The Maine shooting suspect is a deer hunter and "could be anywhere" and may be "planning a new attack," experts believe, according to a new report. This came as a massive manhunt for Robert Card, 40, continued on Thursday night following a dramatic FBI raid on a family property.
Experts warned that Card, an Army reservist, possesses the skills and equipment to endure in the wilderness, and there are concerns that he may be plotting another attack. Card's last known sighting was on Wednesday night when he fled the second of two locations in Lewiston, where he carried out attacks at a bowling alley and a bar, killing 18 people.
Where Is Robert Card?
Card's abandoned vehicle was found shortly before 10 p.m. in the town of Lisbon, around seven miles away from Lewiston. Card lived in the small town of Bowdoin, which was close to homes owned by his parents, brother, and sister-in-law.
According to a neighbor interviewed by The Messenger, the Card family's arrangement was often described as a "compound," and they were known to be "gun-trotting enthusiasts."
"They would shoot guns all the time, you could hear them every day after school. It was like clockwork," said Liam Kent.
The neighbor mentioned that he had seen Card in a situation where he was "covered in blood with a gun on his back, a giant grin on his face" after a deer hunting excursion.
Marko Galbreath, a former Florida police sergeant and SWAT team member, told DailyMail.com that Card could have gone to any location, emphasizing the need for vigilance across the entire country.
"He could still be in that area, planning to have a shootout with police, planning to commit suicide, planning to commit another attack. Or, you know what, he could be in Texas right now. We have no idea.
"If he planned it out well enough, he could very well be far from that area right now," said Galbreath, who provides active shooter response training through his company T4Tactics.
He added: "We need to tell the entire country that until this guy is captured, we need to use due diligence.
"He could have shaved, he could have put on a wig, he may change his appearance. He may not look like what people think he looks like, so we need to really watch."
Galbreath also noted that Card's military training would have imparted a survival "skillset and mindset," equipping him with the ability to thrive in harsh environments and endure discomfort.
Mystery Deepens
This came as a mysterious note was found at the home of Robert Card, the suspected mass shooter in Maine, as the US Coast Guard joined the extensive search for the fugitive. This discovery was made as law enforcement officials carried out a search warrant at Card's untidy home in Bowdoin on Thursday, as reported by NBC News.
At the same time, the Coast Guard has deployed a surveillance plane and boats from Boothbay to join in the manhunt for the alleged mass shooter.
This search effort already involves local, county, state, and federal law enforcement agents, as confirmed by Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Third-Class Diolanda Caballero in a statement to NBC.
Authorities said that Card's car was found abandoned near a boat launch in Lisbon, around 8 miles from the locations of the shootings.
A 15-foot boat, believed to be owned by Card, was reported as missing, according to The Messenger.
Retired NYPD chief Robert Louden suggested that Card, described as a trained marksman and adept outdoorsman by his former Army friends, might have fled into the woods, which would make the search for him "like a spider's web."
"From that parking area where he dumped his scar there's four distinct possibilities," Louden told NBC.
"He killed himself. He got on a boat and went down that little river that's there."
"He went into another car or motorcycle or something that was waiting for him," Louden continued.
"Or there's a hiking trail. He could be in the woods someplace.
"And so it's like a spider's web going out — and you've got to follow all those pieces of the web."
According to reports, Card joined the military in 2002 and was admitted to a mental health facility in July after displaying unusual behavior while at Camp Smith near the military academy at West Point.
The victims of the shooting included members of Lewiston's deaf community, who were engaged in a cornhole competition at Schemengees Bar & Grille when the assailant entered with an assault rifle.
On Thursday, the White House issued a directive for the nation's flags to be flown at half-mast in honor of the tragic incident.
