LEWISTON, Maine — The first hours after 18 people were shot and killed at two locations in Lewiston were filled with a flurry of first responder requests and putting national agencies on alert, with local authorities knowing they were dealing with an active gunman on the loose.
The timeline, released by Maine State Police, gives specific details about how long it took law enforcement to track Robert Card, who was identified as a suspect around 9:20 p.m., less than three hours after the massacre on Oct. 25.
Authorities began identifying victims around midnight and notifying families. Around 7 a.m. the following day, Oct. 26, people who were killed were transported to the medical examiner's office in Augusta.
The timeline also shows multiple instances when law enforcement received false leads or deployed searches where nothing was found.
At about 10:44 pm. on Oct. 26, a helicopter searching along the trail where Card left his vehicle detected a heat signature, which was later determined to be a false positive. Another false lead came when tactical teams heard a loud noise from inside Springworks Farm in Lisbon. It was thought that the suspect was inside, the report said.
Around 1 a.m. on Oct. 26, first responders were dispatched to a home in Lisbon after hearing one of Card's family members owns a property there. At about noon on the same day, responders went to the Maine Recycling Corporation, where Card's body was located more than a full day later on Oct. 27.
Five more false leads were determined until first responders went back to Maine Recycling Corporation and discovered Card's body in an overflow parking lot.
You can read the full timeline from Maine State Police here: