we begin with breaking news, i'm poppy harlow with phil mattingly in new york. a manhunt is under way in maine after multiple mass shootings at a bowling alley and bar in lewiston. law enforcement sources say at least 16 people are dead. >> police say they are looking for robert card, he is described as armed and dangerous. a person of interest in this case. we're told thoo he is military trained as a firearms instructor and army reserve member who was recently committed to a mental health facility. these are the images of the gunman inside the bowling alley and this video showing you is of people running out of the building as police search the area with flash flights and guns drawn. listen to this survivor, he was bowling when the gunman came in and opened fire just 15 feet behind him. >> just a night of bowling. out of nowhere he just came in and heard a throughout bomb. thought it was a balloon. i had my back turned to the door. as soon as i turned and saw it was not a balloon, he was holding a weapon, i booked it down the lane and i slid basically into where the pins are and climbed up on the machine and on top of the machines for about ten minutes until the cops got there. >> so investigators say a vehicle connected to robert card was found. it was found near trail head and boat launch in a nearby town. take a look at this, this is video of a s.w.a.t. team and officers rushing to the area. hospitals in the area are overwhelmed. sources tell cnn 50 to 60 people were injured in the shootings. officers with rifles have been standing guard around the hospital in lewiston. and abc news spoke to a little girl and a mother who were at the bowling alley for youth night. >> she was grazed by a bullet while we were running. >> i never thought i'd grow up and get a bullet in my leg. just like why? like why do people do this? >> and that is the question this morning posed by that little girl. omar jimenez is on the ground in lewiston and is joining us now. what more are you learning? >> reporter: yeah, so right now we are just near by the bar & grille one of two mass shooting sights. the other being the bowling alley. and this has completely shocked this community that couldn't imagine something like this happening in their own backyard. that is why residents across this area are being told to shelter in place and a manhunt is very much active. as law enforcement say, still very much a fluid situation. a manhunt under way after a gunman opened fire at a restaurant and bowling alley in lewiston, maine. >> multiple vehicles. need every unit you can find. >> there was kids, looking back, like that was probably the hardest part just seeing families, families pouring out of there. and knowing that that happened while they were just trying to have a night. . >> reporter: 40 y-year-old robe card is the person of interest. and they warn he is armed and dangerous. >> we have laterally hundreds of police offices working around the state of maine to investigate this case, to locate mr. card who again is a person of interest and person of interest only. and we'll continue to gather information. >> reporter: sheriff office released several surveillance photos of card holding an assault style rifle and warn people to shelter in place. >> card is considered armed and dangerous. if people see him, they should not approach card or make contact in any way. >> reporter: law enforcement sources say card is a certified firearms instructor and member of the u.s. army reserve. the officials say that card suffered with mental health issues including hearing voices. he also recently made threats to carry out a shooting at a national guard facility in maine. lewiston police following the shootings shared this image of a small white suv found in nearby lisbon, maine. the state police confirmed to cnn the image is of the suspect's scar. the shootings have shaken the community.car. the shootings have shaken the community. the mayor saying i'm heart broken for our city and our people. and the mayor of and you are b auburn echoed the shock. >> this is a significant amount of shock. when i was bringing people in, looking for their loved ones, there is fear, panic. >> reporter: and local officials say hospitals are overwhelmed as they handle a mass casualty event. >> the two hospitals have called in every off duty staff member that they could to deal with this. we are a town of about 39,000. our hospitals are not geared to handle this kind of shooting event and they are doing the best we can. >> reporter: the shem bar and grill is where one of these happened and this is still an active situation. schools are canceled as they try to get a handle on things and of course figure out why it happened in the first place. >> and obviously you've had a lot of experience covering mass shootings. what makes this different, you have this gunman on the loose. what is your experience on the ground so far in that community? >> reporter: even as you first get into town talking to evens new that we have, one, everybody is concerned about it. even when we checked in to our hotel, they wouldn't open the doors for us unless we put our i.d. up against the window -- or the glass doors essentially to get in. and even when the clerk came to let us in, he kind of got behind shelter little by little and then poked his head out of the corner and then asked us to see it because he didn't want to expose himself in case we potentially had a weapon. so of course the manhunt is still