'At least 22 killed' in US as police hunt 'armed and dangerous' gunman

At least 22 people are said to have been killed after a shooting in the US state of Maine, with the suspect – a firearms instructor – still at large.

Authorities in Lewiston are investigating “two active shooter events” and warned people to stay inside with doors locked.

A police source told NBC News at least 22 people are dead and as many as 50-60 injured – which would make it the deadliest shooting in the US this year.

Police have released images of a man with a military-style assault rifle in a bowling alley and said they are looking for “armed and dangerous” Robert Card.

The 40-year-old worked as an army firearms instructor and recently spent time at a mental health facility after hearing voices, according to an internal police notice.

Police said the shootings happened at about 7pm on Wednesday at Schemengees Bar and Grille and Sparetime Recreation, a bowling alley – which are situated about four miles apart.

They also posted a photo of a white Subaru they wanted to trace, later found in the nearby town of Lisbon.

Sky’s US correspondent Martha Kelner said the owner of the bowling alley says it was packed at the time with at least 100 people, including around 20 children.

Central Maine Medical Center referred to a “mass casualty, mass shooter event” but did not give numbers.

Off-duty staff, doctors and nurses have been asked to come in to work to deal with the number of casualties.

Hospitals as far away as Portland, about 35 miles to the south, have been placed on alert to potentially receive victims.

Maine’s public health commissioner, Mike Sauschuck, confirmed multiple casualties but also said he didn’t have a precise figure.

He said “hundreds” of police were looking for “person of interest” Robert Card.

Kelner said information released by officials suggested the gunman was a member of the US Army reserve suffering from mental health issues, who had threatened to carry out a shooting at a national guard base in Maine.

“Questions will come down the road about just why and how he was able to maintain ownership of such a powerful weapon,” she said.

President Joe Biden has been briefed and spoke to the state’s governor to offer full federal support, the White House said.

Governor Janet Mills echoed police instructions for residents to stay off the streets and businesses to lockdown or close until authorities give the all-clear.

Superintendent Jake Langlais said schools would be shut on Thursday, adding: “Stay close to your loved ones. Embrace them.”

Who is ‘person of interest’ Robert Card?

A bulletin put out by the Maine Information and Analysis Center, a database for law enforcement officials, said 40-year-old Card is a trained firearms instructor and was believed to be in the Army Reserve.

It added that law enforcement said Card “recently reported mental health issues to include hearing voices and threats to shoot up the National Guard Base in Saco, Maine”.

The bulletin said Card was reported to have been committed to a mental health facility for two weeks this summer and then released.

Sky News has not been able to independently verify the bulletin’s statements about Card’s history.

Lewiston is a city of about 35,000 people in the far northeast of the US.

Maine has one of the lowest per capita murder rates in America, with state police recording only 29 homicides in 2022.

Before Wednesday’s incident, the deadliest US mass shooting of 2023 was in Monterey Park, California, where 11 people were murdered during a Chinese New Year event.

If the death toll of 22 is confirmed, the massacre would be the deadliest in the US since at least August 2019, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

Then, a gunman opened fire on shoppers at an El Paso Walmart with an AK-47 rifle, killing 23 in a shooting prosecutors branded an anti-Hispanic hate crime.

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