"I just booked it down the lane," Witness describes hiding in bowling alley during mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine
LEWISTON, Maine - There's a widespread police manhunt in Maine for a gunman wanted for a mass shooting in Lewiston that left 18 people dead and 13 wounded.
The gunman walked into a bowling alley Wednesday evening, shot several people and then went to a restaurant about ten minutes away and continued shooting.
Read: The Lewiston, Maine mass shootings victims
Police have issued an arrest warrant for 40-year-old Robert Card, the suspect in the shootings. He is considered armed and dangerous. Maine State Police said "more than 100 investigators, both local and federal" are looking for him.
The shooting started at the Sparetime Recreation bowling alley on Mollison Way just before 7 p.m. A witness who would only identify himself as Brandon described what he saw to the Associated Press.
"I'd just walked in the place. I was putting on my bowling shoes when it started. I've been barefoot for five hours," he told the AP.
"We were inside. Just a normal night of bowling and out of nowhere he just came in and there was a loud pop. Thought it was a balloon. I had my back turned to the door. As soon as I turned and saw that it was not a balloon, he was holding a weapon. I just booked it down the lane and I slid basically into where the pins are and climbed up to the machine and was on top of the machines for about 10 minutes until the cops got there."
Brandon said he heard more than ten shots.
"When I got on top of the bowling machine, it was a lot of ruckus back there. So I don't really know from that, but I heard the first one, it was probably 15 feet behind me. I mean, he was close. Very close."
Maine State Police Colonel William Ross said seven people were killed there as of Thursday afternoon. A children's bowling league is scheduled at Sparetime Recreation every Wednesday night.
Read: Timeline of Lewiston, Maine shootings
The shooting continued a few miles away at Schemengees Bar and Grille on Lincoln Street.
A resident who knows some of the victims told WBZ-TV he was at a friend's house near Schemengees and heard the gunshots.
"I just heard pop, pop, pop," he said. He then came home to find another scene at the bowling alley right by his house.
"There were so many cops driving up and down Main Street and then up and down this road," he said.
For privacy reasons, he didn't want to appear on camera or share his name. He said he knows four people who were shot Wednesday night - a relative and three friends.
"One of them is deceased, the other ones are in the hospital. I think one of them got hit like four times," he told WBZ. "Everyone's going to know at least one person who was there or involved."