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The Lewiston Shootings: An All-American Tragedy
October 25, 2023 was just an ordinary night in Lewiston, a small city in southwest Maine with a population of 37,000 known for, among other attributes, its low crime rate.
Friends and families had gathered to do what they loved to do with the people they wanted to be with at a bowling alley called Just-in-Time Recreation Center and Schemengees, a popular sports bar and restaurant. They felt immune from the violent crime that seemed to wrack the rest of the country in a state that the FBI had just named the safest in America.
Until Robert Card, a deeply paranoid Army Reserve soldier, walked into both places with a high-powered rifle and opened fire, killing 18 people and wounding 13 more. He then fled to a third location, where police would later say he likely planned to lay in wait and kill his ex-co-workers when they came to work the next morning.
The red flags he had raised in the months before weren't enough to stop him before he carried out his terrible plan. A combination of watered-down gun control laws and law enforcement and military negligence made sure of that.
In THE LEWISTON SHOOTINGS - An All-American Tragedy, author and award-winning journalist Robert Conlin traces the shootings that deeply scarred a community that thought it was the last place on earth where a mass shooting would take place. Never again could anyone in Lewiston or the state of Maine say, "It will never happen here."
Because it did.
Friends and families had gathered to do what they loved to do with the people they wanted to be with at a bowling alley called Just-in-Time Recreation Center and Schemengees, a popular sports bar and restaurant. They felt immune from the violent crime that seemed to wrack the rest of the country in a state that the FBI had just named the safest in America.
Until Robert Card, a deeply paranoid Army Reserve soldier, walked into both places with a high-powered rifle and opened fire, killing 18 people and wounding 13 more. He then fled to a third location, where police would later say he likely planned to lay in wait and kill his ex-co-workers when they came to work the next morning.
The red flags he had raised in the months before weren't enough to stop him before he carried out his terrible plan. A combination of watered-down gun control laws and law enforcement and military negligence made sure of that.
In THE LEWISTON SHOOTINGS - An All-American Tragedy, author and award-winning journalist Robert Conlin traces the shootings that deeply scarred a community that thought it was the last place on earth where a mass shooting would take place. Never again could anyone in Lewiston or the state of Maine say, "It will never happen here."
Because it did.
- GenresTrue CrimeNonfiction
359 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 30, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 28, 2024
This is a well written and researched book about a mass shooting in Maine in October 2023. It follows the case of Robert Card II, a weekend warrior who taught grenade use when he did his 2 weeks of annual service. Last year, he became increasingly paranoid and began becoming violent and threatening to people around him. He kept saying that people were calling him a pedophile, and he was going to make them pay for it. Strangely enough, there was a man with his name on the sex offender registry, but it was not him and not a Card II.
September 24, 2024
Lewiston is Home to Me
Like so many others, I was devastated to hear on the news that a mass shooting had just occurred at Just In Time Recreation and Schemengees the night of October 25, 2023. It was almost too much to believe -- OR to bear. My mom had just passed late July exactly 3 months prior. Not only did she bowl there back when it was called Sparetime Recreation but we knew the area intimately, having moved to the Lewiston Raceway mobile home park in 1968 and in later years to the Stetson mobile home park. My mom was a harness racing official there for years, my step-grandparents owned several horses and also lived in the park. As did an uncle, aunt and two cousins. Blood has been shed there, lives have been lost there now. It has cast a somber and lasting shadow and left deep scars within our communities and state. One reason I am so glad that Just In Time Recreation has reopened! They represent hope and are part of the legacies of 18 souls!
The author of this book did a commendable job at researching and interviewing many of those involved, outlining the effects and aftermath of that night and the aftermath, the troubling behavior Robert Card II displayed, his family's efforts to warn others and help their loved one, the military component and involvement, the gun enthusiasts and politicians and some of the mental health aspects etc.
Having education and degrees in the mental health field and having worked with folks who have chronic mental illness diagnoses, I feel that more could and should have been done by the Sagadahoc County Sheriff's Department as well as the military. Card was decompensating steadily and his behavior was escalating. I know of situations where someone was committed for much less and another situation where the person is not threatening anyone but is not okay emotionally and physically is living in absolute squalor and unsanitary conditions.
I see only 2 areas as far as the book itself that could be improved. One is editing, I caught a few mistakes but nothing that took away from the story. The other is I think a resource section would be helpful: what are signs someone is experiencing a mental health crisis, what should the average citizen do to help, how do you find help both for crises but also if someone wants to see a therapist. Also, it would unfortunately be useful to know what to do if ever you encounter an active shooter situation in a school, church, store, outdoor event, movie theater, bar or entertainment venue or a hospital.
Difficult subject but sensitively covered!
