Devoted youth bowling coach. 'Hero' bar manager. Families remember Maine shooting victims
A bar manager who, according to his father, confronted the gunman and a man participating in a cornhole tournament alongside fellow members of the deaf community were among the 18 people killed in two mass shootings in Lewiston, Maine, this week.
They included a teenager and his father and a couple in their 70s. The rest were adults in their 30s, 40s and 50s.
According to Maine State Police, seven people, six males and one female, died Wednesday night at Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley in Androscoggin County, about 33 miles southwest of the state capital, Augusta. Eight others, all male, died at Schemengees Bar and Grille about four miles south of the business. Three other people died in hospitals.
On Friday evening, a 40-year-old Army reservist wanted on multiple counts of murder was found dead, authorities said.
Authorities released the names of the dead at a news conference late Friday afternoon.
According to Mike Sauschuck, commissioner of Maine's Dept. of Public Safety, the people killed were:
Tricia C. Asselin, 53;
William Frank Brackett, 48;
Peyton Brewer-Ross, 40;
Thomas Ryan Conrad, 34;
Michael R. Deslauriers II, 51;
Maxx A. Hathaway, 35;
Bryan M. MacFarlane, 41;
Keith D. Macneir, 64;
Ronald C. Morin, 55;
Joshua A. Seal, 36;
Arthur Fred Strout, 42;
Stephen M. Vozzella, 45;
Jason Adam Walker, 51;
Joseph Lawrence Walker, 57;
Robert E. Violette, 76;
Lucille Violette, 73;
Aaron Young, 14;
William A. Young, 44.
The Crowdfunding website GoFundMe created a page of verified fundraisers for the victims and their families.
Here's what we know about the people killed in Maine:
William 'Billy' Brackett
William Brackett, who went by Billy, was a devoted son who was always attending different deaf community events in Maine, his father, William Brackett Sr. told USA TODAY.
Billy Brackett went to Schemengees Bar and Grille every Wednesday night to play cornhole and darts with a group of friends that included other deaf people as well as hearing people, his father said.
"They all understand one another with no problems," William Brackett Sr. said. "He was quite a dart shooter," he said.
In William Brackett Sr.'s home garage, dozens of Billy's darts trophies stand alongside high school trophies from baseball, basketball and soccer tournaments, his father said.
"Anything in sports, he loved it," William Brackett Sr., 79, said. "When he was little, if he wasn't home, I knew where he was — he was at the ballpark."
Before Billy Brackett, 48, was killed during the shootings Wednesday, he worked as a package handler for FedEx, according to his father.
Brackett is survived by his wife and daughter, age 2, his father said.
"He was a great guy, he was my buddy," Brackett's father said on the phone, his voice cracking. "My pride and joy."
Stephen Vozzella
Steve Vozzella, 45, was at Schmengees Bar and Grille Wednesday evening with a group of about 10 other deaf adults, playing cornhole, his wife, Megan Vozzella, told USA TODAY.
On Friday, Megan Vozzella said via text message that police notified her that her husband was killed during the massacre.
Megan Vozzella, who is also deaf, told USA TODAY she felt “lost” and her mind was “so numbed” by the loss of her husband.
Arthur Strout
Arthur Strout, a 42-year-old father was also killed in the bar shooting, his father told CBS and WCBV-TV.
The man's father, Arthur Barnard, told CBS he was with his son playing pool the night of the shooting. Barnard had left the bar before gunfire broke out, he said.
"I hadn't driven very far before I got a phone call saying that there was a shooting there, and I knew where he was in the place, 20 feet from the door," Barnard said. "The crazy part is just being with him just before it happened. … I mean 10 minutes before it happened.”
Barnard told the outlets his son was a father of five children.
Tricia Asselin
Tricia Asselin, who worked partime at the bowling alley, was there on her night off, bowling with her sister, when she was killed, according to the Lewiston Sun Journal and CNN.
In an interview with CNN, Bobbi Nichols told the outlet she and her 52-year-old sister were part of a bowling league, and Asselin was in another lane when the gunman entered and opened fire.
“We were on different teams and she was like six aisles down from me," Nichols said. "We heard a big bang. ... I knew it was a gun."
She said she and several others ran outside and learned later that her sister had dialed 911. Nichols said she did not learn her sister was dead until more than an hour later.
"I was told that he had shot and killed her while she was calling for help," Nichols said.
Michael Deslauriers II
Michael Deslauriers’ father, chairman of Sabattus Historical Society in Maine, told CBS News his son, 57, was shot and died after the bowling alley shooting.
The father said his son and a friend, who was also there, "made sure their wives and several children were safe before charging at the shooter," Reuters reported.
