blue state cowardice
2023-10-28 08:58:28 UTC
Bidens America, the land of cowards.
LEWISTON, Maine (AP) The first loud noise 10-year-old Toni Asselin heardsounded like the thwack of a ball being hit hard across a pool table. She
thought the second might have been someone dropping a bowling ball.
The third one, when I walked over to see if someone was hurt, I saw a
person get shot and fall off their stool, Asselin said.
It was just before 7 p.m. Wednesday at Just-in-Time Recreation, a 34-lane
bowling alley where the $75 Pizza, Pins and Pepsi special included a
large pizza, a pitcher of soda and two hours of bowling for six people.
One bowler had just removed his shoes when he thought he heard a balloon
popping some 15 feet (4.5 meters) behind him. He turned toward the door,
saw a man holding a gun, and took off running down one of the lanes.
I slid basically into where the pins are and climbed up into the
machine, he said.
The gunfire and violence destroyed an innocent night of bowling and
socializing and turned it into tragedy. People gunned down bowling for
strikes and spares, throwing beanbags, shooting pool, having beers with
friends, working the night shift.
For Asselin and her mother, Tammy, the situation was especially gut-
wrenching. A coach hustled the 10-year-old and several of her youth league
teammates outside. An employee hid some of the children in a backroom
office while other workers barricaded themselves in a freezer. She became
separated from her mother, who initially stood frozen as others fled.
Turning to run, Tammy Asselin tripped over some bowling ball bags and took
a hard fall before hiding behind a flipped over table and calling 911.
Authorities said the first of multiple calls came in at 6:56 p.m. Four
plainclothes officers who were at a nearby shooting range arrived a minute
and a half after the first call, followed by uniformed officers less than
three minutes later.
At one point, a young boy turned to Asselin. Dont cry, he told her. It
will be OK.
Several more shots were followed by a strange silence.
Is he hunting or is he dead? Asselin thought. Is it safe? Are the
police here?
Does anyone see Toni? she shouted before being hushed by others who
worried the shooter was still there.
I had thought maybe the last shot we heard, he had taken his life, she
said.
Instead, the shooter headed 4 miles (6.44 kilometers) south to Schemengees
Bar & Grille, where workers from other bars and restaurants could get 25%
discounts every Wednesday night and employees were collecting Halloween-
themed cocktail recipes for a cornhole tournament planned for later in the
week.
The restaurant was hosting an event for members of the deaf community, and
cornhole games were underway when a man entered and started shooting. In
total, 18 people would be killed at the bowling alley and restaurant.
Thirteen others were wounded.
Peyton Brewer-Ross, who enjoyed the game of cornhole so much that he
brought out the angled boards and bags at family gatherings, had a spot
next to the door and was likely one of the first at the bar to die,
according to his brother.
When he was shot, he was doing the thing he loved, Wellman Brewer said.
Bar manager Joe Walker picked up a butcher knife and tried to stop the
gunman, Walkers father told multiple media outlets.
And thats when he shot my son to death, Leroy Walker told WGME-TV.
Walker said his son was shot twice in the stomach.
He died as a hero, he told NBC News.
Authorities received multiple calls from Schemengees at 7:08 p.m., and the
first officers arrived five minutes later.
An hour later, they released a photo of the suspected shooter. By 9:30
p.m., they had received a call identifying him as Robert Card, 40, of
Bowdoin. Lewiston residents were urged to stay inside with their doors
locked.
Fern Asselin and his wife were waiting outside the bowling alley for word
about their daughter and granddaughter. Finally, after two hours he got a
call from his granddaughter, Toni.
"And the words that came out were four words Ill never forget, he said.
It was: Im not dead, Pepere.
Just before 10 p.m., police found Cards car at a boat launch in Lisbon,
about 8 miles (13 kilometers) from Lewiston. Those who had been in the
bowling alley were taken to the citys middle school to be reunited with
their families.
Now its midnight and Im just getting home, the bowler who hid in the
bowling pin machinery told The Associated Press, identifying himself only
as Brandon. All my stuffs there, no shoes, just ready to go home. Im
tired.
At a late-night news conference, officials said more than 350 law
enforcement personnel had joined the search for Card, a U.S. Army
reservist they described as a person of interest.
By morning, authorities were calling Card an armed and dangerous suspect
who should not be approached. Authorities launched a multistate search on
land and water, including patrols along the Kennebec River. Schools as far
away as Kennebunk, more than 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Lewiston,
closed out of caution, as did public buildings in Portland, the states
largest city.
Much of the search Thursday focused on property owned by Cards relatives
in Bowdoin, and on Friday night, authorities found his body at a recycling
plant where he once worked.
With authorities still trying to determine a motive, Tammy Asselin said
Friday she wonders if the gunman was thinking of someone he hated as he
opened fire. She said her daughter also has been asking questions.
Why the bowling alley?" Tammy Asselin said. "Why us? Why good people? And
thats what we dont know.
And adding to her grief, Asselin later found out that her cousin, Tricia,
also was at the bowling alley that night. She was killed.
Associated Press writer David Sharp contributed to this report.
https://www.wvnews.com/newsfeed/us/when-a-man-began-shooting-in-maine-
some-froze-while-others-ran-now-theyre-left/article_acae01b1-5c10-5b11-
ad57-fa243678d734.html