(CN) — President Joe Biden joined the people of Lewiston, Maine on Friday to mourn 18 people killed at a bowling alley and bar in the city last week and condemn gun violence.
Thirteen others were injured in the Oct. 25 shooting, which began at the bowling alley Just-In-Time and continued at a bar several miles away. Memorials for the victims of the shootings are now in place outside of both businesses, which have remained closed since the attacks.
The president traveled to both memorials Friday alongside First Lady Jill Biden to pay their respects and thank first responders.
“This tragedy opens painful wounds all across the country,” President Biden said in front of Just-in-Time Friday afternoon. “Too many Americans have lost loved ones or survived the trauma of gun violence.”
He suggested in the Friday speech that the tragedy was all the more reason for federal gun legislation.
“This is about common sense. Reasonable, responsible measures to protect our children, our families, our communities. Because regardless of our politics, this is about protecting our freedom to go to a bowling alley, restaurant, school, or church without being shot or killed,” Biden said.
Earlier in the week, the president urged Republican lawmakers in Congress to pass gun reform laws.
“Work with us to pass a bill banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, to enact universal background checks, to require safe storage of guns, and end immunity from liability for gun manufacturers,” Biden said.
Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline thanked the president for his support in the wake of the shooting.
“Nothing can prepare a community for the grief and sorrow of losing 18 souls to horrific violence,” Sheline said Friday, commending the community for coming together after the tragic events and noting that thousands had gathered Sunday to mourn the dead.
“Lewiston is a magnificent city and our collective strength is far greater than any number of bullets,” Sheline said.
The shooter was identified as 40-year-old firearms instructor Robert Card. His body was discovered about 7:45 p.m. Friday after a two-day manhunt in dumpsters across from The Maine Recycling Corporation, in the town of Lisbon Falls, about 10 miles away. Police said he was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and that Card’s family had brought concerns about his mental health to the local sheriff five months ago.
Card bought the guns he used legally, according to Lewiston Police Chief David St. Pierre.
The Army reservist spent two weeks at a mental health facility this summer after reporting that he heard voices telling him to "shoot up" the National Guard Base in Saco, Maine. However, because he was not forcibly committed for treatment, his name would not show up on background checks that would prevent him from buying firearms.
Card’s white Subaru, which contained a rifle, was found abandoned at a boat launch in Lewiston. His body was found with two guns. It’s not clear when he died but he was wearing the same sweatshirt that he wore during the shootings.
Police have identified all 18 victims who died in the shootings. They were between 14 and 76 years old; most were in their 40s and 50s.
Lewiston is Maine’s second-largest city, although it has fewer than 40,000 residents, and is the home of Bates College. In 2022, the city was ranked as one of the 10 safest cities in America by Forbes magazine.
According to a database maintained by USA Today, the Associated Press and Northeastern University, 195 people have died in the 37 mass killings in the U.S. in 2023.
Maine has few restrictions on purchases of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and allows both open and concealed carry without a permit.
Governor Janet Mills, a Democrat, was among several other state politicians, including Republican Senator Susan Collins and Democratic Senator Angus King, who welcomed the president’s appearance Friday. Mills said she hoped it would bring comfort to the people of Lewiston to know that America was grieving alongside them.
“We are enduring unfathomable pain from the families of people tragically taken from us, from those who are injured, to all of the people of Lewiston," Mill said, "but we will heal together.”
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