AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine state police on Thursday defended their search last fall for a gunman who had just killed 18 people, saying they didn’t rush to search woods surrounding his abandoned car because they feared a late-night ambush.
The Oct. 25 shooting at a bowling alley and a bar was the deadliest in state history. But it took police two days to find the body of shooter Robert Card, who died by suicide, while tens of thousands of Maine residents were ordered to shelter in their homes.
Police have been criticized for not finding Card sooner, after they quickly identified him as the shooter and found his car, and twice searched a nearby recycling facility where he used to work. They ultimately discovered his body in the back of a tractor-trailer in the business’ overflow parking lot during a third search.
State Police Chief Col. Bill Ross told an independent panel appointed by the governor that the shooting was “extremely challenging” because it involved two separate locations followed by an intense search. He said that in most other mass shootings, the suspect has died or been captured at the scene.
“The weight on our shoulders to find Robert Card was immense and became heavier as each minute passed,” Ross said.
Maj. Lucas Hare told a panel investigating the Lewiston shooting that he decided to delay a search of the woods around the car because they’d been told that Card, a former Army reservist, might have a thermal…
