Tragedy struck Lewiston, Maine on Oct. 25 when gunman Robert Card shot and killed 18 people at a bowling alley and bar. The shooting was the 565th mass shooting in the United States in 2023. There have been 18 since, according to the Gun Violence Archive an online archive of gun violence incidents compiled from government, media and commercial sources. Although Lewiston is the second biggest city in Maine, it has a similar small-town atmosphere to Canton, New York. Lewiston also has a small liberal arts school— Bates College— which has many connections to St. Lawrence University.
Linda Gillis, who has a daughter at St. Lawrence and a son at Bates, said that she heard first from her son about the shooting. The school did not contact students and families until hours after the incident occurred. However, they have received regular updates since then.
Bates students were under a shelter-in-place order in which students lacked access to food. “Classes were canceled, sports were canceled,” Gillis said, describing the order. “My son always studies in the library, but now he’s not able to go from his house to the library, where he was when it all happened he had to spend the night in the library.”
Melinda Kostrinsky `26, a member of the Bates rowing team, said their last race of the season was canceled. “It was kind of a weird end because we didn’t know it was our last day,” says Kostrinsky. Kostrinsky was in tutoring when she heard about the shooting and had to sleep in the building. Kostrinsky said students were eventually able to go to the dining hall to pick up meals. “Campus safety and the president of the college were there watching us walk to the dining hall,” says Kostrinsky, “I felt pretty safe, all things considered.”
Following the shooting, Kostrinsky said that the atmosphere on campus is eerie, but faculty, staff and administration have been supportive, with many professors adjusting syllabuses to give people time to process. Kostrinsky, along with most of the Bates community, attended a vigil Sunday night at the chapel in Lewiston. “It was absolutely beautiful,” says Kostrinsky. “There were a lot of people there, it was nice to see everyone come together.”
Olivia May `26, a student at St. Lawrence, is from an area near Lewiston. “Initially, it was frantic; my mind went to the worst place possible; I called my family immediately,” She said, describing the moment she heard about the shooting.
May described how big of an impact the shooting will no doubt have on the Maine community. “Maine has always felt like a safe haven, so it is just jarring to realize that it is just as prone to that kind of violence as anywhere in the country; it just goes to show that no part of the country is safe or exempt from this kind of violence.”
Assistant Vice President of Safety & Security at St. Lawrence Patrick Gagnon, said that Bates campus safety protocols were essential during the search for Card. “At St. Lawrence, we do have an emergency plan. University administrators regularly engage in emergency planning tabletop exercises to practice our responses to various scenarios,” says Gagnon.
The need for active shooter drills is a normalized part of American culture due to the lack of gun regulation. Precious Hall, an assistant professor in the Government Department with a doctorate in political science, said that the controversy surrounding gun legislation is whether gun access should be unlimited, restricted or if there is a middle ground. “There’s a difference between an absolute right to bear arms and a regulated right,” says Hall.
Mass shootings also result from a lack of understanding of mental health. Some states have enacted red flag laws aiming to prevent people with severe mental health issues from gaining gun access. “A lot of people are good at hiding mental health issues, so even states that have the red flags, they won’t necessarily eliminate the problem because oftentimes the problem is invisible. And how do you fight against an invisible problem?” says Hall.
Unfortunately, the shooting in Lewiston was far from the first or last mass shooting in the United States. Hopefully, it will serve as a wake-up call for a need for better mental health awareness when it comes to gun regulation. As Kostrinsky said, “It was only a weekend, but it was a weekend that so much happened”.