Lewiston shootings: Maine residents begin healing process with vigil

LEWISTON, Maine — More than 1,000 people attended a vigil in Lewiston on Sunday, as Maine residents and the nation grappled with the worst mass shooting in the state’s history.

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A remembrance ceremony was held Sunday evening at the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Lewiston, WTMW-TV reported. Large monitors were positioned outside the church to alow the overflow crowd to watch the ceremony, according to the television station.

People packed the church in Maine’s second-largest city, four days after a gunman opened fire at a bowling alley and a restaurant-bar in two separate incidents, killing 18 and injuring 13.

Names of the victims were read during Sunday’s vigil, WTMW reported.

Emotions continued to run high, with some residents putting their heads in their hands while others wept as the names were read, according to The Associated Press.

The OneLewiston Vigil was the first official city event since the mass shootings in Lewiston.

The vigil came two days after the body of the suspected gunman, Robert Card, was discovered in a trailer at a recycling center in nearby Lisbon Falls. Card was a sergeant in the U.S. Army Reserve who served as a petroleum supply specialist.

Card died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.

Five people injured during Wednesday’s shooting remain hospitalized, the Bangor Daily News reported.

Three people are in critical condition at Central Maine Medical Center, while one person is in stable condition. One person was moved to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, according to the newspaper. The others injured in the shooting have been released.

The state of Maine had only 29 killings during 2022, according to the AP.

The Rev. Todd Little from the First United Pentecostal Church of Lewiston spoke at Sunday’s vigil, emphasizing “shared brokenness, worry, fear and loss,” the AP reported.

Little added that the community will emerge not only as “Lewiston Strong,” but “Lewiston Stronger,” according to the news organization.

“We will not be defined by the tragedies that happened,” Little told the congregation. “Fear, anxiety and trepidation will not dictate our present or our future.”

The vigil was hosted by sportscaster Tom Caron, a Lewiston native, WTMW reported.

“We take the time to lift up all of the people affected by these horrific events and those of us who will now be affected forever,” Rev. Sarah Gillespie with Androscoggin Home Healthcare + Hospice, told the congregation. “We lift up those who were the wives, the children, the husbands, the partners, the parents, the grandchildren, the grandparents, brothers and sisters and all types of family members of our beloved departed.

“We hold the injured, the witnesses, the survivors who now have an intimate relationship with trauma and violence,” Gillespie added, according to WMTW. “Give us strength to hear their stories and support their well-being, not just tonight, but in every coming night. We lift up those who are injured and may still be in critical condition. We lift up those graced by bullets. We lift up those who saw and heard the terror of gunshots.

“A love beyond words for Lewiston. Our home, our city. I love you, Lewiston. Stay strong, stay kind and stick together.”

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Lewiston vigil: Mourners comfort one another at the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul during Sunday's vigil. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)