— Came out with nothing in your hands. You have to have your hands in the air.
The police’s loudspeaker calls echoed around a residence in Bowdoin in the eastern American state. But they remained unanswered.
Hours later, during the night of Friday, police left the house, a desolate property owned by a relative of the suspected shooter, reports the television channel CNN and the news agency AP. The house must then have been searched, without success.
Looking for planning
Police have been searching for items such as computers, notes, weapons and other types of evidence that could point to the suspect planning the mass shootings that killed at least 18 people on Wednesday.
Sources state that another address connected to the case has been searched by the police and that several searches of this type are to be expected in the coming days.
Emergency responders near a home in Bowdoin, Maine, owned by a relative of the suspected mass shooter.
The suspect is described as a reservist and weapons instructor in his 40s who had mental problems. He was named shortly after the crime and has since been formally wanted. Police at both the local and federal level have stated that efforts are “tremendous” to find the suspect.
In the small community of Lewiston and its surroundings, there are now hundreds of heavily armed FBI agents and other police officers, supported by police helicopters. Schools in the area will continue to be closed on Friday.
Large number of mass shootings
The two mass shootings took place at a bowling alley and at a popular bar in Lewiston early Wednesday night, local time. In addition to the 18 dead, several injured are being treated in hospital.
Many had gathered at the Sparetime Recreation bowling alley, where a children’s bowling competition was taking place, when the perpetrator opened fire. A bowler has told the AP news agency that he heard ten shots in a short time.
The second crime scene, Schemengee’s bar and grill, is about half a mile away.
Until September 17, 501 shootings had occurred in which at least four people, excluding the shooter, were killed or injured in the United States, according to a compilation from the media company Axios. Last year, there were a total of 645 mass shootings, according to Axios.