Like so many others, I was devastated to hear on the news that a mass shooting had just occurred at Just In Time Recreation and Schemengees the night of October 25, 2023. It was almost too much to believe -- OR to bear. My mom had just passed late July exactly 3 months prior. Not only did she bowl there back when it was called Sparetime Recreation but we knew the area intimately, having moved to the Lewiston Raceway mobile home park in 1968 and in later years to the Stetson mobile home park. My mom was a harness racing official there for years, my step-grandparents owned several horses and also lived in the park. As did an uncle, aunt and two cousins. Blood has been shed there, lives have been lost there now. It has cast a somber and lasting shadow and left deep scars within our communities and state. One reason I am so glad that Just In Time Recreation has reopened! They represent hope and are part of the legacies of 18 souls!
The author of this book did a commendable job at researching and interviewing many of those involved, outlining the effects and aftermath of that night and the aftermath, the troubling behavior Robert Card II displayed, his family's efforts to warn others and help their loved one, the military component and involvement, the gun enthusiasts and politicians and some of the mental health aspects etc.
Having education and degrees in the mental health field and having worked with folks who have chronic mental illness diagnoses, I feel that more could and should have been done by the Sagadahoc County Sheriff's Department as well as the military. Card was decompensating steadily and his behavior was escalating. I know of situations where someone was committed for much less and another situation where the person is not threatening anyone but is not okay emotionally and physically is living in absolute squalor and unsanitary conditions.
I see only 2 areas as far as the book itself that could be improved. One is editing, I caught a few mistakes but nothing that took away from the story. The other is I think a resource section would be helpful: what are signs someone is experiencing a mental health crisis, what should the average citizen do to help, how do you find help both for crises but also if someone wants to see a therapist. Also, it would unfortunately be useful to know what to do if ever you encounter an active shooter situation in a school, church, store, outdoor event, movie theater, bar or entertainment venue or a hospital.
Difficult subject but sensitively covered!
July 29, 2024
I really enjoyed this book by Robert Conlin. It is a professionally written and researched book. The story is set in Maine in a bowling Alley which was called The Recreation Centre and Schemengees which are both popular place with the locals. On October 25th, 2023, life in this small town would never be the same.
Robert Card 11 who was an army reserve solder walked into both places with a high-powered rifle and took the lives of 18 people and wounded 13. Card was a very troubled and sick man who was paranoid and believed everyone was calling him a paedophile. He had also become more threatening and violent and had punch his friend in the face not long before he went on his rampage.
Sadly, like so many people Rand slipped through the system as there were numerous red flags which were raised months before the shootings. He was sent to a psychiatric hospital but only for a short stay and then released. The military let him down as they became more aware of his bizarre behaviour but did nothing to stop him having control of the many guns, he owned even though they perceived he was a danger. The local sheriff and law enforcement also knew what a danger and how unhinged Rand was. Why did the law enforcement agencies and the military put the public at risk refusing to share information with other authorities and not take his guns away and keep the public safe.
Sadly, for the people of Maine will become another statistic as history repeats itself and institutional failures reoccurred time after time. How many mass shootings does it take to reform gun laws and make sure no matter what agency you belong to please learn to share your information on people to keep citizens around the world from becoming another statistic and many family’s destroyed from grief of loss of life's, and anger from the non-prevention of bureaucrats and there petty squabbles. Is it worth all the lives lost I doubt it.
An excellent book and considering I know nothing about guns it gives you an exceptionally good insight into the laws, he reformists, gun lobbies, and many more who could and can change how the consequences of the unthinkable happen repeatedly. Will people ever learn. Thanks to Wildblue Press I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Robert Card 11 who was an army reserve solder walked into both places with a high-powered rifle and took the lives of 18 people and wounded 13. Card was a very troubled and sick man who was paranoid and believed everyone was calling him a paedophile. He had also become more threatening and violent and had punch his friend in the face not long before he went on his rampage.
Sadly, like so many people Rand slipped through the system as there were numerous red flags which were raised months before the shootings. He was sent to a psychiatric hospital but only for a short stay and then released. The military let him down as they became more aware of his bizarre behaviour but did nothing to stop him having control of the many guns, he owned even though they perceived he was a danger. The local sheriff and law enforcement also knew what a danger and how unhinged Rand was. Why did the law enforcement agencies and the military put the public at risk refusing to share information with other authorities and not take his guns away and keep the public safe.
Sadly, for the people of Maine will become another statistic as history repeats itself and institutional failures reoccurred time after time. How many mass shootings does it take to reform gun laws and make sure no matter what agency you belong to please learn to share your information on people to keep citizens around the world from becoming another statistic and many family’s destroyed from grief of loss of life's, and anger from the non-prevention of bureaucrats and there petty squabbles. Is it worth all the lives lost I doubt it.
