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Interview With Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME); Soon: Police Update On Manhunt For "Person Of Interest" In Maine; Mass Shooting In Maine, Newly Elected House Speaker Mike Johnson Says, "This Is A Dark Time In America"; Maine Mass Shootings Leave 18 Dead And 13 Hurt. Aired 10:30- 11a ET

Aired October 26, 2023 - 10:30:00   ET

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

[10:30:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: Stick with me, Congresswoman. I'm so sorry to jump in. We have the new House speaker, Mike Johnson speaking about this now.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), U.S. HOUSE SPEAKER: And we're so thankful for law enforcement. We trust and hope and pray that they're able to apprehend this individual as quickly as possible. There's no more injury or loss of life.

This is a dark time in America. We have a lot of problems. And we're really, really hopeful and prayerful. Prayer is appropriate in a time like this, that the evil can end and the senseless violence can stop. And so, that's the statement this morning for the -- on behalf of the entire House of Representatives, everyone wants this to end, and I will leave it there.

BOLDUAN: All right. That is the new -- the very new -- Congresswoman Chellie Pingree back with me, hearing from the new Republican House speaker right there. Saying this is dark times in America and everyone wants this to end, Congresswoman. But we are in the midst of a community, of more than one community locked down and terrified, and a man on the run. It is hard to put it altogether but, you know, the --

REP. CHELLIE PINGREE (D-ME): Absolutely. I mean --

BOLDUAN: Keep going, sorry.

PINGREE: No, no. I mean, the number one thing is to find the shooter. To make sure that this shooter can no longer shoot. And I certainly, you know, want the speaker to know we appreciate his prayers, his thoughts. I know I'm going to meet a lot of families and others who are going to say, you're in Congress. We need more than thoughts and prayers. But today, we want to focus on making sure that shooter is caught, that people stay safe in their homes, that businesses that need to be closed stay closed.

But this isn't how we normally have to interact in Maine. We're a state where people have, you know, gotten to know each other well over the years. Where people are usually very comfortable with gun ownership. We're not used to having this kind of assault-style weapon and this kind of shooting.

BOLDUAN: And Congresswoman, as we're talking about, you know, everyone knows each other in the area. And do you -- have you heard of any connection of this person of interest, Robert Card, are you hearing anything more about him or his connection to the area or to these places?

PINGREE: He was known to people. He comes from a very small community himself. We don't know a lot more about it yet. You know, we're about to hear from the governor and our public safety commissioner. And so, I think they will probably be giving us some more details about exactly what is going on. But it's rare in Maine that there aren't a lot of connections to someone in this particular situation, and certainly to the victims, there will be a lot of connections.

BOLDUAN: And we're waiting. We're actually -- a live picture at the lectern right there, waiting for the governor and others to come out. But when you say, he's known to folks, can you tell me a little bit more about what that means?

PINGREE: I'm just saying, when you live in a small town in Maine, he's from Bowdoin, Maine which is in my district. In a -- it's just very rare that there would be anybody in your community that you didn't know, that you hadn't interacted with. You know, he has some history in Maine as a reservist in the national guard. He was a -- actually, ironically, you know, he was training others on the use of guns.

So, you know, I know there will be a lot of people who knew him, who worked with him. You know, we're turning up about more about his background and I don't really want to say anything more but I think you'll hear more about it from the public safety commissioner and others. A lot of this is being used to track him down, and it's sort of vital information right now.

BOLDUAN: It's totally understandable. What do you make of the fact that this has been -- that this manhunt, that it's going on. I mean, he has not yet been caught. That this began -- this tragedy began just before 7:00 p.m. last night. And now, we have communities used -- well, waking up to still law enforcement coming together and trying to hunt him down?

PINGREE: Look, we have excellent law enforcement in Maine. We're used to finding people get lost in the woods. We're the most forested state in the nation. People hike here. They wander in the woods. They go hunting in the woods. But the fact is, we have a lot of territory to cover. And as you've heard this individual has training in the military. He knows how to evade other people. You know, he's got weapons and ammunition. So, it is a very dangerous situation, but it is also hard to find someone in the woods, and this is someone who probably knew their way around.

BOLDUAN: Yes, kind of, adding up to being possibly a worst-case scenario and just the nightmare that everyone will fear. Congresswoman, thank you for coming on and sharing with us. Really appreciate your time. We're looking, once again, at a live picture in Lewiston, Maine, this is at the city hall where we're going to be hearing from the governor and others. An important update about to begin there.

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we expect it to happen just moments from now.

But while we wait, let's go back now to CNN's Omar Jimenez. He is near the restaurant scene. So, Omar, what more are you hearing and learning before this news conference that you can share with us?

[10:35:00]

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, that news conference, as you mentioned, we're going to hear from a number of people. We're going to hear from the governor, Janet Mills, here in Maine. And we're also going to hear from the Maine director of public safety, along with the Lewiston police chief. Sort of highlighting the multipronged approach they've taken to try and track down the person of interest we have seen up to this point.

Robert Card is the person of interest they have identified. 40 years old. They've put out pictures. They have considered him armed and dangerous, and that's the warning they've put out to residents. And that's part of what's kept many people on edge over the course of not just last night, but into this morning as well when they realized that, oh, this person still has not been caught.

Just in the town over from me in Lisbon, Maine, the police chief there spoken to one of my CNN colleagues, and he was telling him that they were getting tips. They were getting tips from residents who felt like they were seeing things and hearing things. On social media, people also talking about how difficult it was to sleep through the night knowing someone like this is out there.

Now, what the person of interest is for, the case that he is tied to are the two sets is of mass shootings -- the two mass shootings we saw here in the area that happened within rapid succession of each other. One at the bowling alley, not too far from where I am now in Lewiston, just a few miles down the road. And the other here at this bar and grill restaurant. Both of those scenes, times and places, where people were out and having a good time. And all of a sudden that changed in just a matter of moments. And we know in, at least, the bowling alley, there were people of all ages that were witnesses, not just by seeing but hearing the gunshots as well.

So, this was something that ripped through the community in such a short amount of time. And when you talk about this community, it is not a big one. And so, people know each other. It's not -- you can't go far enough -- I think the police chief in Lisbon said that with this area combined with Lewiston and all the surrounding areas, you can't go far without knowing someone or at least knowing someone who knows someone.

And so, with the many that are in the hospitals right now, trying to recover, there are so many hoping that good news comes from those recovering because we know this has been a mass casualty event. Many have died, many more injured, and there are hopes that some of those injured can survive. And so, right now we are at the beginning of this process because we are waiting to hear on the conditions of some of these patients that are recovering. The investigators are working through scenes, not just like the one behind me, but also at the bowling alley as well to figure out what happened when the shooting started.

And then at the top of the priority list, at least, for investigators is trying to figure out where this person of interest is. If this person is still in the area? If they believe they are zeroing in on someone? Those are the types of the questions that residents here are hoping to get answers to and potentially we'll see some of those questions get answered in this press conference that's set to start at any minute now that, again, we're going to hear from the Governor Janet Mills, the Maine director of public safety, and of course, the Lewiston police chief as well.

SOLOMON: And Omar, we see, sort of, audio techs as, sort of, they prepare the press for this. But as we wait and -- and forgive me if I have to jump in here, Omar, but while I still have you, you have been there for a few hours now as you -- talk to us about the small community feel. What more can you share with us in terms of the people there and what you're seeing? We've been learning so much this morning from people who are from there, just about how everyone seems to know each other and how it's a really tight-knit community.

JIMENEZ: Well, we even just had someone walk up to us who works at a nearby business near us. And even though he says he doesn't go to this bar often, he knows people that goes all the time, and he lives right around the corner. And so, just people feel like they know these places, again, it's not a big town. And so, it's not like there are a million bars to go to. It's -- people know this one, and especially in this neighborhood, they know it as well.

Another thing that we -- another sense that we got, I mean, within minutes of actually getting into town was when we got to our hotel, at that point, like many places, they were in a shelter-in-place order. And we showed up driving and flying overnight to get here. So, we showed up at 1:30 in the morning, and when we're walking up, they're wouldn't open the doors unless we showed our ID up against the glass doors, and that's because they didn't know who would be approaching their hotel at that time of night. Even when then clerk came towards us, he was sort of hiding behind cover, under the assumption that we might be armed and might be trying to get into this potential hotel.

