The deadly mass shootings in Lewiston, Maine, on Wednesday hit home for Gov. Janet Mills — she lived in the city for years, she noted at a news conference Thursday.
Mills announced that 18 people were killed and 13 more hurt in the rampage. Suspect Robert Card remains at large, wanted on suspicion of murder in the shootings at bowling alley Just-In-Time Recreation and restaurant Schemengees Bar and Grille.
Saying she was "profoundly saddened" to announce the casualties in the shooting, Mills announced that she and President Joe Biden had decided that flags should be ordered to fly at half-mast. And she spoke about her personal connection to Lewiston, saying it was where she met her late husband, Stan Kuklinski.
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"Lewiston is a special place. It's a close-knit community with a long history of hard work, of persistence of faith, of opening its big heart to people everywhere," Mills said.
She noted she worked there for years — the Democrat was the district attorney for Androscoggin County — and that her girls went to school in Lewiston.
"I love this place just as I love this whole state: with my entire heart. I'm so deeply saddened as is every one of the 1.3 million people of this beautiful state," Mills said.
"This city did not deserve this terrible assault on its citizens, on its peace of mind, on its sense of security. No city does, no state, no people," she added.
Androscoggin County remained under lockdown as of Thursday afternoon, along with part of nearby Sagahadoc County, authorities said.
Maine State Police released a timeline on how their response to the shooting unfolded, though many details on what happened remained unclear after the shooting at a bowling alley and a restaurant Wednesday evening.