very much active. but it also is having an effect on some of the residents here who just want answers specifically where this person could be, who law enforcement consider armed and dangerous. >> and that response makes sense because they are being told to shelter in place. thank you, omar. we'll be back to you soon. scanner audio obtained by cnn captured the chaos that ensued. we'll play part of that for you. >> shooter. >> male black hair with a hoodie looked like a rifle. >> another active shooter. >> i don't know if any description has been given out for schemengees one, but again headed toward the treatment plant. >> multiplic have tvictims. need every unit you can find. >> and andy mccabe and charles ramsey joining us. based on what we know to this point, considering his background and career, what do you think law enforcement is doing at this moment in the midst of this manhunt? >> well, phil, they are in addition to searching and running down every possible lead they can come up with, attempting to identify and establish perimeters, to section off areas of interest where they think he might be, they are also thinking very clearly about protecting themselves because any law enforcement officers engaged in this search realizes that the ultimate confrontation which will take place at some point, whether it is an hour from now or five days from now, whatever that ends up being, is going to be highly charged incredibly dangerous moment when you have law enforcement facing off essentially with a highly trained very skilled heavily armed killer, a person who just killed at least 16 people that we know of, this is, you know, you can -- i can guarantee you that those officers and those agencies who are doing this work are at the absolute intensity right now. >> and commissioner ramsey, look, you ran the police force in philadelphia so i'm wondering what your read is on the fact that the police had a presser around 11:00 p.m., they won't have another until around 10:00 a.m. seems like a lot of time. >> that is a lot of time but they have also been very careful about the information that they are releasing. they have not given out the number of those dead and anything really other than his i.d. so i don't know whether that is part of it or not. they only want to put out facts. there is always a lot of information floating around. some of it is misinformation. earlier last night we were reporting 22 because of a city council person. now it is 16. so there is a lot of information that has to be verified before they can really -- before they can get before cameras and provide information. right now they say stay off the sheet. give police a call if they hear or anything at all that is suspicious. >> and to that point, this is a community that is locked down at this point in time. information would seem helpful. as omar was relying, people are scared with good reason. is there an investigative reason to keep the details at a minimum at this point? >> bad guys watch television too, so there is always some information that you hold close. but this is a situation where you've got people that are really afraid and rightfully on so. and so the more information that you can put out, better off you are. waiting until 10:00 or so, but we'll find out when they have their press conference. right now you have offices who have worked overnight. there is a lot of activity taking place. they have to find relief for some of those officers that have been out all night long. they have areas that they are searching certainly if there is a house, you've got a car now. we don't know whether he had a second car available to him. this was a well planned event it looks like, so they don't know if he is still in that immediate area. at least they are not saying. >> please stay with us. we have a lot more to get to with you. we'll continue this breaking news coverage of this urgent manhunt for the gunman responsible for last night's deadly mass shootings. one of the scenes of the murders wa s shem bar a& grilill. president biden was briefed last night on the mass shooting. he has also spoken with maine's governor and senators king and collins. and priscilla alvarez is live for us. do we know anything in terms of what comes next as the manhunt continues? >> in those conversations, the president offered full support to maib ne and any federal need that they may have. but an operation does kick in here at the white house when a mass shooting alert happens. and that includes the situation room, national security council working with justice department and law enforcement agencies along with the office of inter-governmental affairs to track down information and trying to understand what is happening on the ground. oftentimes it is the homeland security adviser who is advising the president, briefing the president as they learn more. and then advisers keep them updated throughout the day. so that is what we are anticipating today that the president will continue to be brief order what is happening as local law enforcement also tries to wrap their arms around what occurred here. but there is a lot of discussions occurring minute by minute as law enforcement tries to unz thederstand the situatio. >> and this is just about a month after the white house established this first ever office for gun violence. talk about that. >> reporter: well, it speaks to the fact that this is an administration that realizes that this is commonplace. unfortunately mass shootings