Lewiston mayor after shooting: ‘Our collective strength is greater than any number of bullets’

The mayor of Lewiston, Maine said his city’s “collective strength is greater than any number of bullets” Friday, after a mass shooting shook the community last week.

“[W]e’re a strong city,” Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline said in response to MSNBC’s Ali Velshi asking a question about what a recent mass shooting in the city will mean for the community.

“I think things, for sure, will be different, we’ll be grieving, we’ll be mourning, recovering, but Lewiston is a strong city and, you know, Lewiston is a magnificent city,” Sheline said.

Sheline also praised a recent visit by President Biden to his city, where a gunman killed 18 people and left more than a dozen wounded last week. Biden called for consensus on reforms to rein in gun violence while there.

“I know consensus is ultimately possible,” Biden said in remarks Friday. 

“Regardless of our politics, this is about protecting our freedom to go to a bowling alley, a restaurant, a school, a church without being shot and killed,” Biden added.

Sheline said Biden’s visit “lets us know that the entire country is with us.”

“[I]t was great for— to have him visit with victims and their families and just offer words of support for our city,” Sheline said. 

The gunman, Robert Card, opened fire at two separate locations, a bowling alley and a restaurant last Wednesday. The shooting sparked a two-day search for Card, which ended when he was found dead from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.