Last night, a gunman opened fire at multiple locations in Lewiston, Maine, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens more. As of this writing, a multi-agency manhunt continues for Robert Card, a firearms instructor whom authorities have identified as a person of interest in the shootings.
Neo-Nazis think that they can find him before the cops do.
Last night, the National Socialist Club posted a call for its members to patrol Lewiston, where the shootings occurred, as well as nearby Lisbon, Maine. The National Socialist Club, also called NSC-131, is a neo-Nazi group based in New England.
The group is best known for protesting drag queen story hours, distributing fliers, and hanging banners in public places, such as one that read “Keep New England white,” which it allegedly hung from an overpass last year.
“We are calling on all New England Nationalists to converge on Lewiston, Maine and surrounding areas to assist in the search for mass shooter Robert W. Card and his White 2013 Subaru Outback,” National Socialist Club wrote on Telegram after news of the slayings broke Wednesday night.
The group also claimed that there were “multiple shooters.” There are no credible reports that there was more than one shooter.
As of this writing, the post has been viewed 5,500 times.
Early Thursday, National Socialist Club posted a video of its members taken from a moving car where they were supposedly “patrolling in Lisbon Falls Maine, assisting in the manhunt.” In a follow-up, the group posted a map that apparently identified its location and described its efforts as a “boots on the ground response.”
Authorities have issued a shelter in place order and asked people to stay home with their doors locked. Anyone out, even with the intention of helping, would not only be violating this order, but could potentially impede law enforcement’s efforts to find and apprehend the suspect.
Hours later, National Socialist Club accused law enforcement of making little to no attempt to locate the suspect.
“As far as Nationalists on the ground in Lewiston/Lisbon can tell there is effectively no search underway by, ‘authorities’ there,” it wrote.
“It is our belief that law enforcement does not wish to engage the shooter at night due to reports of the shooter having night vision goggles,” they wrote without evidence.
“Nationalists will continue to patrol the roads and woods throughout Lisbon until dawn.”
In the same post, the neo-Nazi group contradicted itself by noting that they’d seen “countless” police cruisers, SWAT, and FBI agents, armored vehicles, and at least one helicopter patrolling. CNN reports that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are also assisting in the search.
None of these agencies have requested assistance from neo-Nazis to search for the man they believe perpetrated the mass shooting in Maine.
