CNN Law Enforcement Analyst Says Maine Gunman May Have ‘Drowned Himself’ As Manhunt Includes Water Search

CNN law enforcement analyst John Miller said Maine gunman Robert Card may have “drowned himself” as divers prepared to search the Androscoggin River in Lisbon, Maine.

“We’re in a process of elimination, so they’ve probably completed their search of the woods immediately by that boat launch, but then that leaves them with the water,” Miller said on CNN News Central Friday. He continued:

Now, there’s two possibilities: one is that he’s in that water, that he drowned himself and went forward with what might be a suicide after his homicides. Or the other is, here’s an individual  who at one time had a small boat registered to him, currently has a jet ski registered to him, that he could have used that lake area that feeds into a river and made a left out to ocean or right inland where he could have found a landing place, a switch car. But these are all the unknowns that as we are coming up on that 48-hour mark. They’ve got to start to walk through and try to eliminate, and eliminating that body of water is something that’s going to take a while and a lot of effort, but it is an important step.

Maine authorities have been following up on tips about the shooter’s possible whereabouts, including the report of a possible gunshot in the woods near a lettuce farm in Lisbon.

Police allege Card shot and killed 18 people and injured scores of others during a rampage in the town of Lewiston on Wednesday, images of Card holding the weapon as he entered a bowling alley before opening fire have been widely distributed. They said they found a “suicide note” and Card’s cell phone during their extensive search. Lewiston and surrounding areas have been under a shelter-in-place order since the shooting.

Watch the clip above via CNN.