have become a reality they have to contend with. and this office implementing the president's signature gun legislation which includes expanded background checks as well as looking into what other actions the administration can take on this front. while the president has called for stricter gun laws, there is a reality that that faces an uphill battle in congress where there are deep divisions over gun legislation. so part of the office is also looking at what other executive actions can be taken. the president has already taken two dozen of those. but while we wait for the president's statement today, we can also expect that he will be calling for the stricter gun laws and movement in congress to make sure that this happens and avoid other tragedies like this one. >> priscilla, alvarez, thank you. so a middle school in auburn, maine is one of the reunification centers. the mayor of auburn spoke to laura coates overnight about what he was seeing there. listen. >> you can give me a sense of the ages of the people present at that bowling alley? >> anywhere from probably 12 to 90. and everywhere in between. >> back with us, andy mccabe and also charles ramsey. andy, we actually know quite a bit wabout this this person of interest. we know he is a certified arms instructor, a member of the army reserves. and we also know that he was committed for about two weeks at a mental health facility just about a year ago. with all that information, how does that guide this hunt for him? >> well, i think that all those facts, poppy, put together these are things directing the search and we also those conducting the search, law enforcement and agents on the ground, they are thinking about each one of these factors as they are out there looking for this person. you know, knowing that he has recently gone through -- i say presley. sounds like it was probably in the last few months or sometime this summer that he spent time in a facility. but recently gone through a period of mental instability, a time when he made threats to the base in saco, maine where he is assigned as a reservist. you know, you realize the person that you are looking for is highly skilled, highly trained, a lot of experience and also potentially in the middle of a mental health crisis in which they are not logical or imbalanced or not able to really make competent or effective or rational decisions if confronted. so all these things just take an incredibly charged and dangerous situation and make it that much tougher to deal with. >> and just to follow that, people will say does maine have a red flag law that allows family or a judge to say this person shouldn't have a firearm. charles ramsey, you are shaking your head. they have a yellow flag law that requires a doctor, a medical official to sign off on taking their firearm away. can you speak to that, commissioner? >> well, maine doesn't have very strong gun laws right now. and certainly a red flag law and you are always guessing whether or not that would have made a difference or not, but certainly having something like that in place would have at least made it more likely that they could have taken some kind of action. earlier i was listening to one of the programs and they mentioned what law enforcement could do. there is very little that law enforcement can do without the proper laws being in place. and so all this stuff has to be evaluated at some point in time. hopefully state legislature will do that. although i'm not optimistic that there will be any real changes in the gun laws. but it just shows that once again that guns especially very danger are you guns fall into the hands of very dangerous people and this is just one more example of that that we're dealing with now. >> andrew, charles, stay with us. much more to get to. right now police are urgently searching for the gunman responsible for the deadly mass shootings in maine. we'll have much more of breaking news ahead. and also benjamin netanyahu telling israelis in a televised address that ground incursion into gaza is coming soon. he did not say when. we're live in israel next. the power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. and that's a good thing? great in my book! who are you? no power? no problem. introducing storm-ready wifi. now you can stay reliably connected through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. home of the xfinity 10g network. back to the breaking news. an urgent manhunt is under way right now for the gunman behind multiple mass shootings in maine overnight. here is what we know. exact number killed unclear, law enforcement is saying at least 16 people are dead. dozens more injured in lieu whilieu -- lieu which is tofrn. it happened at a bowling alley and restaurant. ron bertrobert card is the persf interest. >> he is a certified firearms instructor and recently made threats to carry out a shooting at a national guard facility in maine and he also has reported mental health issues including hearing voices. hundreds of police officers are working to locate card and people who live in and around lewiston are being told to shelter in place. sch schools nearby have canceled classes. >> and a reporter from wmtw is outside the hospital where the shooting victims were taken. >> we've seen a lot of law enforcement here at cmmc, some of them frankly almost patrolling the premises of this area with their assault-style weapons almost as if they are guarding the white house or another government building. we've