At least 22 people died in several shootings that occurred in the state of Maine, in the northeast of the United States, on Thursday October 26, with the shooter still on the run, according to several American media and local authorities.
“There is a shooter in the town of Lewiston,” Maine police said on Facebook. The suspect is “still at large,” according to Androscoggin County police, who released photos showing a white man, dressed in a brown top and dark blue pants, armed with a semi-automatic rifle .
The shootings took place in three different locations, a bowling alley, a restaurant and a logistics center of a Walmart supermarket, according to CNN, which cited a preliminary toll of at least 22 dead and between 50 and 60 injured. .
Local authorities, who asked residents to stay at home, also published a photo of a white car, asking citizens to contact them if they recognized the vehicle.
Public schools closed Thursday
Public schools will be closed Thursday, a school district official said on X (formerly Twitter). “I am horrified by the events in Lewiston tonight,” Maine Rep. Jared Golden said in a statement.
The United States is paying a very heavy price for the spread of firearms on its territory and the ease with which Americans have access to them. The country has more individual weapons than inhabitants: one in three adults owns at least one weapon and almost one in two adults lives in a home where there is a weapon.
The consequence of this proliferation is the very high rate of firearm deaths in the United States, incomparable to that of other developed countries. Excluding suicides, more than 15,000 people have died in gun violence since the start of the year in the country, according to the Gun Violence Archive (GVA).