Maine Shooting: Witness Describes How She Laid On Top of 11-Year-Old Daughter to Protect Her at Bowling Alley

Michael Lee Simpson
·2 min read
1

"It felt like it lasted a lifetime,” Riley Dumont told ABC News. "I just remember people sobbing and crying"

<p>AP Photo/Steven Senne</p> People depart a reunification center early Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023, at Auburn Middle School, in Auburn, Maine, after shootings in Lewiston.

AP Photo/Steven Senne

People depart a reunification center early Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023, at Auburn Middle School, in Auburn, Maine, after shootings in Lewiston.

A mother who survived the deadly mass shootings in Lewiston, Maine, on Wednesday shared how she shielded her 11-year-old daughter from gunfire at a bowling alley, ABC News reports.

Riley Dumont told ABC News that her father, a retired police officer who was with her at the time, put "tables and a big bench that the kids were hiding behind" to protect them from the bullets, adding, “I was laying on top of my daughter.”

“My mother was laying on top of me,” Dumont recalled. "It felt like it lasted a lifetime. I just remember people sobbing and crying."

<p>CJ GUNTHER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock</p> Law enforcement vehicles are parked on the Lisbon High School gymnasium as an active search for the shooter is underway following a mass shooting.

CJ GUNTHER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Law enforcement vehicles are parked on the Lisbon High School gymnasium as an active search for the shooter is underway following a mass shooting.

CNN, citing law enforcement sources, reports there have been 16 fatalities, while Fox News and ABC News, also citing law enforcement sources, have also reported at least 15 fatalities. In addition to the fatalities, dozens of people have been injured, CNN reports.

Related: Fatal Victims Identified in Baltimore Mass Shooting that Killed 2, Injured 28

<p>AP Photo/Steven Senne</p>

AP Photo/Steven Senne

The Lewiston Police Department posted on Facebook that they are searching for 40-year-old Robert Card, calling him a "person of interest" in the shootings and saying he's considered “armed and dangerous.”

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE's free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.

The department said Schemengees Bar and Grille and Sparetime Recreation — the bowling alley — were the two locations of the shootings.

Related: 3 Dead, 3 Injured in Mass Shooting After 'Interpersonal Dispute' at Maryland Home

Citing a state police bulletin, The Associated Press reported that the person of interest received military training as a firearms instructor and spent two weeks in a mental health facility this past summer.

The bulletin said the person of interest claimed to hear voices and made threats to carry out a shooting at a military base in Saco, Maine.

"If people see him, they should not approach Card or make contact with him in any way," Sauschuck said during Wednesday's press conference.

He added that authorities had located a “vehicle of interest” in Lisbon — a neighboring town to Lewiston. Residents of Lisbon, as well as residents of nearby Lewiston, Auburn and Bowdoin, Maine, have been advised to shelter in place.

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.