03:07 My administration is coordinating closely with local, regional, and federal officials
03:13 to respond to this tragedy.
03:17 I have spoken twice with President Biden.
03:19 I've spoken with Vice President Harris, Secretary of Homeland Security in my office, and Secretary
03:27 of Health and Human Services Becerra, all of whom have called me last night to express
03:33 the Biden administration's full and unwavering support and to offer any and all help that
03:40 we, people of Maine, might require.
03:45 The governors of our neighboring New England states and of other states have contacted
03:51 me to offer aid, and I am sincerely grateful for their friendship and support.
03:58 We've been in touch with every member of the Maine congressional delegation, all of
04:03 whom have offered their full support, for which I am also grateful.
04:09 I also spoke with Mayor Carl Chalene and Auburn Mayor – excuse me, Jason Levesque last night
04:14 to reiterate that we are standing by them and that we are ready to provide any help
04:22 people in these communities need.
04:25 And to deploy all available state resources, including community counselors and other Maine
04:32 health services, we need to help our communities heal.
04:37 If you or a person you love needs someone to talk to during this difficult time, please
04:45 call or text 988.
04:50 For free and confidential counseling, 988.
04:56 Look, Lewiston is a special place.
05:00 It's a close-knit community with a long history of hard work, of persistence, of faith,
05:08 of opening its big heart to people everywhere.
05:12 Lewiston is where I worked for years.
05:15 It's where I met and married my husband and where our girls went to school.
05:21 I love this place just as I love the whole state with my entire heart.
05:28 I am so deeply saddened, as is every one of the 1.3 million people of this beautiful state.
05:36 This city did not deserve this terrible assault on its citizens, on its peace of mind, on
05:43 its sense of security.
05:45 No city does.
05:46 No state.
05:47 No people.
05:50 No words can truly or fully measure the grief of many people today.
05:56 Our small state of just 1.3 million people has long been known as one of the safest states
06:02 in the nation.
06:05 This attack strikes at the very heart of who we are and the values we hold dear for this
06:12 precious place we call home.
06:15 All many people are sharing the sorrow of the families who lost loved ones last night,
06:23 loved ones, normal people who were killed or injured while unwinding from a day of work
06:30 or while spending time with family and friends, socializing.
06:35 So on behalf of the 1.3 million people of the whole state of New York, I hold these
06:41 families and this city in my heart today.
06:47 I know that the people of Lewiston are enduring immeasurable pain.
06:52 I wish I could take that pain off your hearts, off your shoulders, but I promise you this,
06:59 we will all help you carry that grief.
07:05 I ask many people to join me in offering our comfort to the families and friends who have
07:10 lost someone and in offering our prayers for swift recovery for those who are healing
07:17 in these hospitals today.
07:22 This is a dark day in Maine.
07:25 I know it's hard for us to think about healing when our hearts are broken, but I want every
07:31 person in Maine to know that we will heal together.
07:39 We are strong, we are resilient, we are a very caring people.
07:46 In the days and weeks ahead, we will need to lean on those qualities more than ever
07:52 before.
07:54 As we move forward, struggling as we may, let us wrap our arms around one another, offer
08:03 comfort and solace and love.
08:08 I know the Maine State Police will continue to release information to the public as we
08:13 confer it and information about any steps that the public might take to support the
08:19 people of Lewiston at this time.
08:23 May God bless the people of Lewiston and bless the memories of those who have lost.
08:28 Thank you.
08:31 I'm going to turn it over to Commissioner Sasha.
08:38 Thank you very much Governor.
08:39 We certainly appreciate your support.
08:41 The City of Lewiston does, the State of Maine, certainly our first responders.
08:45 We feel that love every day and thank you very much for that.
08:49 I would also say that we want to say thank you to a really large number of other elected
08:54 officials across our state, whether that's the federal delegation, local elected officials,
08:59 and many others that are part of organizations or law enforcement agencies that truly wanted
09:05 to join us today at this particular press event and wanted to speak on behalf of their
09:11 communities.