seen the law enforcement officers transport people in and out of the hospital. nurses that are leaving and even families that we've seen coming in looking distressed. and some waiting in the waiting room, in the emergency room, certainly incredibly long night for them. we've spoken to nurses here who have worked in the operating room throughout the night and really just the looks that they have given us have told the story. >> and we also have our team on the ground in maine right now that will have updates for us throughout the morning. and another major story we're following, smoke billowing over gaza after an airstrike . israel says that it was a targeted raid. they say it is preparations for the next stage of combat. and in these images, it shows significant destruction. on the left an impact from october 10. on the right 11 days later. >> and this is all as israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu spoke yesterday about his plans for a ground incursion. here is what he said. >> translator: we are raining down hell fire on hamas. we have already eliminated thousands of terrorists. and this is only the beginning. at the same time, we are preparing for a ground incursion. i will not detail when, how or how many. or the overall consideration that we are taking into account. most of which are unknown to the public. and this is how it needs to be in order to safe guard the lives of our soldiers. >> erin burnett is joining us . there was a big set of movements on the ground overnight and i'm wondering how significant was in the context of what we just heard the prime minister say. >> very significant and in fact in this war the most significant assault on gaza thus far. in fact it may be the most significant assault in the past decade. so it does show very much a move to the next stage. the forces went in, they did come out after conducting their operations. they said that they killed numerous terrorists. they did not give an exact number. also anti-tank mine searching as they went through the rubble in northern gaza. but the first time in in a significant way. could be the biggest in a decade. we know special forces obviously have been in gaza, but this is a significant shift overnight. and the reality of it is when you look at those imthink as before and after, it has been reduced to rubble. we've compared it to what even you see in a place like bakhmut. but the reality is the pre- and post post. you can see thousands of strikes just over the past three weeks that we've been covering. and they did release the video. we should emphasize that that video coming from the idf. we have not witnessed it ourselves. >> and the split screen of the two different time lines for gaza underscores the acute nature of the debate. ongoing intensive debate related to humanitarian aid. u.n. scaling back humanitarian operations. what is the latest as efforts to try and expand it seem to continue to run into road blocks? >> you used the word acute and that is the right world. u.n. says they could run out of all necessary supplies overnight. and we're now obviously in the early afternoon here in israel and they say that they are rationing fuel. that is giving them a bit more time. a lot of people are not getting what they need. hospitals have already been shut down many of them from being able to provide essential services. the u.n. uses the word paralyzed to describe the situation that they areare befacing on the gro. a pediatrician says one toilet for 800 people. and just that image of course is hard to describe. you can imagine the lines. you can imagine what that means. you can imagine the disease and that is what an american pediatrician is experiencing along that rafah border crossing. it is obviously significantly worse in the north. israeli airstrikes as you know while they have decimated the north also strike areas units closer to rafah. and so hours long bread lines and humanitarian crisis is dire here. they are rationing fuel as we understand it. >> erin burnett, we'll be back with you shortly. thank you very much. in a few hours continuing on the breaking news, police will hold a news conference with more details on the deadly shooting in lewiston, maine. the person of interest at large. and also the shelter-in-place expanding to a neighbororing town.. we continue to follow the breaking news out of maine. police are urgently searching for the mass shooter. sources tell cnn at least 16 people were killed, many more wounded. officials say robert card is the person of interest and that he should be considered armed and dangerous. here with all the details we know, a methena jones. this is him? >> this is him. we should learn moor at a 10:30 press conference officials are having. but we know that robert card is the person of interest described as a certified arms instructor. and he is also reporting mental health issues including hearing voices. and making threats to shoot up a national guard facility in saco maine, that is about 50 miles to the south of lewiston where these shootings took place overnight. unclear where he is. and here are the two locations of the shootings. sparetime is a bowling alley. you see him entering with a long gun. and then about seven, eight miles away, card's car, this white suv, was found in the town of lisbon. lewiston and lisbon remain under shelter-in-place order because authorities don't know where card is. they were talking about southern maine. and these are relatively small towns. we spoke last night with the mayor of auburn which is about two miles -- neighboring town of lewiston. combined area is about 60,000. so not a lot of people. but of course we know the first location we heard from witnesses people of all ages. we saw people fleeing the bowling alley. and we can see that this is one of the photos that police began putting out within about an hour of the reports coming in in order to get the public's help in identifying this person of interest. but of course he could be very far away from liewiston at this point. so hundreds of officers are looking for him. and this is adding to the long list of mass shooting already in the u.s. this year. 565. and it rankses as one of the deadliest or the deadliest so far this year. of course this death toll may change. 