Hundreds of police have fanned out across the United States state of Maine hunting a man wanted in connection with deadly mass shootings at a bar and a bowling alley in the town of Lewiston that killed at least 22 people and wounded dozens more.
State and local police identified Robert R Card, 40, who reportedly had been committed to a mental health facility during the summer, as a person of interest in the case.
Earlier, they posted on Facebook photographs of a bearded man in a brown hoodie and jeans at one of the crime scenes, holding what appeared to be a semi-automatic rifle in the firing position.
"We have literally hundreds of police officers working around the state of Maine to investigate this case to locate Mr Card, who is a person of interest," Maine Public Safety Commissioner Mike Sauschuck told a news conference.
Police found a white SUV they believe Card drove to the town of Lisbon, about 11km to the southeast, and Sauschuck said people were asked to remain indoors in both Lewiston and Lisbon.
Several media reported a Maine law enforcement bulletin identified Card as a trained firearms instructor and member of the US Army reserve who recently reported that he had mental health issues, including hearing voices.
It also said he threatened to shoot up a National Guard base.
"Card was also reported to have been committed to mental health facility for two weeks during summer 2023 and subsequently released," said the notice from the Maine Information and Analysis Center.
Reuters could not authenticate the bulletin.
The army did not immediately respond to requests for information about Card, including details on his service record.
The bloodshed rocked the largely rural state of Maine in the northeastern corner of the US bordering Canada.
Police said gunfire first broke out before 7pm Wednesday local time.
The bar and the bowling alley are about 6.5km apart.
Lewiston is a former textile hub and town of 38,000 people in Androscoggin County 56km north of Maine's largest city, Portland.
"A recreation centre; a bowling alley; a neighbourhood bar - places Americans frequent and should feel safe ... these are the crime scenes of multiple shootings tonight in Maine," said Kris Brown, president of Brady, a gun safety advocacy group, in a statement.
Maine lacks several major types of gun safety laws, including assault weapons regulation, universal background checks, and "red flag" laws that allow law enforcement to temporarily disarm people legally deemed dangerous, according to Brady.
At a reunification centre in Lewiston's "sister city" Auburn, just across the Androscoggin River, some families were discovering that relatives who had been at the bar and bowling alley had been killed in the shooting, Auburn Mayor Jason Levesque told reporters.
Officials were interviewing witnesses of the shooting "of all ages" at an undisclosed safe location on Wednesday night, Levesque said.
President Joe Biden was been briefed and will continue to receive updates, a US official said in Washington.
The president spoke by phone to Maine Governor Janet Mills, Senators Angus King and Susan Collins, and Congressman Jared Golden about the shooting and offered full federal support in the wake of the attack, the White House said.
The range of estimated fatalities would be on par with the number of homicides that normally occur in Maine in any given year.
The number of annual homicides in the state has fluctuated between 16 and 29 since 2012, according to Maine State Police.
with AP
