"Grabbed Our Guns": US Councillor Describes Shooting At Bowling Alley

At least 22 people were killed and 60 injured in mass shootings at a bowling alley and a bar in Lewiston, Maine. Police have launched a massive operation to find the shooter, a retired military officer, who is "armed and dangerous".

Lewiston City Councilor Robert McCarthy, whose home is near one of the shooting sites, recalled the panic when they heard gunfire.

Describing it as a "real scary event", McCarthy told CNN, "We locked all the doors. We grabbed the guns. We are just waiting to hear that they catch the individual or individuals that did this."

He also said that Maine, which has a population of 39,000, isn't equipped to handle a shooting event like this.

"Our hospitals are not geared to handle this kind of shooting event, and they're doing the best we can," he said.

Rescue vehicles rushed in from around central Maine to tend to the wounded, McCarthy said, and the two Lewiston hospitals "have called in every off-duty staff member that they could to deal with this."

President Joe Biden made calls -- while a state dinner honoring Australia's prime minister was underway -- to Maine's governor, its two senators and a local congressman to offer federal support, the White House said.

Police have identified the gunman as Robert Card, a 40-year-old veteran who has a history of domestic violence. They shared photos of Card wielding what appeared to be a semi-automatic rifle at a bowling alley.

"We have hundreds of police officers working around the state of Maine to investigate this case to locate Mr. Card, who is a person of interest," Maine Public Safety Commissioner Mike Sauschuck told a news conference.

The United States has recorded over 500 mass shootings this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a non-governmental organisation. Efforts to tighten gun controls have for years run up against opposition from Republicans, staunch defenders of the constitutional right to bear arms.