Amid an urgent manhunt for the person of interest in the Lewiston, Maine, mass shooting, Massachusetts State Police is in close contact with law enforcement in Maine, and is ready to be deployed there if need be, the agency said Thursday morning.
As of Thursday morning, there was no confirmed connection of Robert Card and Massachusetts, state police said.
A Mass. state trooper on the agency's Bomb Squad, as well as his K9 partner, responded to Lewiston in his capacity as an ATF task force officer.
"The full complement of Massachusetts State Police assets stand ready for deployment if requested, as necessitated by the evolving investigation and fugitive apprehension mission," a state police spokesperson wrote Thursday.
State police also had several troopers look for the white Subaru, a vehicle of interest, along the border with New Hampshire Wednesday night; that was the vehicle later found to be abandoned in Maine. There was not intelligence suggesting that Card was headed to Massachusetts — the operation was referred to as a "standard proactive deployment."
Authorities in the Bay State added that a reported "Be On the Lookout" alert originated from a driver in New Hampshire who believed she saw someone in a car that looked like Card. However, that sighting was called unsubstantiated by troopers.
State police's Fusion Center is taking in a "large amount of continually evolving information," the agency said.
If authorities in Massachusetts become aware of a "confirmed threat or nexus to Massachusetts," they will put out a notification to news outlets and the public.
Anyone who sees anything suspicious is urged to call 911 immediately.
Forty-year-old Card has not been named as a suspect, but a person of interest. He is from Bowdoin and has a military background. The shootings unfolded at Lewiston businesses on Wednesday night — a bowling alley and a restaurant.
Eighteen people are dead, four others were critically injured and at least 60- others were hurt, some while fleeing the scene, law enforcement sources told NBC News.