An excellent book and considering I know nothing about guns it gives you an exceptionally good insight into the laws, he reformists, gun lobbies, and many more who could and can change how the consequences of the unthinkable happen repeatedly. Will people ever learn. Thanks to Wildblue Press I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
January 16, 2025
It will never happen here! So, they used to say
This book, THE LEWISTON SHOOTINGS the reader is introduced to the second largest town in Maine, Lewiston Maine, which was once deemed as the safest place to live in Maine. I am a fan of true crime stories. This is the first book written by Robert Conlin that I've read. In October of 2023. Robert Card went hunting, but it wasn't game he was after, it was a shooting spree that killed 18 people and injured 13. The town itself was injured, and the events is something they wish to forget, but also should not forget. Robert Conlin wrote this book very well. It was detailed and terrifying, especially because of items that not even the news showed. Robert Card walked into a bowling alley, and then to a local Bar and Grill. Later, Card was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. There were a few unsung heroes who tried to stop him, but they were unable to do. Some persons died immediately, and three died later at the hospital. He discharged his weapon at least 54 times. This book was written with diplomacy and detailed the accounts of that October day, but never stopped acknowledging the loss of life, of persons between 14 and 76. Lives that will never be forgotten by Lewiston. HE LEWISTON SHOOTINGS is a definite recommendation by Amy's Bookshelf Reviews. I read this book to give my unbiased and honest review. I look forward to reading many more titles by this author. Amy's Bookshelf Reviews recommends that anyone who reads this book, to also write a review.
This book, THE LEWISTON SHOOTINGS the reader is introduced to the second largest town in Maine, Lewiston Maine, which was once deemed as the safest place to live in Maine. I am a fan of true crime stories. This is the first book written by Robert Conlin that I've read. In October of 2023. Robert Card went hunting, but it wasn't game he was after, it was a shooting spree that killed 18 people and injured 13. The town itself was injured, and the events is something they wish to forget, but also should not forget. Robert Conlin wrote this book very well. It was detailed and terrifying, especially because of items that not even the news showed. Robert Card walked into a bowling alley, and then to a local Bar and Grill. Later, Card was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. There were a few unsung heroes who tried to stop him, but they were unable to do. Some persons died immediately, and three died later at the hospital. He discharged his weapon at least 54 times. This book was written with diplomacy and detailed the accounts of that October day, but never stopped acknowledging the loss of life, of persons between 14 and 76. Lives that will never be forgotten by Lewiston. HE LEWISTON SHOOTINGS is a definite recommendation by Amy's Bookshelf Reviews. I read this book to give my unbiased and honest review. I look forward to reading many more titles by this author. Amy's Bookshelf Reviews recommends that anyone who reads this book, to also write a review.
February 24, 2025
Wow! I could not put this one down. I was hooked from the start. In "The Lewiston Shootings," the author walks us through what was going on when Robert Card decided to open fire in two locations, shocking a small town.
What could lead a man to commit such violence? He was a veteran, and seemed to have a good life, both current and family. But there were troubling signs, that while noted, seemed to go unattended. These signs got worse, but still, nothing was done. It was as if no one was sure exactly what to do. While suffering delusions, there was still a grasp on reality, but that seemed to come and go.
I was shocked at several of the areas that went unaddressed for this gentleman while reading this book. As a veteran, it was horrifying to realize that so many things could be noted, but not fully or correctly documented, which lead, in part, to this event. It was heart-rending to read the accounts, and the aftermath of the tragedy.
The author did a fantastic job with this book. While there is a high emotion for this book, it was a calm and even narrative that was presented. I was glad to be able to read this book, and while it was one of the better ones of the year, the subject matter is troubling.
VETERANS: If you need help, please call the Crisis Hotline. There is nothing to be ashamed of in asking for help.
Thank you to WildBlue Press for a copy of this book to read. The opinions above are my own.
What could lead a man to commit such violence? He was a veteran, and seemed to have a good life, both current and family. But there were troubling signs, that while noted, seemed to go unattended. These signs got worse, but still, nothing was done. It was as if no one was sure exactly what to do. While suffering delusions, there was still a grasp on reality, but that seemed to come and go.
I was shocked at several of the areas that went unaddressed for this gentleman while reading this book. As a veteran, it was horrifying to realize that so many things could be noted, but not fully or correctly documented, which lead, in part, to this event. It was heart-rending to read the accounts, and the aftermath of the tragedy.
The author did a fantastic job with this book. While there is a high emotion for this book, it was a calm and even narrative that was presented. I was glad to be able to read this book, and while it was one of the better ones of the year, the subject matter is troubling.
VETERANS: If you need help, please call the Crisis Hotline. There is nothing to be ashamed of in asking for help.
Thank you to WildBlue Press for a copy of this book to read. The opinions above are my own.
August 22, 2024
"PSA…anyone that has heard about this book and is planning on reading it..don’t. It has inaccuracies all through out the book including the information he wrote about Maxx and other victims. Thank you for your time."
A message from a direct victims family.
A message from a direct victims family.
May 26, 2025
This is the non-fic account of the shootings in Lewiston, Maine. Robert Card, a disabled veteran, went into two local businesses and killed 18 people and wounding 13. In a small town, you would never suspect this to happen. I definitely recommend it.
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February 1, 2025This was a tough and heartbreaking read but also incredibly informative and eye-opening.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews