The father of a bar manager in Lewiston identified his son as one of the 18 victims who died in Wednesday’s shooting in Maine.
Leroy Walker, a city council member in Auburn, Maine, told NBC News that state police had confirmed his son Joseph Walker had been killed when a gunman opened fire at two locations in Lewiston, including Schemengees Bar & Grille Restaurant, where he was the bar manager.
A manhunt is underway for the “armed and dangerous” gunman who opened fire at Schemengees bar and in the Sparetime Recreation bowling alley around 7pm on Wednesday night, which left 18 people dead and 13 injured.
Robert Card, 40, has formally been identified as the suspect in the homicide investigation, officials said in a press conference on Thursday morning. He is still at large.
Many people in the community have been waiting on edge to hear whether or not their loved ones have been identified as victims in the shooting.
It took over 14 hours for Mr Walker to be notified about his son, and he said his family was “suffering and dying in a nightmare we don’t understand.”
“None of us slept, we were up all night,” he said. “We didn’t know where to go, who to run to. They didn’t notify any of us.”
Joseph Walker’s wife Tracey posted a plea on Facebook for answers about her husband after she hadn’t heard from him following the shooting.
“Please pray, I haven’t heard anything about my husband Joseph Walker he was at Schemengee’s,” she wrote.
Earlier on Thursday, the bar manager’s devastated father told NBC that he knew his son was dead.
“If you had my gut right now, I feel like I’m squashed with a vice,” Mr Walker said at the time. “My neck in the back of my head feels like there’s a vice squashing it the other way.”
“And I don’t know, telling you the truth, what kind of night this is going to be from now until tomorrow when I wake up to the true facts that my son is dead -- and I know he’s dead. I know it as well as I know I’m standing here telling you because he’s not here and he’s not at any other hospital and he’s not running the streets or he would have called us, because he manages Schemengees, so I know he was there.”
Bob Violette
A 76-year-old retired Sears mechanic who was an avid bowler was also identified by his daughter-in-law Cassandra as one of the victims, she told the Portland Press Herald.
Bob Violette, who was a native of Lewiston and ran a youth bowling league, was reportedly killed trying to protect the kids he was responsible for on Wednesday night.
Both he and his wife Lucy were avid bowlers, with Mr Violette starting the youth bowling league at Sparetime Recreation, for which he was recently inducted into the Maine Bowling Hall of Fame.
“He wouldn’t let you walk out the door without giving him a hug, and a kiss on the check. He was just there for everything,” Cassandra said.
She said he had a special bond with his grandkids and was a doting husband to his wife Lucy, who was injured in the shooting. However, her condition is unknown.
“His first thought every day was her,” Cassandra added.
Mr Card is a member of the US Army Reserves and a certified firearms instructor, who officials said had recently made threats to carry out a shooting at a National Guard facility and had reported mental health issues, including hearing voices.
His whereabouts are currently unknown though his car – a 2013 white Subaru – was located at a boatslip in the town of Lisbon.
Residents in both Lewiston and Lisbon have been urged to shelter in place.
Peyton Brewer Ross
The Maine AFL-CIO – a state federation of over 160 local labor unions – announced that one of its members, Peyton Brewer Ross was among those killed.
Our thoughts & prayers go out to the family, friends & co-workers of Machinists Local S6 member Peyton Brewer Ross, who was killed in a mass shooting in Lewiston last night. Peyton was a new father & loved by his community. pic.twitter.com/QXggiOAM4R
— Maine AFL-CIO (@MEAFLCIO) October 26, 2023
Mr Ross was a new father and “loved by his community” the federation wrote on X, sharing a picture of Mr Ross smiling and holding a young child. Mr Ross was a member of the Machinists Local S6 union.