Misinformation Circulates Regarding Maine Shooting Suspect’s Identity

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CLAIM: Social media posts claim that a mugshot identifies the Maine mass shooting suspect as a registered sex offender prohibited from owning firearms.

AP’S VERDICT: Incorrect. The posts erroneously conflate two individuals named Robert Card. The wrongly identified person is Robert W. Card, a 32-year-old arrested in 2016 for possession of explicit materials involving minors. The actual suspect, as identified by Lewiston, Maine, police, is Robert R. Card, a 40-year-old U.S. Army Reservist from Bowdoin.

The Facts:

Following the violent incidents at a bar and bowling alley in Lewiston, Maine’s second-largest city, social media users began disseminating a photo purporting to show the still-at-large suspect.

The circulating photo portrays a young male with black hair, a full beard, and glasses, garbed in a white shirt.

One Facebook user emphasized, “Robert Card, the suspect in the Lewiston Maine mass shooting, has prior arrests for child pornography and is a registered sex offender who is legally forbidden from possessing firearms.”

Despite sharing the same name and residing in the same state, the man in the circulating photo is not the individual wanted for the Lewiston mass shooting.

The misattributed image features Robert W. Card, 32, from Fairfield, Maine, a man previously convicted for possession of explicit material involving minors under 12, as per the Maine Sex Offender Registry. This photo originates from news coverage during his 2016 arrest and is also listed on the National Sex Offender Public Registry overseen by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Conversely, Lewiston police issued a photo late Wednesday evening of the actual suspect, whose appearance markedly differs from the man in the widely circulated image.

The Lewiston Maine Police Department identified Robert Card as a person of interest in relation to the mass shootings that took place in Lewiston, Maine, on Wednesday, October 25, 2023. The police department urged, “Robert Card, born April 4, 1983, is considered armed and dangerous. Please report any information concerning his whereabouts to law enforcement.”

The Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office additionally shared photos depicting the true suspect entering a venue with a raised weapon.

Officials from both the Lewiston and state police departments did not respond to inquiries for comments as of Thursday. However, Sgt. Matthew Wilcox of the Fairfield Police Department, involved in Robert W. Card’s 2016 arrest, confirmed that the photos are of two distinct individuals. “It is unequivocally not the same person,” he stated in a phone interview.

Judith Meyer, Executive Editor of the Lewiston Sun Journal, corroborated that the photos show different men. “The suspect is not the individual from Fairfield,” she clarified via email.

The real suspect, Robert R. Card, is affiliated with the Army Reserve’s 3rd Battalion, 304th Infantry Regiment. Authorities say he initiated the shootings around 7 p.m. Wednesday, initially at Sparetime Recreation, a bowling alley, and subsequently at Schemengees Bar and Grille, located approximately 4 miles away.

He evaded capture, triggering an extensive manhunt involving numerous officers, as residents across various communities stayed indoors, abiding by a shelter-in-place advisory.

This incident marks the 36th mass killing in the United States for this year, as documented by a database curated by The Big Big News and USA Today, in collaboration with Northeastern University.

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This investigation is part of AP’s ongoing commitment to counter widely disseminated misinformation. This includes collaborations with external organizations and firms to bring factual clarity to misleading online content. For more on AP’s fact-checking initiatives, click here.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Maine mass shooting misinformation

More about Maine mass shooting misinformation

• Maine Mass Shooting: What We Know So Far
• Lewiston Maine Police Department Official Statement
• Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office Facebook Page
• National Sex Offender Public Registry
• The Big Big News and USA Today Mass Killings Database
• AP Fact-Checking Initiatives
• Maine Sex Offender Registry
• Northeastern University Research on Mass Killings
• Lewiston Sun Journal Coverage on the Incident