Maine shooting: Police investigating more than 500 tips and leads as specialist divers brought in to hunt suspect
Officers are chasing up more than 500 tips and leads they have received as they hunt for the suspected gunman who killed 18 people in a mass shooting in the US state of Maine.
Maine commissioner of public safety, Michael Sauschuck, said the tips and leads “vary greatly” and officers were working round the clock through them.
He added specialist divers, sonar equipment and air resources would also be deployed to search part of the River Androscoggin, near to where the suspected gunman’s car was discovered.
Maine shooting latest: Divers searching river near where suspect’s car found
The divers will be looking for evidence and “checking for potential bodies”, Mr Sauschuck said. Officers will also carry out searches along the river bank.
“We have a lot of other irons in the fire, so I’m not saying that we know the suspect is in the water,” he added.
The suspect, Robert Card, 40, is believed to have killed seven people at Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley, and a further eight people at Schemengees Bar and Grille.
Pic: Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office/AP
Three more people died after being taken to local hospitals.
Wednesday night’s attack was the deadliest mass shooting in the US this year.
Among the dead are a father and son, a volunteer bowling coach and a manager at the bar, which the suspect is reported to have visited before.
Clockwise – Tricia Asselin, Joseph Walker, Jason Walker with Michael Deslauriers and Bob Violette
Read more:
Father-of-four and 14-year-old boy among victims
‘Armed and dangerous’ suspect still on run
Armed police and a helicopter surrounded a home in Bowdoin, near Lewiston, for more than two hours last night and executed a search warrant before leaving.
Officials have put the city of Lewiston, home to around 38,000 people, in lockdown and urged residents there and in the nearby towns of Auburn, Bowdoin, and Lisbon, to “shelter in place”.
A map showing the city of Lewiston in the US State of Maine
Mr Sauschuck said the order would remain in place for the time being.
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US
Trump-backed North Carolina Republican Mark Robinson denies calling himself ‘black nazi’ on pornographic forum
A Republican backed by Donald Trump in his bid to be North Carolina’s governor denied reports he called himself a “black nazi” on an online message board.
CNN reported Thursday that Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson posted racial and sexual comments on a pornography website more than a decade ago.
In a video posted on social media, the Republican nominee said he would not leave the race over “salacious tabloid lies”.
“We are staying in this race. We are in it to win it. And we know that with your help, we will.”
Follow the latest on the US election here
Mr Robinson also referenced the CNN report and said: “Let me reassure you the things that you will see in that story – those are not the words of Mark Robinson.
“You know my words. You know my character.”
The US outlet reported Mr Robson wrote of being aroused by a memory of “peeping” women in gym showers when he was 14.
He was also said to have used a racial slur when discussing civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr, referred to himself as a “black nazi,” and said: “I’d take Hitler over any of the shit that’s in Washington right now.”
CNN said it matched details of the account on the pornographic website forum to other online accounts held by Robinson by comparing usernames, a known email address and his full name.
Sky News has not verified whether the account is linked to Mr Robinson.
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Eight minutes after the report was published on Thursday, vice president Kamala Harris’ campaign started sharing videos of Donald Trump praising Mr Robinson.
One video from the campaign on X shows the former president at a March rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he called the lieutenant governor “Martin Luther King times two”.
“I think you’re better than Martin Luther King. I think you are Martin Luther King times two,” Mr Trump said.
Scott Lassiter, a GOP Senate candidate in a swing district in the state, called on Mr Robinson to “suspend his campaign to allow a quality candidate to finish this race”.
Mr Trump’s campaign also appeared to be distancing itself from Mr Robinson.
The ex-president did not refer to the controversy when he addressed Jewish donors on Thursday night, instead vowing to be ‘the best friend Jewish Americans ever had”.
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