(NewsNation) — A man opened fire at two separate locations Wednesday night in Lewiston, Maine, killing 18 and injuring 13, police said.
Forensic analyst Joseph Scott Morgan tells NewsNation host Ashleigh Banfield the trauma in Maine will be extensive.
“The trauma is going to be absolutely just devastating,” Morgan explained.
Earlier in the evening, Lewiston police posted on social media that they were dealing with an active shooter incident at two separate locations: Schemengees Bar and Grille and Sparetime Recreation.
The Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office later shared two images of the man believed to be the suspect on its Facebook page. The pictures appeared to show a gunman walking into an establishment with a weapon raised to his shoulder.
Based on that picture and experience with past cases, Morgan expects the death toll to increase.
“I hate to be so grim, but a lot of these numbers that you’re hearing about injured, I anticipate based upon other stories like this that you and I have covered over the years, that that number of fatalities will probably grow,” Morgan told Banfield. “We hope that it won’t, but with these types of injuries that you can sustain like this, you’re going to have devastating internal injuries.”
Central Maine Medical Center said staff were “reacting to a mass casualty, mass shooter event” and were coordinating with hospitals in the region to help patients.
“What they’re doing at the scene right now, they’re having to triage all of these individuals that are injured,” Morgan said, later adding: “Time is of the essence. You’re going to have a lot of mass hemorrhage that’s going on with these cases. Surgeons will be working through the night. That’s why they’re trying to get these victims down to Boston and they’ve got multiple hospitals.”
Lewiston police said they are searching for Robert Card, the man they identified as a person of interest in the shooting. Investigators said Card should be considered armed and dangerous. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is urged to call 911.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.