09:12 And as the Governor had mentioned and everybody else will reiterate, our reality for today
09:18 is that this suspect is still at large and we want to provide community support for the
09:24 victims, for the families, and the communities across the state.
09:29 But we also have an incredibly strong laser light focus on bringing this suspect into
09:34 custody and ultimately to justice.
09:37 So because of that mission for this particular event and today's activities, we're keeping
09:43 the list of speakers and the agenda pre-titled.
09:46 And that will include next up at the podium would be Chief Dave St. Pierre from the City
09:53 of Lewiston and some other members of his command staff are present.
09:59 What I will say to the City of Lewiston, you know this because you feel it every day, but
10:03 you're lucky to have a chief like Chief St. Pierre and his entire law enforcement agency
10:10 from every level of those officers put their heart and their soul on the line on behalf
10:15 of their community last night and today.
10:18 And they're doing it for the right reasons.
10:19 They do it because they care.
10:21 So the City of Lewiston and truly our co-respondent family across the state of Maine is lucky
10:26 to have Dave and his team in the mix with us.
10:31 And we're also going to hear from Colonel William Ross from the Maine State Police.
10:35 And Bill will highlight some of the timeline things that you're probably concerned about
10:41 and certainly interested in from a story perspective.
10:44 So the Colonel will come up and speak to that.
10:47 And we'll also have Jody Cohen.
10:50 And Jody is the special agent in charge for the FBI out of the Boston Field Office.
10:55 And Jody will highlight some of those federal partnerships and some of the things that our
10:59 federal partners are bringing to the table, bringing to bear to help us with this investigation.
11:05 We also have a bunch of people here.
11:07 Once you start naming people, you're going to have a problem because you're going to
11:10 forget somebody here who's coming up.
11:11 But I would also tell you that a couple of our other federal partners are here.
11:16 Kevin Neal, who's the U.S. Marshal for the District of Maine.
11:19 We also have James Ferguson.
11:21 And Jim is the special agent in charge from the ATF for the Boston Field Division.
11:26 They are heavily invested with staff along with the FBI.
11:31 We can't thank them enough for all that they're doing on behalf of our state.
11:35 I would also tell you that we are going to close with a brief Q&A.
11:40 And we're going to try to get some of those questions out there.
11:42 We appreciate your time, your patience, your professionalism, your partnership in getting
11:46 this information out.
11:48 I would think that those questions are going to be brief because, again, we do have a suspect
11:52 at large.
11:53 And while you can help us with that, we also need to get back to our team to push forward
11:56 on that.
11:58 So with that in mind, I will be back up to the podium to kind of steer that a little
12:02 bit.
12:03 But for starters, I would like to have Chief St. Pierre join us.
12:06 Thank you.
12:07 Thank you, Director Salkchuck.
12:09 And welcome, media partners.
12:11 And thank you, Governor Mills, for those kind words.
12:14 I'm going to keep this short.
12:16 What I would like in the very most is to express our deepest sympathies to the families and
12:20 friends of the victims of this heinous crime.
12:24 This is truly a tragedy that goes beyond comprehension.
12:28 I'm confident that our community has and will continue to come together throughout this
12:33 endeavor to bring this to a successful conclusion.
12:36 Although difficult, I do ask the public to continue to be mindful of their own personal
12:41 safety and also that they be patient with the process as much as possible.
12:46 There is extensive work and attention to detail that goes into such a large-scale investigation.
12:52 I'm confident in the expertise and professionalism of our investigators and all law enforcement
12:57 officials that are currently involved.
12:59 This is an all-hands-on-deck approach.
13:01 We have a great deal of collaboration and resources that have been made available to
13:05 us.
13:06 There are far too many to name individually, but I think Director Salkchuck named quite
13:12 a few appropriately.
13:14 There are far too many, as I stated, but they are all appreciated more than you know.
13:19 I want to thank all of our brave men and women of the Lewiston Police Department, fire department
13:23 staff, medical personnel, first responders of any kind that came from far and wide and
13:29 have come together and continue to work tirelessly in bringing this situation to an end.
13:35 We hope to locate and hold the person accountable.
13:39 I think you'll hear next from the state police who is taking the lead in this investigation.
