By EFE
28 Oct 2023, 12:38 PM EDT
President Joe Biden on Friday welcomed the news that the main suspect in Wednesday’s two shootings in Lewiston, Maine, which claimed the lives of 18 people, was found dead by authorities.
“Tonight we are grateful that Lewiston and surrounding communities are safe after spending excruciating days hiding in their homes,” the president said in a statement.
The Democrat’s main message, however, was against gun violence, saying that Americans “should not have to live this way.”
“I again call on Republicans in Congress to fulfill their obligation to keep Americans safe. Until that day comes, I will continue to do everything in my power to end this epidemic of gun violence,” he said.
On Friday, Maine authorities announced that the main suspect in the attacks, Robert Card, was found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
His body was found in a place near the river where he abandoned his car after carrying out two shootings, in a bowling alley and a restaurant.
The discovery puts an end to two days of tension in Lewiston and neighboring cities, where a large part of the citizens have remained sheltered at home for safety.
And an intense search by air, land and water also ends, in which hundreds of local and state police officers, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), have participated.
Card was a soldier in the reserves, 40 years old, and had spent two weeks in a psychiatric hospital.
The event has shocked Lewiston, a city of about 38,000 inhabitants, the second most populated in the state of Maine, and is the deadliest shooting so far this year in the United States.
Keep reading:
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- Body of Maine gunman Robert Card found at recycling center where he was fired