(NewsNation) — A man unleashing gunfire Wednesday night at Just-in-Time Recreation in Lewiston is a sight that may never fade for two Maine bowlers.
“I remember it like it just happened because every time I blink, I picture it again,” Chad Hopkins told NewsNation host Chris Cuomo.
League leaders Hopkins and Kenny Moore helped save the lives of dozens of bowlers by rushing them out of the bowling alley, and they think matters could have been much worse.
“(There’s a) big bang. I turn around. I see him no more than 30 feet away from me,” Hopkins recalled. “There’s bowling racks and pillars and people and such between us. I see him pointing down with the gun, looking at his potential victims. It looked like he had a weapon failure going on. At that point, I had two options: One was to try to attack him or to try to get as many people out as possible.”
With the loud noises and chaos unfolding around him, Moore knew instantly something was wrong.
“I hear the loudest pop I’ve ever heard in a bowling alley, and it was unnatural. I’ve been in bowling alleys my entire life. It was unnatural. I knew it immediately,” Moore said, later adding: “When I looked around the corner, he was facing me at 30 feet and he was racking his gun.”
In a “CUOMO” interview, Moore said the gunman’s moves appeared to be calculated.
“This wasn’t a sprayer. This was a pow, pow, pow, pow. He was putting a dot on somebody,” Moore said.
Both Moore and Hopkins say they are unaware of anyone there who knew the gunman. A manhunt remains underway for the suspect identified by investigators as Robert Card.
Hopkins believes the fact that Card has evaded capture is keeping many Maine residents up at night.
“As long as he’s alive, you know, I’m not going to be able to sleep. … No one’s going to be able to sleep until he’s found,” Hopkins said.
He continued: “As much as I want the police force to empty every single round that they have into his chest, I think we all almost want him to give some sort of an answer, but there’s not going to be one answer he gives that’s going to make sense for any of us.”
The shootings Wednesday at two Maine establishments, Schemengees Bar and Grille and Just-in-Time Recreation, killed at least 18 people and injured 13 more.
Moore maintains the tight-knit community of Lewiston will find strength in each other.
“The bowling family as a whole, we’re all praying. We’re all in this together. We’re going to get through it together,” Moore said.
Since the gunman remains at large, Lewiston police asked members of the public to remain cautious. Investigators warned that Card, 40, should be considered armed and dangerous.
Anyone with information about Card or the shootings is urged to contact law enforcement at 207-213-9526 or 207-509-9002.