13:45 Although that we are working hand-in-hand with them, I think Colonel Ross will be able
13:50 to fill you in on a little bit more.
13:51 Thank you, Chief.
13:59 First and foremost, this is an ongoing homicide investigation in search for the person that
14:04 is responsible for it.
14:06 We're in the early stages of this investigation, and I just want to let you know we will have
14:11 updates.
14:12 We'll be putting some type of a schedule out later on.
14:16 But again, early stages of a homicide investigation, we want to be careful that we're doing things
14:21 correctly.
14:22 We want to get ahead of ourselves.
14:24 I'm going to give you a bit of a timeline here to kind of fill in some of the blanks
14:28 and give you some of the facts as we know them right now.
14:32 A lot of this information will then be transferred to the Attorney General's Office as they will
14:36 be the lead prosecutor, again, in any homicide investigation.
14:42 Last night, October 25th at approximately 6.56 p.m., the Auburn Communications Center
14:49 received a 911 call of a male shooting in just in time, or the spare time recreation
14:56 center in the town of Lewiston, located at 24 Mollison Way in Lewiston.
15:04 Shortly after that, at about 7.08 p.m., the communications center received multiple 911
15:11 calls about an active shooter inside of a Spenge's Billiards at 553 Lincoln Street in
15:20 the town of Lewiston.
15:23 A large law enforcement response from multiple surrounding agencies assisted the Lewiston
15:28 Police Department in trying to identify who this individual was and what was happening.
15:35 As you can imagine, this was a very fast-paced, fast-moving, very fluid scene, very dangerous
15:42 scene that these guys and girls were going into.
15:45 Eighteen people are now deceased at this time.
15:51 The victims of the just-in-time establishment, seven people are deceased there, one female
15:58 and six males, all from an apparent gunshot wound.
16:03 Victims at the Spenge's Billiards, eight are deceased, seven males inside the establishment,
16:12 one male outside of the establishment, again, also apparent gunshot wounds.
16:19 Instead, multiple people were transferred to area hospitals, Central Maine Medical Center,
16:24 St. Mary's, and Maine Medical Center.
16:27 Three people that were transferred to those hospitals are deceased.
16:32 A total of 18 people deceased at this time.
16:39 The investigation into the person responsible to this identified a vehicle located at the
16:46 Projectscott Boat Landing in Lisbon.
16:50 That person, through the registration of that vehicle, was identified, as has been stated
16:55 earlier, as a Robert Card, born in 1983.
17:02 Several of the deceased have been identified, and their families next of kin have been notified.
17:09 Approximately eight people at this point have been identified.
17:12 Ten people, ten of these victims, still need to be identified at this time.
17:19 Currently, there is an arrest warrant for eight counts of murder for Mr. Card.
17:26 And the reason it's eight counts is because ten people have not yet been identified.
17:29 As those people are identified, the counts will probably go to a total of 18.
17:38 He should be considered armed and dangerous.
17:42 Based on our investigation, we believe this is someone that should not be approached.
17:45 This is someone that should be, if you come into any contact with this individual, or
17:50 someone that you think looks like this individual, you ought to call 911, and I'll provide some
17:55 tip line numbers at the conclusion of my briefing.
18:00 Lewiston Police Department, federal, state, county, and other local municipalities are
18:05 involved in a coordinated search at this moment for this individual.
18:09 So this is an ongoing investigation, and there's a search to apprehend this person.
18:13 Both happened simultaneously.
18:17 I can't stress this enough.
18:19 This is an ongoing investigation in the early stages.
18:22 More information will come out in conjunction with the Attorney General's Office as the
18:27 lead prosecutor.
18:29 We can't share all of our information right now, and I'm sure you understand that.
18:33 I'm going to give out two numbers that will go to a tip line.
18:38 911 is also appropriate for this, but if anyone can call these two numbers, this would go
18:43 to the state police tip line.
18:45 Area code 207-213-9526, 207-509-9002.
18:58 And we'll be sending something out later that has that information in it if you weren't
19:02 able to grab that now.
19:04 Again, this is a very fluid situation.
