LEWISTON, Maine (NewsNation) — As a gunman opened fire inside a Lewiston bowling alley, one survivor rushed to escort a group of kids out the back entrance.
“There was carnage everywhere,” Kenny Moore said.
The president of the Lewiston Auburn United States Bowling Congress Youth League (LAUSBC), Moore was at Just-In-Time Recreation Wednesday night to facilitate a league practice with about 15 kids — most of them between the ages of 7 years old and 18 years old.
“They came in to practice bowling and the night turned into chaos,” Moore said.
When Moore recognized there was a gunman, he shouted at anybody who would listen to him. Very familiar with the bowling alley, he knew where the exits were and tried to get as many people out of the facility as quickly as he could.
“I heard a pop go off inside the bowling alley. It was the loudest bang that I’ve ever heard in the bowling alley, and I’ve been in bowling alleys since I was 6,” Moore said.
He said he questioned whether some equipment broke or something went wrong, and when he looked around the corner toward the facility’s entrance, he saw a man standing there fumbling with what Moore believed to be a jammed gun.
“If that gun hadn’t jammed, if he didn’t have trouble with that AR-style rifle, would he have made it down that aisle to where I was?” Moore questioned.
Once the gun jammed, Moore was able to get across a corridor in the building to retrieve another group of people who didn’t want to cross over while the man was still there.
Since the gunman was having trouble with his weapon, he decided to leave, Moore said. He believes that the malfunction of the gun saved lives.
Moore said investigators aren’t releasing the names or identities of the shooting victims just yet, and he wants to remain respectful of that decision. However, Moore did confirm to NewsNation that one of the victims was the league’s head coach. The coach’s wife was shot and taken to the hospital.
He also said at least one child was shot in the arm and also taken to the hospital.
The shooting happened fairly quickly, Moore said. He explained that the shooter took deliberate shots at three people who tried to charge him to stop him. Moore said the bowling alley’s general manager Thomas Giberti was among two other men trying to stop the shooter. All three men were shot.
“No one could get to him. At that point, he was firing rounds,” Moore said.
New England Bowling posted Giberti risked his life to stop the gunman, and now, he is fighting for his life in the hospital after being shot multiple times in the legs.
When it was safe, Moore joined a couple of others to assess the damage and see if any of the shooting victims were still alive.
On Thursday, Maine Gov. Janet Mills announced that 18 people were killed and 13 were injured in the two shootings. Seven victims were killed at the bowling alley, seven were killed at or near the bar and three died at the hospital, police said.
“Every person thinks that something like this won’t come to their community, and I was of that mindset for a long time. But I think this just shows that it doesn’t matter where you are at,” Moore said.
He continued, “We have to figure out how to stop it from happening. And the problem is that it’s happening way too often.”
Moore remembered his friend, the late coach who died during the shooting, saying he was dedicated to the kids in the youth bowling program and will be missed by the entire bowling community. Moore said they were planning a celebration for the coach after he was inducted into the local bowling hall of fame.