And so, that gave our crew at least a good window into the mindset of a lot of these people, at least, in the initial hours when there was even less information than there is now. Trying to figure out where this person is and if he would be a threat to the wider society.

[10:40:00]

And again, as we understand from police, they do consider him armed and dangerous.

SOLOMON: Yes, it really just gives you a sense of the fear that people still have more than 12 hours --

BOLDUAN: Or they have to.

SOLOMON: -- 15 hours since the shooting. Omar Jimenez, thank you for being there, and thank you for the reporting.

BOLDUAN: Yes. So, what we are looking at, we're waiting -- we're -- they're likely to be coming out very soon. We have at least 16 people, is the latest number that we're hearing. John Miller getting that from a source, 16 people killed, many more people shot. Two locations of how this mass -- these two mass shootings happened last night, just before 7:00 p.m. We have surveillance video from the bowling alley where people are describing what some even thought was potentially a Halloween prank is what they thought at first.

When we've heard this so many times before, the confusion, shock and multiple shots happening at the bowling alley, and running for their lives. Kids at the bowling alley, because it was youth teen bowling night, we just heard that from a couple of people. And then a second location, four miles away. This restaurant where Omar was talking about, and where a second scene, a second mass shooting occurred.

Shortly after that, we have learned from law enforcement and we've seen an image of it, a white SUV at a location in Lisbon, and that is a vehicle that is connected to this person of interest that you see in the lower part of your screen, Robert Card, a 40-year-old man who is now a person of interest.

Let's listen in to this press conference. It looks like they are getting -- currently getting set, and then they will be getting under way. We're going to hear from the governor. And we can see law enforcement coming in as well. This is a much, much long-awaited and much anticipated update coming from all of them. As the last that we really heard was late last night, and still these communities are on lockdown and terrified. And police have been all this morning asking for their help to try to locate this person of interest.

GOV. JANET MILLS (D-ME): Thank you. Thank you for being here. As you may notice, my voice is a little hoarse after working through the night. As you all know, last night, locals, counties, state and federal law enforcement officers from around the State of Maine responded to reports of an active shooter at several locations in Lewiston, including Sparetime Recreation and Schemengees Bar and Grill. These law enforcement officers, in the face of danger responded swiftly, selflessly, and with great bravery. Bravery that they continue to demonstrate today as they search tirelessly for a person of interest in connection with last night's events.

On behalf of all Maine people, I express my deep gratitude for your response and for your continued service. I also do so for Maine's hospitals and other medical emergency responses -- responders. I am profoundly saddened to stand before you today to report that 18 people lost their lives, and 13 people injured in last night's attacks. In memory of those we lost and in honor of those who were injured, President Biden and I have ordered all U.S. flags and State of Maine flags to be lowered to half-staff immediately for the next five days. Maine State Police have issued ordered a shelter-in-place order for Lewiston, Lisbon and Bowdoin as the manhunt for that person of interest Robert Card of Bowdoin continues. I will let law enforcement speak to the ongoing manhunt and to their investigation. But Mr. Card is considered armed and dangerous, and police advice that Maine people should not approach him under any circumstances. I continue to strongly urge Maine people to follow the direction of state and the local law enforcement amid this ever-changing situation. Please, if you see anything suspicious, please call 9-1-1.

There are still many things that we don't yet know about these attacks. But the full weight of my administration is behind law enforcement's efforts to capture the person of interest, Robert Card.

[10:45:00]

To hold whoever is responsible for this atrocity accountable under the full force of state and federal law. And to seek full justice for the victims and their families. We are -- we cannot and we will not rest in this endeavor.

My administration is coordinating closely with local, regional and federal officials to respond to this shooting. I have spoken twice with President Biden, I've spoken with Vice President Harris, Secretary of Homeland Security Mayorkas, and Secretary of Health and Human Services Becerra, all of whom have called me last night to express the Biden administration's full and unwavering support, and to offer any and all help that we, the people of Maine, might require.

The governors of our neighboring New England states and of other states have contacted me to offer aid, and I am sincerely grateful for their friendship and support. We have been in touch with every member of the Maine congressional delegation, all of whom have offered their full support for which I am also grateful.