19:07 We have a lot of resources, as Chief St. Pierre had mentioned earlier, that are on the ground
19:14 in a coordinated effort to apprehend this individual.
19:18 We've notified the Department of Education, and they have determined what they're going
19:24 to do with the schools.
19:25 A lot of schools, area schools, were shut down today based on our conversation with
19:30 them.
19:31 Again, as more information comes in, we'll be providing it to you.
19:34 Thank you for your time.
19:36 This is a very difficult time for, I think, the community of Williston, difficult time
19:42 for obviously the victims' families, and it's a tough time for law enforcement.
19:47 It was a rough night last night, but we're committed to bringing whoever's responsible
19:54 to justice.
19:56 And again, we are currently looking for Mr. Card right now, someone that we'd like to
20:02 apprehend.
20:03 Thank you.
20:04 Thank you, Colonel.
20:07 And FBI Special Agent in Charge Cohen, if you could join me, please.
20:10 Thank you.
20:16 My name is Joey Cohen.
20:18 I'm the Special Agent in Charge of FBI Boston Division, which covers the state of Maine.
20:22 Our hearts go out to everyone who was impacted as a result of the senseless violence.
20:28 The FBI is working hand in hand with our law enforcement partners.
20:33 Our Evidence Retaliance Team is here processing these very extensive scenes.
20:38 We are providing investigative and tactical support, as well as our victim specialists
20:44 are working with those affected by this tragedy.
20:46 As this very active investigation continues to unfold, we're asking the public to stay
20:53 vigilant and come forward with any information that you might have that you feel is helpful
20:59 to our investigators.
21:00 My pledge is that the FBI will carry out this investigative case with rigor.
21:06 We'll work day and night alongside our law enforcement partners to get the answers to
21:12 the questions this community deserves.
21:14 We thank the public for your continued cooperation and patience as we continue to work this very
21:21 active investigation.
21:22 Thank you.
21:28 Appreciate that.
21:30 And I would say that the reality here from a resource standpoint is that when we've asked
21:34 for anything, the answer's been yes, period.
21:37 Tactical teams, evidence response teams, full-blown investigative units, detective units that
21:43 have come from multiple states, whether it's the commissioners from Vermont, from New Hampshire
21:48 reaching out to me directly, Massachusetts saying, "What do you need, Mike?
21:51 What can we do for the state of Maine?"
21:53 So we are now prepared to try to take a few questions and keep in mind, again, that we
21:58 may not be able to answer as in-depth as you would like.
22:02 We don't plan on taking a great deal of questions.
22:05 I think follow-up press events will allow for that.
22:08 Sir?
22:08 So no one has really talked about the weapon that was used here, the AR-15 assault.
22:14 So we hope someone can talk about that.
22:17 But the other thing here is there are reports that this individual had mental health issues,
22:22 that he made threats to shoot up the National Guard.
22:26 So clearly there were some signs there that he was on someone's radar.
22:30 The question becomes why was he in possession of this weapon?
22:34 And certainly, why wasn't he stopped?
22:36 Yeah, I think those are all valid questions, and certainly questions that we are looking
22:42 into now, but not questions that we can answer today, considering the disoccurred last night.
22:48 There's still an active search for the suspect in question.
22:50 So I appreciate those questions, but they're not something we're going to be able to answer.
22:54 But is it something that you're investigating and looking for?
22:57 It is certainly one of those things that we want to follow up on, all aspects of that.
23:01 Why does it matter?
23:01 Go ahead, right here.
23:02 Yes?
23:03 Can you give us a sense of the ages of who has died, or how many are under 18, and how
23:07 many are over 18?
23:09 I'm not sure we have that information with us today.
23:11 We wanted to break it down by gender, because that's something we have readily available.
23:16 But we did not break this down in age ranges at all.
23:20 Sir, what can you tell us about the background of the suspect in this case?
23:24 Or I should say the person of interest, because I noticed the language is very clear.
23:28 You're saying person of interest, not suspect.
23:30 So why use that terminology?
23:32 And what can you tell us about his background?
