Up First from NPR - Lewiston Shooting Suspect Dead, Israel-Gaza War, Acapulco Devastation

Episode Date: October 28, 2023

A suspect wanted for fatally shooting 18 people in Lewiston, Maine was found dead on Friday. Israel is ramping up its military operations in anticipation of a ground invasion in Gaza as communications are cut off there. Mexican officials say 27 people have died after Hurricane Otis hit Acapulco.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

A suspect wanted for fatally shooting 18 people in Lewiston, Maine, is dead. His body was found after a 48-hour police search. The shooting is being called one of the deadliest in the U.S. I'm Scott Simon. I'm Ayesha Roscoe, and this is Up First from NPR News. Israel scaled up its military operations in Gaza in preparation for a ground invasion. Internet and mobile services were cut off and almost no one in the Gaza Strip could be reached overnight. Ramped up airstrikes also devastated the area as people run out of food and water.

The ruin from Hurricane Otis in Mexico is astounding today. Mexican officials say that 27 people have died. But the death toll may keep rising. Very little aid is reaching people there. Stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your weekend. Now Our Change will honor 100 years of the Royal Canadian Air Force and their dedicated service to communities at home and abroad.

From the skies to Our Change, this $2 commemorative circulation coin marks their storied past and promising future. Find the limited edition Royal Canadian Air Force $2 coin today. The man wanted in a shooting that killed 18 people at a bowling alley and a bar in Lewiston, Maine, was found dead yesterday. We also know more about the people who died in Pierce. Joe Hernandez is reporting from Lewiston and joins us now. Thanks for being with us, Joe. You're welcome. Officials announced late Friday a man named Robert Card had been found dead. What do we know?

Right. Authorities made the announcement during a press conference late in the evening, and they said they found the body of 40-year-old Robert Card in Lisbon Falls near the Androscoggin River with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Besides that, they didn't release many other details, but we're expecting more information today. But last night, Maine Governor Janet Mills said she was breathing a sigh of relief knowing Card was no longer a threat to the community. I know there are some people and many people who share that sentiment, but I also know that his death may not bring solace to many.

Now is the time to heal. President Biden also released a statement after news of Card's death, thanking first responders and calling it a tragic two days for Lewiston and the nation. And what it means now for the community, basically, is that they can begin to move on. They've been holding their breath for a few days, waiting for this manhunt to come to an end. The shelter-in-place orders that were in place had been lifted earlier in the evening, and a few local hunting bans that were in place due to the manhunt were lifted after News of Card's death. Joe, what have authorities released about the victims in the shooting? Well, they shared more details at an event earlier in the day yesterday. 18 people were killed in the

shooting, all of whom have now been identified and their families have all been notified. The victims ranged in age from 14 to 76 and included a father and son and a husband and wife. Police got photos from all the families and showed them at this press conference reading the name of each victim aloud and asking the reporters in attendance for a moment of silence. Lewiston Police Chief David St. Pierre was asked by a journalist what it's been like for investigators, and he said he knew some of the victims and so did other officers. And it's certainly very challenging, you know, try to go into a situation very objectively and, you know, do a very thorough job knowing that you know this person that it's affected or, you know, a family very thorough job knowing that you know this person, that it's affected, or, you know, a family member or a friend. Very difficult.

Lewiston is Maine's second largest city, but still only has a population of about 40,000 residents. Joe, what lies ahead in this investigation and for the community of Lewiston? Well, we're still waiting for more information about how Card acquired his weapons. We know the Army Reservist had mental health issues and was even hospitalized last year for them. And there have been questions about the state's legal authority to take his guns away because of those mental health issues. Maine's law is not as strong as some other states' laws in that respect. But I think as far as today goes, it'll be seeing how the community reacts to news of the suspect's death and having those shelter-in-place orders lifted. People will be able to gather in person for the first time since the shooting to hold events like vigils that had been only taking place online due to the act of manhunt, which is now over. And, Piers, Joe Hernandez in Lewiston, Maine, thanks so much for being with us. You're welcome.

Israel ramped up its military operation in the Gaza Strip overnight. A major ground invasion is being anticipated, and airstrikes have also been stepped up. Communications are almost completely cut off in Gaza with little information available from inside. NPR's Greg Myrie is in Tel Aviv. Greg, thanks for being with us. Good to be here, Scott. What do we know about the fighting in Gaza at this moment? Well, we certainly seem to be at a new stage of the conflict. This really is a significant expansion and intensification of this Israeli military operation. But we should stress this does not seem to be the full-scale ground invasion that many are anticipating.

These airstrikes overnight appeared to be the heaviest yet. Israel also sent ground forces into the north. They have been making brief in-and-out raids the past couple nights. But today the military says the troops are still there, so it's the first time this has happened. And details are sparse, but Israel said it did send in armored vehicles, tanks, and armored personnel carriers, as well as artillery. Israelis also say they hit 150 underground targets, these being the tunnels that Hamas has, and they killed a number of Hamas commanders, including one, they say, who was responsible for the drone and paraglider attacks in southern Israel three weeks ago.