I also spoke with Mayor Carl Sheline, and Auburn Mayor -- excuse me, Jason Levesque, last night to reiterate that we are standing by them and that we are ready to provide any help for the people in these communities need. And to deploy all available state resources including grief counselors and other mental health services. We need to help our communities heal. If you or a person you love needs someone to talk to during this difficult time, please call or text 9- 8-8 for free counseling. 9-8-8.

Look, 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. Lewiston is where I worked for years. It is where I met and married my husband and where our girls went to school. I love this place just as I love our whole state with my entire heart. I'm so deeply saddened as is everyone with the 1.3 million people of this beautiful state.

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. No words can truly or fully measure the grief of Maine people today. Our small state of just 1.3 million people has long been known as one of the safest states in the nation. This attack strikes at the very heart of who we are, and the values we hold dear for this precious place that we call home.

All Maine people are sharing in the sorrow of the families who lost loved ones last night. Loved ones, normal people who were killed or injured while unwinding from a day of work or while spending time with their family and friends, socializing. So, on behalf of the 1.3 million people of the whole state of Maine, I hold these families and this city in my heart today.

I know that the people of Lewiston are enduring immeasurable pain. I wish I could take that pain off your hearts, off your shoulders, but I promise you this, we will all help you carry that grief. I ask Maine people to join me in offering our comfort to the families and friends who have lost someone, and in offering our prayers for a swift recovery for those who are healing in Maine's hospitals today.

This is a dark day for Maine. I know it is hard for us to think about healing when our hearts are broken. But I want every person in Maine to know that we will heal together. We are strong. We are resilient. We are a very caring people.

[10:50:00]

In the days and weeks ahead, we will need to lean on those qualities more than ever before. As we move forward, struggling as we may, let us wrap our arms around one another, offer comfort and solace and love. I know the Maine state police will continue to release information to the public as we confirm it and information about any steps that the public might take to support the people of Lewiston at this time. May God bless the people of Lewiston and bless the memories of those we have lost. Thank you. I'm going to turn it over to Commissioner Sauschuck.

MIKE SAUSCHUCK, COMMISSIONER, MAIN DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY: Thank you very much, Governor. We certainly appreciate your support. The city of Lewiston does, the state of Maine, and certainly our first responders. We feel that love every day and thank you very much for that.

I would also say that we want to say thank you to a -- really a large number of other elected officials across our state, whether that's the federal delegation, local elected officials, and many others that are part of organizations or law enforcement agencies that truly wanted to join us today at this particular press event, and wanted to speak on behalf of their communities.

And as the governor had mentioned and everybody else will reiterate, our reality for today is that this suspect is still at large. And we want to provide community support for the victims, for the families, and the communities across the state, but we also have an incredibly strong laser-like focus on bringing this suspect into custody and ultimately to justice. So, because of that mission for this particular event, and today's activities, we are keeping the list of the speakers and the agenda pretty tight. And that will include next up at the podium would be Chief Dave St. Pierre from the city of Lewiston and some members of his command staff are present.

What I will say to the City of Lewiston, and you know this because you feel it every day, but you are lucky to have a chief like Chief St. Pierre and the law enforcement agency. From every level, those officers put their heart and their soul on the line on behalf of the community last night and into today. And they're doing it for the right reasons, they do it because they care.

So, the City of Lewiston, and truly our correspondent family across the State of Main to have David and his team in the mix with us. And we're also going to hear from Colonel William Ross from the Maine State Police. And Bill will highlight some of the timeline things that you're probably concerned about and interested in from the story perspective. So, the colonel will come up and speak to that.

And we'll also have Jodi Cohen. And Jodi is the special agent in charge for the FBI out the Boston field office. And Jodi will highlight some of those federal partnerships and some of the things that our federal partners are bringing to the table, bringing to bear to help us with this investigation. We also have a bunch of people here. When she starts naming people, you're going to have a problem because you're going to forget somebody or screw something up.

But I would also tell you that a couple of other federal partners are here. Kevin Neal, he was the U.S. Marshal for the District of Maine. We also have James Ferguson, and Jim is a special agent in charge from the ATF for the Boston field division. They are heavily invested with staff along with the FBI, and we can't thank them enough for all that they're doing on behalf of our state.

