Schools and shops shut as hunt for US gun killer goes into a second day

THE huge manhunt for a US army reservist suspected of murdering 18 people and wounding 13 others in a mass shooting was continuing today as the first victims were named

- Anthony France

Hundreds of heavily-armed police and FBI agents are searching for Robert Card, 40, after a gunman opened fire at a bowling alley and a bar in Lewiston, Maine. Residents in Lewiston and three nearby towns have been told to shelter in their homes and not to approach the “armed and dangerous” suspect.

Schools as well as most local businesses remained closed today. Last night police surrounded a home belonging to one of Card’s relatives in rural Bowdoin, a 20-minute drive away.

Loud bangs were heard and police executing a search warrant shouted through a loudspeaker: “You need to come outside now with nothing in your hands. Your hands in the air.”

However, after a few hours police departed the scene. The Maine Department of Public Safety said officers were “simply doing their due diligence by tracking down every lead in an effort to locate and apprehend Card”.