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Maine shooting: Police investigating more than 500 tips and leads as specialist divers brought in to hunt suspect

Maine shooting: Police investigating more than 500 tips and leads as specialist divers brought in to hunt suspect

Officers are chasing up more than 500 tips and leads they have received as they hunt for the suspected gunman who killed 18 people in a mass shooting in the US state of Maine.

Maine commissioner of public safety, Michael Sauschuck, said the tips and leads “vary greatly” and officers were working round the clock through them.

He added specialist divers, sonar equipment and air resources would also be brought in to search a nearby river near where the suspected gunman’s car was discovered.

The divers will be looking for evidence and “checking for potential bodies”, Mr Sauschuck said.

“We have a lot of other irons in the fire, so I’m not saying that we know the suspect is in the water,” he added.

The suspect, Robert Card, 40, is believed to have killed seven people at Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley, and a further eight people at Schemengees Bar and Grille.

Three more people died after being taken to local hospitals.

More on Maine

Wednesday night’s attack was the deadliest mass shooting in the US this year.

Among the dead are a father and son, a volunteer bowling coach and a manager at the bar, which the suspect is reported to have visited before.

Armed police and a helicopter surrounded a home in Bowdoin, near Lewiston, for more than two hours last night and executed a search warrant before leaving.

Image:
A map showing the city of Lewiston in the US State of Maine

Officials have put the city of Lewiston, home to around 38,000 people, in lockdown and urged residents there and in the nearby towns of Auburn, Bowdoin, and Lisbon, to “shelter in place”.

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