LEWISTON, Maine — Miia Zellner and Hunter Kissam realized one thing was flawed of their hometown after they heard sirens blaring exterior their residence.
As they investigated what was taking place, they mentioned a cop got here as much as their automobile Wednesday evening and advised them to indicate their fingers, after which “move on.”
Zellner, 22, and Kissam, 27, had been solely a brief distance away from Schemengees Bar and Grille Restaurant, one in every of two websites concerned in a mass taking pictures that left 18 individuals useless and 13 wounded, in keeping with police.
“We didn’t think it was nearly as bad as it was,” Kissam advised the Herald Thursday whereas he was strolling down Lisbon Street, a principal thoroughfare in downtown Lewiston. “We thought like, okay, somebody got mad at a bar and shot somebody or whatever. And then we heard a shooter. Then we saw headlines with active shooter, and we were not expecting it to be what it was.”
The taking pictures is the thirty sixth mass killing within the United States this 12 months, in keeping with a database run by Northeastern University in Boston together with media retailers.
The horrific occasions that unfolded Wednesday rocked residents in Lewiston and throughout Maine, as different mass shootings have carried out with the seemingly endless record of cities and cities nationwide.
An artist by commerce and initially from Central Massachusetts, Zellner determined Thursday to make heart-shaped cutouts from poster board adorned with phrases like “to my community” or “to my friends” to position on gentle posts all through downtown Lewiston.
“I was feeling a lot of emotions about the whole thing this morning and it kind of manifested physically into this. I just wanted to show my support and love for the community and give people a visual representation of the type of support that people feel,” Zellner mentioned in-between putting the center cutouts onto avenue lights and bushes.
Areas round Lewiston had been practically abandoned Thursday as legislation enforcement maintained a shelter-in-place order for the town in addition to the neighboring communities of Lisbon and Bowdoin.
Occasional canine walkers interspersed with individuals experiencing homelessness slowly meandered by way of a principal park simply throughout the road from City Hall. But the media practically outnumbered the locals who had been venturing into public areas.
Businesses had been largely shut down in Lewiston, with most fuel stations, eating places, and outlets shuttered as legislation enforcement continued an enormous manhunt for 40-year-old Robert Card, who they mentioned is a suspect linked to the shootings.
Lisbon Street, the place Zellner hung the heart-shaped posters, was practically empty.
“It’s usually so much busier than right now,” she mentioned, hoping her posters would assist promote “some type of positive from this.”
At a press convention earlier Thursday, Maine Gov. Janet Mills mentioned the taking pictures tore by way of the “peace of mind” of all residents within the state, however particularly in Lewiston.
“This is a dark day for Maine. I know it’s hard for us to think about healing when our hearts are broken,” Mills mentioned. “But I want every person in Maine to know that we will heal together. We are strong. We are resilient. We are a very caring people.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”