The Central Maine medical center in Lewiston is reported to be very active at the moment.

Video posted online shows armed police officers standing at the hospital’s entrances. NewsNation’s Alex Caprariello reports that the hospital is on lockdown and that no visitor can come in and check on their family members.

Maine state police are extending the shelter-in-place advisory to include the town of Bowdoin. In a message posted to social media, the police said:

We are expanding the shelter in place advisory and school closings to include the town of Bowdoin. Please stay inside your homes while more than 100 investigators, both local and federal work to locate Robert Card who is a person of interest in the Lewiston shootings.

Bowdoin is located slightly to the south-east of Lewiston and Lisbon, where residents have already been told to stay indoors. It is about 14 miles away from the location of the shootings, and lies between I-95 and I-295.

ABC News has been carrying an interview with a witness to the shooting at the bowling alley in Lewiston. Riley Dumont said that she was there because her daughter was participating in a children’s bowling league.

She told the network “it felt like it lasted a lifetime … I just remember people sobbing and crying, and the people around me were not screaming, but, like whimpering, and my mom and I were just trying to keep everybody quiet.”

She said that her father, who is a retired police officer, “just went into action in that moment, and just kind of corralled us all, and made sure we are all safe. He put protection in front of us, like tables and a big bench, that the kids were hiding behind.”

Residents of Lisbon in Maine have been asked by police to remain sheltering-in-place in the morning. NBC News quotes officials saying:

Your cooperation with this recommendation is greatly appreciated as we work with several other law enforcement agencies to assure the residents and businesses in the community can go about their daily activities safely.

What we know so far …

AP is reporting a little bit here about the information released so far about the “person of interest” in the Lewiston shootings. It writes:

A police bulletin identified Robert Card, 40, as a person of interest in the attack that sent panicked bowlers scrambling behind pins when shots rang out around 7pm. Card was described as a firearms instructor believed to be in the Army Reserve and assigned to a training facility in Saco, Maine.

The document, circulated to law enforcement officials, said Card had been committed to a mental health facility for two weeks in the summer of 2023. It did not provide details about his treatment or condition but said Card had reported “hearing voices and threats to shoot up” the military base. A telephone number listed for Card in public records was not in service.

Here is a rough idea of the timeline of events during the evening in Maine, where at least 16 people have been killed.

Two shootings were reported with multiple casualties in Lewiston around 7pm. An hour later, Androscoggin county sheriff’s office released photos of an armed suspect, and Maine state police said there was “an active shooter in Lewiston” and ordered people to shelter-in-place. At around 11pm local time the police named Robert Card as a “person of interest”. At around 11.30pm authorities said a “vehicle of interest” was found in Lisbon, which is about eight miles away from Lewiston. Lisbon authorities have told people to keep sheltering in place.

Law enforcement forces have announced there will be a press conference about the shooting at 10.30am local time – that is in just under six-and-a-half hours’ time.

The Schemengees Bar and Grill, which was the second shooting location, has posted to Facebook to express grief about the shootings, writing “My heart is crushed. I am at a loss for words. In a split second your world gets turn upside down for no good reason. We lost great people in this community. How can we make any sense of this. Sending out prayers to everyone.”

Here are some of the latest images we have been sent over the news wires from Lewiston in Maine, where a mass shooting has taken place, leaving at least 16 people dead. Police are searching for a 40-year-old names Robert Card and his white SUV. He has been named as a “person of interest”.

About an hour ago the Lewiston Maine police department announced road closures in the vicinity of the mass shooting. It wrote on Facebook “Due to the ongoing investigation, Mollison Way will be closed until further notice. River Rd will be closed from Locust St to South Ave. Residents of River Rd will be allowed into the closed area.”

Mollison Way is close to Sparetime Recreation, the bowling alley that was scene of one of the shootings.

It’s now 2.15am in Lewiston, Maine. The search for person of interest Robert Card is ongoing with police saying hundreds of officers are taking part.

At least 16 people have been reportedly killed in the two shootings in the city, with police sources saying that number is likely to rise.

The citizens of Lewiston and the nearby town of Lisbon remain under shelter in place orders, with authorities advising people to stay inside with their doors locked.

We’re going to pause our live blog now, but for all the latest details you can read our wrap of the evening’s events here: