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Manhunt Underway for Mass Shooting Suspect Who Sources Say Killed At Least 16 At Maine Bowling Alley and Bar. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired October 26, 2023 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[09:00:10]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone. I'm Kate Bolduan. John Berman is on his way to Maine. Sara Sidner is on assignment to Israel. Rahel Solomon is here with me in New York.

We are tracking breaking news right now, the manhunt in Maine, a mass shooter at large this morning, people across multiple cities in the state are being told to shelter in place. It's now been more than 12 hours since the two mass shootings happened in Lewiston, Maine.

Police are looking for this man, Robert Card. He's 40 years old, and police are calling him a person of interest. Right now they've released several images of him including surveillance photos, which we're showing right now from the bowling alley where the first shooting took place. Card is a certified firearms instructor. He's also a member of the U.S. Army Reserves. Police say he's armed and dangerous. We will be getting an update from police this morning.

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: Now, this all-unfolded last night at a bowling alley and a restaurant, again, in Lewiston, Maine. Law enforcement sources tell us here at CNN that at least 16 people were killed, as many as 60 others were hurt. And we just received video from outside the bowling alley when police arrived on scene. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I suggest for your sake that you go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I suggest you go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't hear you, what?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I suggest that you go. We have an active shooter. And we're not sure where he's at. As of this moment, OK. Keep yourself safe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SOLOMON: And then the terrifying wait for families. Here's one father speaking to a local reporter saying that he knows that his son who is the manager of the restaurant is dead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEROY WALKER, FEARS HIS SON WAS KILLED: 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 Shemengees. So I know he was there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: He knows. This is just so sad. And there is so many people, including kids who were out last night and caught up in all of this. I want to play for you now. Listen to this. This account, this is a mother and her daughter who were at the bowling alley.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEGHAN HUTCHINSON, BOWLING ALLEY SHOOTING WITNESS: And I turned around I saw the shooter right like behind me. I just come in the door. I don't know if that was just a warning shot or if he actually shot somebody with that one. But we -- between the lanes, there's some swinging doors like where they keep all the mechanical stuff out back. So we kind of all just run that way.

ZOEY LEVESQUE, INJURED IN BOWLING ALLEY SHOOTING: It's like shocking, and I get something that you think would never happen. I never thought I'd grow up and get a bullet and my leg. Why, like why do people do this? I was more worried about like, am I going to live? Am I going to make it out of here? Like, what's going to happen? Are the cops going to come?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: The questions that a child is having to wonder. The bowling alley and the restaurant they're about four miles apart after the shootings happened. As police were responding, a vehicle connected to Robert Card was found in Lisbon main, it's a town basically next door.

Let's start off with CNN's Omar Jimenez. He is near the restaurant, one of the scenes of this mass shooting. Omar, what are you learning this hour?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, well, right now investigators are continuing to push through this shooting scene. It's just past this police checkpoint behind me. We've got a little bit of an elevated view. We've been watching this throughout the day as we've been seeing crews and investigators come in and out, obviously still a very active scene here amidst a very active manhunt that we know has been going on throughout the area.

Now, this particular bar and grill shooting scenes a few miles away from bowling alley that you were talking about, just before you got to me. Police have named Robert Card, 40-year-old -- 40 years old, as a person of interest in this particular case. And it's a person that they believe is armed and dangerous. And it is why we have seen shelter in place warnings throughout this area, out of an abundance of caution. So why we've seen schools closed at both the high school middle school and below, but also university level closed out of an abundance of caution. One, to make sure that people are safe, but also to make sure law enforcement are able to do their jobs effectively.

Now, when you're in a state like that, obviously it has caused a lot of concern for people who are just trying to figure out like law enforcement where this person actually is. When we checked in to our hotel overnight, we weren't allowed in until we showed our IDs through a glass door and that's just because the hotel clerk wasn't sure who was showing up at 1:30 in the morning, which is when we were actually getting there. And when we talked to him, he said, it just is a sense of fear that they were having a sense of nervousness, the very least, over what could happen next.

[09:05:20]

Now, we know that these were mass casualty events, many were killed, many more were wounded. Many survived, though, which is good news. But for those that aren't getting good news, they are waiting for hopefully, good news out of many hospitals that have had to deal with a last-minute surge, a surge that they're not typically used to seeing in this particular area. And to give some context where we are, we're a little, about 30 miles north of Portland. This is the second most populous town city in Maine as well. But even still, it is not that big around 35,000 or so.

We are expecting an update from police a little bit later this morning in about an hour and a half or so. We're hopefully the community gets some of those answers. But the one that they are looking for is when this person will actually get caught. And it is why this manhunt has been so active. And it is why they are using every resource that they can at the local state and federal level to try and hone in on where this person might be.

SOLOMON: It'll likely be a really challenging manhunt because of who this person is, in terms of his training and his background. Omar Jimenez, thank you.

And right now hundreds of law enforcement officers are searching across Maine for the person of interest in this mass shooting. Businesses and schools in the area are also closed while that manhunt continues. I want to now bring in CNN Crime and Justice Correspondent Shimon Prokupecz, who joins us live from Lisbon, Maine. Shimon, you were able to talk to the police chief who says that all night, his department was receiving calls. I mean, what did he tell you? And what are you hearing about the latest and the search efforts?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Right, I mean, the people here are definitely on edge. This is in Lisbon. This is where the manhunt has been going on all night. This is where the person of interest dumped that car that police recovered a short time after the horrific shooting. So now people here are on edge all night long. People have been calling 911. The police here have been responding to those calls. People are saying that they're hearing people in their yards, the doors are open. And so police are coming in and doing those searches.

This is the street just up the block here. I want to show you where I held where the person of interest dumped his car. So police this morning, close this off. And now you're seeing heavily armed officers here. And at other intersections across Lisbon. We're not seeing sort of like this major massive manhunt. But there are groups of officers like this all across the area, that at this point, what it seems that they're doing is, is they're responding to calls from residents. We spoke to one of those residents this morning, who said he's on edge. Take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CORY, RESIDENT OF LISBON, MAINE: My wife, she normally gets up for work. She came and grabbed me and was like, hey, there's an active shooter and he's parked down where you go fishing at. Nerves are rattled right now. Keeping an eye on the woods because I know those woods down there, they go run right back here. And I got my daughter inside. It's very unnerving right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PROKUPECZ: So a lot of work here by law enforcement that's ongoing behind the scenes from all the various law enforcement agencies who are going to be flooding Maine really to try and find this person. So that's why a lot of the activity that is ongoing. We're not really seeing it. But, you know, for people who are living here, it's a really, really scary time. Schools are closed. Most people are not going to work. You're not really seeing people out and about law enforcement is telling people stay inside. If you see anything suspicious, call us. And they're taking that seriously, the residents are and hoping -- hoping that this will end here quickly.

SOLOMON: Absolutely. You can certainly understand as that neighbor told you there, Shimon, why nerves are so rattled. Shimon Prokupecz live for us there in Lisbon. Shimon, thank you.

BOLDUAN: Also what we just learned that the police in Lisbon right where Shimon is in Lisbon, they just spoke with reporters, this is just coming in. Let's play this for you. Listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHIEF RYAN MCGEE, LISBON, MAINE POLICE: Anything that they see in Lisbon that way we can investigate --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A little bit of --

MCGEE: -- everything we've --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Listen in to what he has to say. MCGEE: We've had everything from people calling about, you know, noises in the basement, noises in the woods. Suspicious people, gunshots, all night long since the incident in Lewiston. We have our whole department working. I encourage everybody to call if they see something suspicious. You know, something small could be something that's a piece of information we -- we may need. So I just can't encourage you enough to see something say something, you know, right now this is an active scene in Lisbon. We're not going to narrow down to any area, obviously, you see we're in specific areas. It's due to have different evidence that's been obtained, so.

[09:10:17]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it basically you wait for someone to call you, then search later? Are you guys working on a grid pattern? And can you explain I guess the method?

MCGEE: So I'm not going to get out of the details because it is active. But I will explain that we have our federal partners, our state partners, local PDs, it's not just Lisbon here. You'll see a lot of people in different uniforms. You could say last night, there's police agencies from all across the state responded to assist with everything going on. Obviously, it's very tragic, what went on next door in Lewiston. But the biggest thing I just want to get out to everybody that I can say right now is, if you see something in Lisbon, that is suspicious, I want you to call and explain to the dispatcher, you know, go on to the main public safety site, you can -- you can read the press release. There's a lot of information in that. And with that, if you see anything, please give us a call.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chief --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're here again, do you believe that he's -- he's alive and he's in this area, still? Is that what you believe at this point?

MCGEE: Every option is open. And we're going to investigate this until we locate him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And can you just talk about being sheltered in place? People just joining us, what is your message to people? This is still a pretty serious situation here.

MCGEE: I guess the biggest message is, our community is our biggest supporter. So we're very transparent here. The PD, our community is very transparent with us. They call us. And that's how we -- that's how we solve things. It's how we solve crimes. Horrific crime happened. We are relying on our community, give us some information if they see something, you know, and I think that's probably one of the reasons why we were so busy all night long, chasing things all across town. You know, obviously a tragic incident happened, but they're reaching out with stuff because they know we're going to look into it. And they're very appreciative. Even from the -- we had a complaint earlier where people said that there's screaming going on across the street. We showed up, it turned out to be goats. And no, but we thank them because, you know, any information could be something that we need, OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you want people --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- the door's locked?

MCGEE: What's that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You want people stay in their houses, keep their doors locked and call you if they see him?

MCGEE: Correct. Yes, correct. Stay inside, shelter in place today in Lisbon. The county put it out -- county wide. I'm representing Lisbon. So I'm just saying as far as Lisbon goes, if you see something call us.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there any chance --

PROKUPECZ: -- may have fled in another car that there was a car here. There's reports of another car, perhaps a suburban or something that he may have been in that has crossed into Massachusetts?

MCGEE: Yeah, I don't have any of those details.

PROKUPECZ: The reason why I ask is, I mean, I see you guys out here. But, you know, we're not seeing this massive kind of like, search through the woods, search through different locations here. And I'm wondering if there's some information that you have?

MCGEE: You're seeing the local PD, but there are federal and state here. And there is aerial here as well.

PROKUPECZ: Right, there were here earlier, but they're not up now.

MCGEE: Correct.

PROKUPECZ: OK.

MCGEE: Yeah, there's -- it's coordinated, everything that's happening. So everything's happening in a coordinated -- coordinated effect. I can't get into the details of how we're doing anything.

PROKUPECZ: Right.

MCGEE: You know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chief, you talked about everything, all the work the different departments did all night, can you sort of talk about the resiliency of officers in a certainly a tough situation?

MCGEE: I just say that Maine is lucky to have the -- the officers and dedication that we have. That's, you know, we all do this job for a reason and doesn't matter if it's Maine, or across the country. We're all short staffed. We're fortunate in Lisbon, where we're not as for short staffed, but you know, we -- we want to help people. And right now, we want to find justice, find this -- this aspect. And that's our main goal today. So we're not going to stop until that we locate him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On a personal level, just what was your reaction when you heard about this tragedy, just the town over and then obviously, that the search is now pulled into your town?

MCGEE: It's -- it's absolute tragedy, what went on, so I can't get into the details, explain anymore on it. Again, I can explain that as soon as that we find out -- found out what was happening our neighboring community, we activate our entire police department. And we sent anybody that was suited up, to head up to the -- to the scene to assist. And myself and other officers in my department went to all the businesses that were open and told me to close up and go home before we had any information that it was going to come this direction. So we just -- you know, everybody's main concern is, you know, keep the community safe. And there's 10, 12 cameras there and I can say the biggest thing I get out to everybody is please reach out if you see something suspicious, something isn't right. If you look out in your yard and you're like that door wasn't open or, you know, that trailer wasn't positioned that way. You see anything suspicious, please call us. Because that's how we're going to be able to work together and be able to get to the bottom of this, OK?

[09:15:07]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chief, isn't there have been any reports over the last 24 hours going to vehicles?

MCGEE: Yeah, I can't get any investigation details at all, OK? That's -- all the all the investigation details is going to have to go through the state police, which there is going to be a press release if everybody is aware of it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 10:30.

MCGEE: 10:30, got you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How difficult is it to find somebody like this that's on the run in a community like this?

MCGEE: Well, we're fortunate in that we have very well-trained people in the state and with the federal partners, and local PDs. So it's coordinated efforts. And it just takes a little bit of time, but they're working diligently and so is in your local police department.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did we get you to spell your name already?

MCGEE: Sure. Yeah, last name is McGee, M-C-G-E-E. My first name is Ryan, R-Y-A-N. I'm the chief of police here in Lisbon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are there any license plate readers that (OFF MIC).

MCGEE: I can't get in any -- any details on that right now, OK.

PROKUPECZ: What level of comfort or safety can you provide the community? I mean, what -- what is -- what can you do for them, when people are really on edge here?

MCGEE: I rightfully so for what just happened in a neighboring community. There's the things that don't happen in Maine. But I can say to that our community is we have officers, our entire department out and other agencies out at coordinated locations all through town. If they see something and they feel unsafe, if there's something suspicious, call us because we want to be able to alleviate any issues I -- before I was going to meet with everybody here we cleared because there was reports of shots fired. It didn't turn out to be with that. Why we're investigating that, we found an open door in a garage. We self-initiated to that. And we ended up to people yelling and screaming, which turned out not to be yelling, scream, and turn out to be goats. We're going to investigate absolutely every single thing.

PROKUPECZ: There's information that he's not here any longer. Would you expect that would -- something --

MCGEE: If there's any details, updates we can give you on the suspect, it's going to come directly from --

PROKUPECZ: Right but that's at 10:30. But --

MCGEE: Yeah, if there's something sooner, we could. The command posts will --

PROKUPECZ: I mean, how --

MCGEE: -- will put out.

PROKUPECZ: -- really without any information, we're heading --

MCGEE: It's going to --

PROKUPECZ: You know, a very long stretch. I have no information.

MCGEE: Actually, I disagree. I think --

PROKUPECZ: I mean, besides you, no one has taught.

MCGEE: I disagree, I'm putting out information.

PROKUPECZ: No one said.

MCGEE: Yup, no, and I appreciate that. All I can account for is, you know, what I'm able to give you. There -- there is a lot of agencies involved, OK. And there is information that has been put -- put out by Maine Department of Public Safety, our local news channels, I'm sure continue to share that as well. Because --

(CROSSTALK)

PROKUPECZ: -- you appreciate.

MCGEE: And I can see that, you know, everything is coordinated. What's happening right now between the State Police, the federal and the local, OK. We have coordinated areas we're trying to -- and I'm not going to go into the details of the investigation, because I'm not -- I can't -- I'm not allowed to, OK. That has to go through, Shannon Moss, who is the speaker to Department of Public Safety, OK, and the state police.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And Chief, you guys talked about that, you know, you said it was -- it's been a long stretch, how are the officers doing across the departments from what you can see, I mean --

MCGEE: We're all determined. We're all determined, determined to locate the suspect, OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And how about the coordination between, you don't see it every day, New Hampshire, and Maine and all these local departments helping out this area? Has that communication level been?

MCGEE: I have had zero issues with communication, Lisbon, you know, we follow our training. And, you know, we all switch on to a certain channel. We can all speak to each other. I had agencies from all over the state and Lisbon last night and into this morning, and I still have people that are from not from Lisbon, in Lisbon, and we're able to talk. We don't have all the same channels, but we do have one channel that we can all talk together. So we are utilizing that. And obviously, we have other means of communication. So -- but everybody's determined as -- as you are, as well. And I appreciate all of you because you're here to be transparent as well and get the information out to the public, which we want as well. So I do thank you. I think that'd be it for now. I do get to -- I do want to make a couple phone calls.

All right, thank you appreciate it guys.

(CROSSTALK)

MCGEE: You're welcome, guys.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: It's great hearing from the Lisbon Police Chief right there. He spoke to Shimon Prokupecz earlier this morning. They are clearly out in it. His main two messages are very clear as he repeated it over and over again, which is if you see something suspicious call and that this is still a very active scene in Lisbon.

Joining us right now is CNN Senior Justice Correspondent Evan Perez, CNN Senior Law Enforcement Analyst and former Deputy Director of the FBI Andy McCabe and CNN Law Enforcement Analyst, former Secret Service Agent Jonathan Wackrow.

Andy, very clear from what we just heard is that they at least for the police in Lisbon, that this man is not caught, that he made it -- could not have made it more clear that this is very active and they are seeking help and information from the public. What do you hear? What do you think about this now more than 12 hours in?

[09:20:05] ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yeah, you know, I mean it's -- it's -- on the one hand, it's a good sign that they're continuing to try to kind of crowdsource as much intelligence as they possibly can, because they are clearly still searching for investigative leads here. On the other hand, it's -- it's -- it's not a great sign that they still need that kind of assistance.

Nevertheless, they're doing they're doing the right thing. They could probably enrich the information they're getting from the public if they shared a few more details about what they know. But we'll see maybe at 10:30, we'll get some more information about that.

I think what's important to recognize is that this search is going on right now, at different levels. At the most fundamental level, you have local police, like the Police Chief we just saw, who are responding to calls from -- from citizens who see things. At the next level up, you probably have some contingent of police officers and state police officers who are grid searching particular areas of interest. And then kind of at the last level, you've got your federal partners, who are likely running down intelligence leads on phone numbers and social media accounts and electronic devices and things that could possibly point towards the location of this individual. But all three of those things really have to be going at the same time.

SOLOMON: And Evan, to that point, I mean, we know that the FBI is involved here assisting, I mean, what more are you learning in terms of the FBI's involvement and how they're assisting here?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, they -- yeah, there's a full contingent of federal resources that have now been set up there. We have ATF, the FBI, the Marshal Service, DHS, everybody is now up there. Because this is a very, very big -- potentially big search area. This is a wooded area, it's -- it's a place where people can disappear for weeks and months at a time. And -- and this is a suspect, who has the advantage of several hours, you know, being on the run, probably knows the area very, very well. And so one of the things that we know is going on right now, is that the investigators are trying to figure out, you know, where he has been, what kind of preparation went into this event, whether this person maybe was doing searches of locations where maybe they're trying to hide? Maybe they have a second vehicle. We know that they found one vehicle near that area, where we saw Shimon doing his reporting from that initial search area.

But 12 hours later, clearly, he has had some time to move on, how did that happen. And so that's one of the things that the FBI certainly is working on. They've got a couple of SWAT team. SWAT teams there on the scene to help with the main officials. But a lot of the work that Andy is talking about, is some of that intelligence work, you know, they're doing searches of bank records, his electronics to see, you know, again, search history, to see where his phone has been in the last few days, few weeks, again, to get a sense of where we have locations that are good for these resources to be dedicated to.

This is a very, very big search area potentially. And the only thing that police can do is to try to narrow that down as much as possible, because otherwise they could be at this for -- for a long time.

I actually just want to mention one last thing. You know, for those of us who have covered many, many of these incidents, it's so unusual to have a suspect who carries out not one mass shooting, two locations, but then to get away, right? A lot of times these shooters want to have a confrontation, they seem to lose interest in sort of the -- the shooting aspect, and want to end it somehow, either with themselves or with competition with police. It's very unusual to now have a manhunt at the end of one of these events that we have gotten so accustomed to here in this country, guys.

BOLDUAN: And this is like, it is terrifying. I mean, Jonathan, this started just before seven o'clock last night is the reporting and what we hear from police. And now it's 9:30 the next day. And there are multiple cities, a big portion of the state that's paralyzed and terrified and being told by police, if you hear anything, or if you're -- if the door -- if the door your trailer is looks like it's in the wrong place, please call us. I mean, can you interpret what we just heard there from your perspective from that police chief?

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yeah, listen, what they're trying to do is, is warn the public that this is actually a dangerous situation. The calls for sheltering in place, you know, well, we're referring it as an abundance of caution. It's actually out of necessity. Let's look at who this individual actually is.

[09:25:03]

This is a person who has military training. They have an elevated level of firearms proficiency. But they also have the knowledge of military tactics, most notably evasion, and the strategy on how to be, you know, go undetected. All of that with the backdrop of we actually do not know if the objectives of this shooter were actually reached, and are they going to try to launch additional attacks, all of that going on, is challenging to law enforcement, we have a large-scale operation that is ongoing across a large geographical area.

So when the chief was saying there that they're asking for the public's assistance, and the public's assistance is always critical in these moments, it's the see something, say something construct. And that always is essential for law enforcement, because the size of the search area, they can't be at all places at all times.

And I also want to note that there's multiple work streams that are ongoing here. Remember, we have two massive crime scenes that need to be processed in items of evidentiary value catalog, all of that is going to go into the investigative pathway to try to locate the pattern of travel of this -- of this person of interest, to try to bring them into custody very quickly.

So law enforcement has an uphill challenge. They are behind the eight ball a little bit because of timing, because of resources of where this is. But what we heard from the chief of police is that there's a lot of things that are ongoing, some of it is very, you know, observable, some of it is going on in the background, as Andy and Shimon had -- I mean, others have said that the investigative pathway, the intelligence, resourcing. So all of these things are combining to try to bring a quick resolution. I do think that they know who this individual is. This person will, you know, get into custody, or there'll be some sort of action with law enforcement that resolves this issue. But again, it's trying to get to that point.

BOLDUAN: Yeah, we've heard from more than one official and law enforcement officer in that area that they obviously will not stop until this man is found and brought to justice. Guys, thank you so much. Please stick with us, there's a lot of moving parts. We've got more information coming in all the time now.

We've got more breaking news coming up out of the break having to do with this manhunt still underway right now. We're going to speak to someone who lives in the area of what's going on. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:30:00]