I would also tell you that we are going too close with a brief Q&A, and we're going to try to get some of those questions out there. We appreciate your time, your patience, your professionalism, your partnership and get this information out. I would think that those questions are going to be brief because, again, we do have a suspect at large. And while you can help us with that, we also need to get back to our teams to push forward on that.

So, with that in mind, I will be back up the podium to kind of steer that a little bit, but for starters, I would like Chief St. Pierre to join us.

CHIEF DAVID ST. PIERRE, LEWISTON, MAIN POLICE: Thank you. Thank you, Director Sauschuck. And welcome media, media partners. And thank Governor Mills for those kind words. I'm going to keep this short. What I would like at the very most is to express our deepest sympathies to the families and friends of the victims in -- of this heinous crime. This is a truly tragedy that goes beyond comprehension. I'm confident in our community that our community has and will continue to come together throughout this endeavor to bring this to a successful conclusion.

Although difficult, I do ask the public to continue to be mindful of their own personal safety, and also that they be patient with the process as much as possible.

[10:55:00]

There is extensive work and attention to detail that goes into such a large-scale investigation. I'm confident in the expertise and professionalism of our investigators and all law enforcement officials that are currently involved. This is all-hands-on-deck approach. We have a great of collaboration and resources that have been made available to us. There are far too many to name individually, but I think Director Sauschuck named quite a few appropriately. There are far too many as I stated, but they are all appreciated more than you know.

I want to thank all of our brave men and women of Lewiston Police Department, fire department staff, medical personnel, first responders of any kind that have gone -- that came from far and wide and who have come together and continue to work tirelessly in bringing the situation to an end. We hope to locate and hold the person accountable.

I think you're hear next from the state police who is taking the lead in this investigation. Although that we are working hand in hand with them, I think Colonel Ross will be able to fill you in on a little bit more.

COL. WILLIAM ROSS, MAIN STATE POLICE: Thank you, Chief. First and foremost, this is an ongoing homicide investigation and search for the person that is responsible for it. We're in the early stages of this investigation. And I just want to let you know we will have updates. We'll be putting some type of a schedule out later on. But again, early stages of a homicide investigation, we want to be careful that we're doing things correctly. We don't want to get ahead of ourselves.

I'm going to give you a bit of a timeline here to kind of fill in some of the blanks, to give you some of the facts as we know them right now. A lot of this information will then be transferred to the attorney general's office as they will be the lead prosecutor, again, in any homicide investigation. Last night, October 25th, at approximately 6:56 p.m., the Auburn Communications Center received a 9-1-1 call of a male shooting in Just-In-Time or the Sparetime Recreation Center in the town of Lewiston, located at 24 Mollison Way in Lewiston.

Shortly after that, at about 7:08 p.m., the communications center received multiple 9-1-1 calls about an active shooter inside of a Schemengees Billiards at 553 Lincoln Street in the town of Lewiston. A large law enforcement response from multiple surrounding agencies assisted the Lewiston Police Department in trying to identify who this individual was and what was happening. As you can imagine, this was a very fast-paced, fast-moving, very fluid scene, very dangerous scene that these guys and girls were going into.

18 people are now deceased at this time. The victims at the Just-In- Time establishment, seven people are deceased there. One female and six males, all from an apparent gunshot wound. Victims at the Schemengees Billiards, eight are deceases, seven males inside the establishment, one male outside of the establishment, again, also apparent gunshot wounds. Multiple people were transferred to area hospitals, Central Maine Medical Center, St. Mary's, and Maine Medical Center. Three people that were transferred to those hospitals are deceased, for a total of 18 people deceased at this time.

The investigation into the person responsible for this identified a vehicle located at the Project Scott (ph) Boat Landing in Lisbon. That person, through the registration of that vehicle has identified, that's been stated earlier, as a Robert Card, born in 1983.

Several of the deceased have been identified, and their families, next of kin have been identified. Approximately eight people at this point have been identified. 10 people, 10 of these victims still need to be identified at this time. Currently, there is an arrest warrant for eight counts of murder for Mr. Card, and the reason it's eight count is because 10 people have not yet been identified. As those people are identified, the counts will probably go to the total of 18.

He should be considered armed and dangerous. Based on our investigation, we believe this is someone that should not be approached.

[11:00:00]