What does Hamas say? The group released a statement. They said the Israeli ground incursion was a, quote, failure, and they claim Israel suffered heavy losses in both soldiers and equipment. Now, Hamas said the fighters were able to carry out ambushes on the Israeli ground forces and that Israel needed helicopters to evacuate the dead and wounded. However, the Israeli military says they suffered no casualties overnight. And Greg, we know the humanitarian conditions in Gaza are dire. What's the latest information on that?

Yeah, Scott, we have almost no new information from inside Gaza because, as you noted, virtually all communications have been cut off. Cell phones, the Internet are all down. Now, there's a pretty strong suspicion Israel is behind this, but Israel isn't commenting one way or the other. The World Health Organization says it can't contact its medical teams in Gaza. UN aid organizations say they've had very limited contact via satellite phone, but it's hard to get any real sense of what's going on because of

these limits. We haven't been able to reach our NPR producer in Gaza or others that we've been in contact with, and this communications blackout does make conditions more dire. For example, if Palestinians are wounded in an airstrike, they can't call an ambulance or a hospital. So this makes rescue efforts very, very difficult. This is obviously a changing situation minute by minute. What are you going to be watching? So we're keeping close watch on Israel's very large ground force, which remains massed just outside the borders of Gaza,

and there's still this widespread expectation that Israel will send in more troops into the territory. Of course, we have no idea what that timetable might look like. There's still airstrikes taking place in Gaza today, we can tell from the huge plumes of smoke going up. We should note that the northern part of Gaza, where the Israelis are operating, has these open fields. So Israeli troops can take up positions there and be relatively secure, but if they push deeper into Gaza, as many expect, they'll soon hit Gaza City, the most densely packed part of the territory, and we could see very heavy urban fighting. A number of military analysts we've spoken with say this operation could last months, much larger than any previous Israeli operation in Gaza. And Pierce, Greg Myrie in

Tel Aviv, thanks so much. Sure thing, Scott. Mexican officials in Acapulco say 27 people have died after Hurricane Otis hit the region. The destruction is astounding, and the actual number of people killed is slowly becoming clearer. NPR's Eder Peralta joins us from Acapulco. Eder, thanks for being with us. Thank you, Scott. What does the government of Mexico say about the situation where you are? Look, the death toll here hasn't been updated for more than a day. They are still saying that 27 people have died,

and President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador seems to think that Acapulco is doing okay. Yesterday he said, and I'm going to quote him, we were lucky. Nature and our creator protected us. Even with the fury of the hurricane, we don't have many dead. Eder, is that true based on what you've seen and heard? No.

I mean, this is total devastation, Scott. I mean, yesterday we were watching people siphon gas from a gas station, but people here are desperate. And I noticed Rinaldo Rucci sitting with a big empty water jug, just staring out at the bay. He spends half his time in Acapulco and half his time in Canada. And he would dock his boat at this bay. And he says that a lot of his friends stayed on the boats to look after them, and now they're gone. Let's listen. My friends are gone.

Quite a few of them are gone now. And you have to be here to see it. You have to go through it. I was holding on to those metal posts in my window. It was just this. Because we live above. And my dogs were just lying in the sofa, in the furniture, in the fridge. I don't know.

I don't know. It was quite the experience. And his two dogs were killed in the hurricane. And as we were talking, I saw rescue crews pulling out a body out of the water. And as they came on shore, around six families rushed to the beach. They were all looking for their family members who were fishermen. The rescuers put the bodies onto the beach and the family members were crying. They were holding handkerchiefs over their mouths because of the smell.

And one man I spoke to said that he had been here every day since the hurricane, that he had seen around 20 bodies being brought out, that his nephew was still missing. There were two state detectives there, and one of them told me that yesterday alone, they had found at least 50 bodies across the city. This is going to be a long process, he told me. It's going to be weeks of recovering bodies. And aid, are people getting the help they need to recover? Quite simply, they are not. The aid coming in here is very little. I'll give you one example. We went to one of the big hospitals here, and they wouldn't let us in, but we spoke to the

patients and workers as they were leaving, and they describe total collapse, total chaos. They say that the roof of the eighth floor of the hospital where the critical cases are handled, that collapsed, that there's no running water or even medicine. We spoke to family members who haven't heard from their loved ones since the hurricane. Now they're walking through the hospital trying to find them. One hospital administrator told me that the hospital was so damaged that it's a total loss. They're worried that the diesel for the generators will run out soon

and that they won't be able to stay open. So the situation here is dire, and there seems to be very few answers coming from the government. And Pierseta Peralta and Acapulco, thanks so much for being with us. Thank you, Scott. And that's Up First for Saturday, October 28, 2023. I'm Scott Simon. And I'm Aisha Roscoe. Tomorrow on The Sunday Story, an episode from a series called This Is What It Feels Like about the impacts of catcalling and how it can leave people feeling vulnerable and afraid.

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