Bryan MacFarlane
Bryan MacFarlane died of his wounds after being shot at Schemengees Bar and Grille, his sister, Keri Brooks, told CNN. McFarland, who was 41, grew up around Portland, Maine and was part of the group participating in a deaf cornhole tournament, Brooks told the outlet.
"Bryan loved riding his motorcycle, camping in his trailer, fishing, hanging out with Deaf friends and especially loved his dog named M&M (his favorite candy)," Brooks said in a text to USA TODAY. MacFarlane was proud of earning a Class D CDL certification, she said.
Brooks told CNN and NBC5-TV MacFarlane had recently moved back to Maine from Vermont.
Joseph Walker
Joseph Walker, 57 was the bar manager at Schemengees Bar and Grille. His father, Auburn City Councilor Leroy Walker, told NBC News on Thursday that his son was shot twice in the abdomen as he went after the gunman with a butcher knife.
“He died as a hero,” said his father, who also confirmed his death to WMTV-TV.
Waiting for confirmation of his worst fears Wednesday night, Walker said, he felt as if his guts and neck were being “squashed.” Knowing that his son died trying to stop the shooter did not make him feel any better, he said. "It made it worse," he said.
In the hours after the shooting, he said “And I don’t know, telling you the truth, what kind of night this is going to be from now until tomorrow when I wake up to the true facts that my son is dead – and I know he’s dead,” he said
Robert Violette
Robert Violette, 76, devoted himself to his volunteer job coaching in the youth bowling league where players were practicing Wednesday night at Just-In-Time Recreation, said Patrick Poulin, whose teenage son has been a member of the league for three years.
He and his wife Lucille, 73, were both killed in the shooting.
“He’s taught so many people over the years how to bowl, and he wasn’t getting paid,” Poulin said, calling him by his nickname. “We’ve really been focused on trying to keep the sport alive, and Bob was really an integral part of that.”
Poulin described him as unfailingly approachable and caring.
"Sometimes kids are having a hard time for whatever reason, discouraged or something," he said. "He was great at picking them up and getting them to move along from that issue and get things going in the right direction."
William and Aaron Young
William Young, 44, and his 14-year-old son, Aaron Young, were killed at the Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley, William's brother, Rob Young, told Reuters. They had been out for an evening with their bowling league, he said.
Before learning of their deaths, Rob said, he flew to Maine from Baltimore on Thursday to help his family search for information. They had received no word from the father or son since Wednesday.
Superintendent James Hodgkin of Winthrop Public Schools wrote a letter to the school community on the district's website, explaining how they'd been struck by the loss: "Sadly, we have learned that a freshman at the high school and his dad are among the victims that were killed. Additionally, an uncle of another high school student was also killed."
Hodgkin confirmed to USA TODAY that Aaron Young and his father were among the victims, but could not identify the uncle of the other student.
Aaron Young was "a really nice young man who was very involved in music," Hodgkin said. The freshman belonged to a garage band group at his middle school and had been working to start a similar group at the small high school of about 200 students.
Hodgkin described the district as a "very close-knit community."
"A school this size, they're all my children, and the community is all my family. You hurt one of us, you've hurt all of us," he added.
"When I found out a student's uncle was killed, it all felt a little closer, a little harder. When I found out about Aaron and his dad, it was even worse," he said. "I do well for a little while and then I break down."
Peyton Brewer-Ross
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, an industrial trade union, said in a statement Thursday that Peyton Brewer-Ross was killed in the shooting.
Brewer-Ross, 40, was a Local S6 education committee member who graduated from a rigorous apprenticeship in 2022, according to the Machinists Union. "Peyton’s contribution to Local S6 and Bath Iron Works has been invaluable, and his loss is deeply felt within our union and the broader community," IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr. said in a statement.
Union General Vice President Brian Bryant, a Local S6 member and former Bath Iron Works pipefitter, said the shooting has hit them in a “catastrophic” way.
In a statement, the union’s local chapter said Brewer-Ross was a "kind, upstanding member of our community" and a "colorful character who loved cornhole, wrestling and comic book heroes."
"He worked hard and cared deeply for the people around him," the statement said. "All those who have been caught up in this tragedy have been left with a painful void."
The union said it sent its critical response team to help its members in Maine.
Survivor of bar shooting on ventilator, in ICU
Justin Karcher was wounded at the bar, his sister, Haley Breton, told CBS News. He was on a ventilator in the intensive care unit at a hospital, she said.
Her 23-year-old brother was playing pool when he was shot, his sister said, The New York Times reported. On the day of the shooting, Karcher and his fiancee had closed on a home.
"It's hard, it's stressful," said Benton, who told the outlet she waited four hours outside the hospital to find out whether her brother was alive.
Contributing: The Associated Press
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Maine shootings victims list: Families remember victims in Lewiston
