Where does the Lewiston, Maine, massacre rank among deadly mass shootings?
Information about Wednesday night’s mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine is still taking shape, but officials confirmed Thursday that 18 people were killed and more than a dozen were wounded when a gunman who remained at large Thursday evening brought madness to an unsuspecting town.
Should that death toll stay where it is, the massacre will be the nation’s 10th deadliest mass shooting in modern times. This is a rundown of the top 10.
1. Route 91 Harvest Music Festival — Las Vegas (2017)
Sixty people were killed in an October 2017 shooting when a gunman, whose motive still remains unclear, fired a flurry of shots into a concert crowd from a hotel window. Nearly 900 music fans were wounded.
2. Pulse nightclub — Orlando, Fla. (2016)
A gunman killed 49 people in a gay-friendly nightclub in June 2016 using a rifle and a pistol. The shooter died in a gunfight that ended his killing spree.
3. Virginia Tech — Blacksburg, Va. (2007)
A shooter carrying a pair of semi-automatic handguns committed the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history in April 2007, murdering 32 people and wounding 23 more on a college campus used by 38,000 students.
4. Sandy Hook Elementary School — Newtown, Conn. (2012)
A 20-year-old Connecticut man killed his mother in December 2012 before driving to a school armed with an Bushmaster AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and fatally shooting 20 children and six adults roughly 75 miles north of New York City.
5. First Baptist Church — Sutherland Springs, Texas (2017)
An armorclad 26-year-old shooter carrying a Ruger AR-556 semi-automatic rifle and a pair of handguns killed 26 churchgoers, then took his own life in November 2017. Cops said 700 shots were fired.
6. Luby’s Cafeteria — Killeen, Texas (1991)
After driving his truck through a restaurant window at lunchtime, a shooter then opened fire with semi-automatic pistols, killing 23 people and wounding 27 more in 1991. At the time, it was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.
7. Walmart — El Paso, Texas (2019)
An August 2019 attack on Latino shoppers at a border town Walmart left 23 people dead and just as many wounded. The hate crime was committed with a Romanian AK-47 using ammunition ordered from Russia, according to the shooter.
8. McDonald’s — San Diego (1984)
In July 1984, a gunman killed 21 people in a fast food eatery in San Diego’s San Ysidro neighborhood in a rampage lasting more than an hour. A police sniper finally ended the horror.
9. Robb Elementary School — Uvalde, Texas (2022)
An 18-year-old former student at Robb Elementary School killed 19 teenagers and two adults in May 2022.
“I’m sick and tired of it,” President Joe Biden said after that bloodbath. “We have to act. And don’t tell me we can’t have an impact on this carnage.”
10. Lewiston, Maine — Multiple locations (2023)
Police believe Robert Card, who remained at large Thursday evening, went on a Wednesday night killing spree inside Sparetime Recreation Center bowling alley and Schemengees Bar and Grille, taking 18 lives. Family claims the veteran, who carried an assault rifle, was struggling with mental health issues.
_____