23:34 Yeah, I think we used person of interest last night for half of the room that was here for
23:38 that press event.
23:40 As the Colonel had mentioned, there is now arrest warrants for murder for this particular
23:45 individual, Mr. Carr.
23:46 So he is viewed as a suspect, and there is a full court press by all of our partners
23:51 to bring him into custody.
23:52 What was the second piece of that?
23:54 What can you tell us about his background?
23:55 Mr. Monod asked a second ago about the idea that he had voiced concerns about his own
24:01 mental health, right?
24:02 Had been committed, according to language in a police bulletin, to a mental health facility
24:06 for weeks.
24:07 How could someone that fits that profile still be in possession of semi-automatic weapons?
24:12 Well, I do think that the statutes around firearms and the possession of those are pretty
24:16 complex.
24:16 I know that we will be reviewing that information as we move forward, but that's not an answer
24:21 that we're prepared to give today.
24:22 But that leads to the motive.
24:23 You're talking about behavioral health issues and how that impacts the situation.
24:27 I would expect you'll hear back from us on that in the future.
24:30 Yeah, I've got a question about we've seen helicopters in the spark or that is on there.
24:35 Can you tell us anything about what's leading you?
24:38 What's the that far north of the sea?
24:41 Yeah, sure.
24:43 So we have law enforcement assets that are deployed over a number of communities doing
24:46 follow ups on a number of different things.
24:48 So as you can imagine, there's a great deal of search warrants that we're following up
24:53 on.
24:53 We do have partners that helicopters from the New Hampshire State Police that copter was
24:57 here last night to assist us as well.
24:59 So whether we have tactical elements out or researching an area, some of those air assets
25:04 would be very, very valuable.
25:05 Is there anything that's leading you there?
25:07 We're not going to speak to what brings us to a specific community one way or the other.
25:12 Identifying the unidentified victims.
25:16 Why are people encouraged to?
25:18 Is there DNA being tested for family members?
25:21 You may have missing loved ones.
25:22 What is that?
25:23 Is that a proof of contact?
25:24 Yes, so we did have a family reunification center open last night.
25:31 We do have behavioral health liaisons that are fully engaged to work with families.
25:35 They work with loved ones and work with victims for that matter that may be in the hospital
25:39 and seeking treatment.
25:41 So those things are actively occurring.
25:43 We are dealing with each one of those situations separately.
25:46 So if we need DNA on that, are we just waiting to find a loved one, some kind of family member
25:52 that we can make a notification?
25:53 I think that varies across the board.
25:55 I'm going to take two more questions.
25:56 I'm going to take two more.
25:58 Right here.
25:59 Yes, was it some sort of triggering event?
26:00 Is that something that you're investigating?
26:02 I think we're always concerned around motive.
26:05 And you say triggering event, that's a motive for us.
26:08 Again, that's not something we're prepared to discuss today.
26:10 But I do appreciate the question.
26:12 It's clearly something that's important.
26:13 Wait a minute.
26:13 [INTERPOSING VOICES]
26:16 Can you help us understand why these locations, why this bar, why this bowling alley?
26:20 What's he looking for someone?
26:22 Why is he looking for something?
26:24 I think that does speak to motive.
26:25 So I appreciate the follow-up.
26:26 But not something we're going to be prepared to answer today.
26:28 I have one more question.
26:29 [INTERPOSING VOICES]
26:30 Can you say, is these cards-- first of all, I want to clarify.
26:33 Were the arrest warrants issued today?
26:35 And can you say if Kahrd is still in the state or even still alive?
26:38 Well, we're actively searching for him.
26:40 If I knew the answers to those questions, this would be a different press conference
26:44 I would speak to.
26:45 So we don't know his location.
26:47 And I'll leave it at that.
26:49 And we are working with the attorney general's office.
26:52 [INTERPOSING VOICES]
26:54 So with that in mind, we're done taking questions for now.
26:57 So we're going to actually take off.
26:59 Thank you very much for being here.
27:00 Sir, have there been any credible findings?
27:03 I mean, we've not really gotten many answers.
27:05 So I--
27:06 Thank you.
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