A vigil in Lewiston remembers those killed by the most serious shooting of the year in the US.

More than 1,000 people participated this Sunday in a vigil held in the city of Lewiston (Maine) to remember the 18 dead and 13 injured in the two shootings recorded last Wednesday, the most serious violent incident in the United States so far this year.

The Basilica of Saint Peter and Saint Paul and its surroundings were the place chosen to celebrate the first great act of communion between the inhabitants of the city, who had to spend two days locked up since the assailant fled after mass shooting in a bowling alley and in a restaurant.

Robert Card, a 40-year-old reserve soldier, was found dead last Friday in a recycling truck at a plant where he had worked. in the neighboring municipality of Lisbon.

“We cannot allow Lewiston to be remembered for its violence, but for the strength and love they have shown each other and for the comfort they will share in dark times,” sportswriter Tom Caron, a native of New York, said at the ceremony. Lewiston.

Although they remained in the background, andRelatives of the deceased participated in the event, who sat in front of an altar decorated with flowers and photographs of each of them. 2 women and 16 men, aged between 14 and 76, died.

The vigil was held at a center belonging to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, but speakers from different faiths participated in the ceremony.

It was interpreted at all times through sign language, in a gesture of respect for the deaf community, severely affected by the tragedy, since four of the deceased were deaf.

Outside the basilica, hundreds of citizens gathered in front of a screen that broadcast the event, carrying candles to honor the victims. and present themselves as a united people. Many of them wore T-shirts or sweatshirts with the slogan “Maine Strong” or “Lewiston Strong.”

“We will not be defined by the tragedies that happened. Fear, anxiety and restlessness will not dictate our present or our future,” said the Rev. Todd Little of the First United Pentecostal Church of Lewiston, one of the participants in the ceremony.

According to the Maine Department of Public Safety, Card died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The weapon with which he shot three dozen people at a bowling alley and in a restaurant, an assault rifle, was found inside the car in which he allegedly fled and which was abandoned on a pier in Lisbon, neighboring Lewiston.

The body was found last Friday inside a truck parked in a parking lot belonging to the recycling company where he had worked, and which was searched twice.

In one of the houses that the police searched, a note was found in which Card said goodbye to his loved ones and left sensitive data written such as his mobile phone and bank account passwords.

It is not yet known – and will not be known until the publication of the autopsy – at what moment Card died, which caused the inhabitants of the city of Lewiston and neighboring towns to be confined for 48 hours.

Keep reading:

• A divorce and problems in the Army: What life was like for Robert Card before the shooting in Maine
• Drones, helicopters, police dogs and robots: This is the intense search for the Maine shooter.
• Sister-in-law of the alleged Maine shooter says he was convinced he heard voices criticizing him.