Police across Maine were reportedly alerted just last month to “veiled threats” by the U.S. Army reservist who would go on to carry out the worst mass shooting in the state’s history, one of a string of missed red flags that preceded the massacre.
The scenes where 18 people were killed and 13 more injured last week are being cleared and the businesses are being turned back over to the owners as people in the community turn to each other to process what happened.
“This thing's like a tidal wave hits you… you’re ok one-minute, next minute you’re just not,” said Arthur Barnard, the father of one of the victims in Wednesday’s mass shootings.
Barnard was one of dozens gathered in Lewiston’s Kennedy Park for a vigil on Saturday night where he spoke about his son, 42-year-old Arthur Strout, saying, “Good father, good kid, always stepped up to help anyone.”
More details are being released about what the shooter left behind -- firearms and a note.
“It’s a note to a loved one,” said Mike Sauschuck, Maine’s Department of Public Safety Commissioner. “It is saying this is the passcode for my phone, this is the bank account numbers.”
We’re also learning that a statewide alert was issued in September after the shooter made threats against his military base and fellow soldiers. The Associated Press reported Saturday that police moved on after stepped-up patrols of the base and a visit to the shooter’s home showed no sign of him.
“No one ever thought he’d stick around here… not sure of the timeline,” said Chris Huston, a business owner who searched his Lisbon Falls property for the shooter.
Huston's property is just down the street from the Maine Recycling Corporation where the gunman’s body was found Friday night with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
“The Maine State Police tactical team ultimately located the body within one of those trailers,” said Sauschuck.
The shooter worked at the business for one year as a driver and left last spring.
Maine Recycling said in a statement they are continuing to assist this investigation "in every way possible,” adding that their employees, along with the rest of the community, "are shaken to the core."
The focus turns now to moving on, and healing from emotional and physical wounds.
Ten people are still in the hospital, with three people in critical care.
Investigators haven’t identified a motive but say there is clearly a mental health component and they are currently working through accessing medical records of the shooter.