16 killed, 50 to 60 wounded is the latest numbers that we have from various law enforcement officials. of course we don't know how those people were wounded. were they shot, were they injured while trying to run away from the scene. so clearly not a problem that -- a problem the u.s. is used to, but not a good thing to become familiar with. yet again another mass shooting. and another manhunt for very dangerous person of interest. >> armed with that assault style rifle. and joining us now from lewiston, judy meyer. appreciate your time. maine state police say they were expanding the shelter-in-place order and they are working to locate the person of interest robert card. do we know anymore right now? one of the issues is that there hasn't been aen to of information coming from the authorities. what are your teams hearing? >> that there hasn't baby a lot olot -- been a lot of information. there is another press conference scheduled at 10:30 this morning but they are holding information dloet vest. maybe he is listening. but several of the deceased were at the bowling alley and of the 16 number, if that sfirm, the other nine at the schemengees bar & grille. >> and that is a detail we have not been able to report. where did you learn that from? >> it was shared with us by the county sheriff. >> that is helpful. thank you very much. >> you can talk about the community? the scale of the lockdown, the manhunt under way paired with the unspeakable trauma of a mass shooting like this, what has the response been like? s >> obviously people are scared. it is a community of 36,000 people, hard working people. the lockdown was extreme last night and people were very good about observing it. there is a lot of traffic and a lot of pedestrian traffic out there this morning. so i think that people are feeling knowing police are looking for card in lisbon or perhaps boden that it is safe to be on the streets. but the lockdown does continue in lewiston, auburn and now boden. >> and the mayor described the silence from eyewitnesses of the shooting as being very, very telling. how shocked they were. what have you heard? >> we've heard the same thing. i think it is just the human reaction of not being able to put into words what you've seen and what you experienced. i know the heartache oig and tears will come, but it was unnervingly quiet last night. >> and we've also heard that hospitals just in terms of the scale of those injured were having a difficult time last night. is there any update in terms of where they are in terms of resources? >> well, they were having a difficult time and i know a lot of the patients were medevacked directly to boston. a lot of air traffic last night. but you could see the stretchers lined up, medical personnel all there waiting and ready. so everybody is devoted doing the work. but the hospitals here in maine are not gigantic medical centers. they are community hospitals and they definitely are overwhelmed. >> every parent has to tell their child this morning why they are not going to school. and we heard from a young girl who with her mom speaking to abc news who was grazed by a bullet. there were young kids at that bowling alley. it was youth night. do you have any information on how children are doing? >> i don't. i do know that the school systems here are in emergency planning mode to help children. you know, i'd be surprised if school is even open tomorrow. so this may come next week. but the school administrators are working on plans to help children understand what cannot be understood frankly. and it is really difficult -- it will be difficult for these kids to go through especially the kids who were in the bowling alley with their friends. >> for those who aren't familiar with the area or maine, as law enforcement try to find this person of interest. talk about this space itself, the terrain, the area, kind of the difficulties that may present. >> you know, maine is a largely rural state. the last we heard that they were looking into lisbon, lisbon falls area, it is more of a community area, residential. not a lot of businesses there. so it is a lot of, you know, long narrow rural roads filled with homes where people are now, you know, behind locked doors. but there are frankly a lot of places to hide. it is very wooded. so, you know, i don't envy the police -- the job they have here. it is not easy. >> judy meyer, thank you for joining us . our hearts are with you. >> thank you very much. and at 10:30 police will hold a news conference with more details in the shooting as they urgently look for the gunman and a prn of erson of interest stil large. and we'll get a live report from the bowling alley, one of the two locations where the shootings occurred. and moass shooting in a state where the laws arere very different.t. what we e know, thatat is next. this new information in. we've learned the shelter in place advisory has been expanded to bowdoin. schools across the area are closed today as an urgent manhunt continue for the gunman behind multiple mass shootings last night in lewiston, maine. we're expecting a press conference from the authorities at 10:30 a.m. eastern time. cnn affiliate reporter for whdh rob way is outside the bowling alley. what can you tell us? >> reporter: poppy, as you can imagine, this community is on edge on one side of the coin but mourning on the other after such a tragic event. we're learning that the shooter went to two different businesses. a restaurant down the street from mere and the bowling alley. and the scene is pretty quiet, but it is about a quarter mile back that police are keeping us from their investigation. and since we've been here, a number of police cars and evidence response teams have arrived. and this is also the busiest road in town which police say is normally busy at this hour but many are heeding that shelter-in-place warning. the search is for 40-year-old robert card, the person of interest in this case. he should be considered armed and dangerous. all of this starting to unfold around 7:00 last night when the gunman opened fire inside the two businesses. and i talked with a woman who lives nearby and she says she is shocked describing it as a safe city where everyone knows everyone. and hundreds of police officers are now combing through the local towns trying to find the suspect. and one thing of note, as we were driving from boston last night where our station is based, up here into maine, passing us were cruisers, police cruisers from communities all across new england. of course coming to help aid in that search and aid all the victims that need transportation and anything that these local police stations need. so of course we've seen that massive response and now the hope is that they will catch the suspect very soon. rob way from here in maine. >> rob, thank you very much. and as we continue to follow the latest in the manhunt for the shooter responsible for the killing of at least 16 people in lewiston, let's look at the gun laws in the state. this is a state that does not have the most restrictive gun laws, not everyone close, but also a state with a different profile than programs some others. gun ownership at about 45%. that is about 8% to 10% higher than the national afrverage. but violent crime has the lowest in the nation. 29 homicides in 2022. a state where gun ownership is higher than average, violent crime is lower than average. and that has led in part to why the gun laws in the state despite some efforts in the state legislature have not grown significantly more restrictive over the years as mass shootings have been as pervasive. as it currently stands, no assault weapons ban, no background checks for private sales. while it does not have a red flag law, it has what is kind of a compromise provision of a yellow flag law. the details are important particularly given what we know about the person of interest in this case. where the yellow flag law differs, a medical practictione shall notify that there is likely for foreseeable harm. and there are a few more steps than in traditional red flag laws that we've seen become more prominent in the course of the last several years. but again as this debate, which almost seems inevitable, will certainly come in the days and weeks ahead, the difference between high gun ownership and low violent crime as the state has to grapple with yet another mass shooting. >> that is fascinating looking at those statistics. thank you very much. in a few hours police will hold a news conference and update the public on the mass shootings in maine. we are told 16 people, at least 16, were killed. a manhunt is under way for the person of interest. >> and we'll speak with the mayor of a nearby town. stay with us. nice footwork. man, you're lucky, watching live sports never used to be this easy. now you can stream all your games like it's nothing. yes! [ cheers ] yeah! woho! running up and down that field looks tough. it's a pitch. get way more into what you're into when you stream on the xfinity 10g network. let's go straight to shimon prokupecz oiin lisbon, maine. and you are seeing the police do searches flights. >> reporter: yeah, we're in lisbon just a few minutes from where the person of interest dumped his car and where police have been searching through the night. and now that we have some daylight, we're starting to see some of the law enforcement officials going through these homes, the wooded area. we were just driving through here and we spotted these cars here. and so we came through here and what we've been seeing as you can see over here, you see one police officer here, you can see another officer, they are going through some homes here. and this is where they were meeting up here several of the officers pointing their guns, they were going through the woods here looking through this area. they were checking a home there to see if perhaps maybe this person of interest is there. they are now coming out from this area. will is one of the more active searches that we've seen. we've been here since around 6:00 a.m. or so. but this is the first time that we're seeing officers going through this area, going home by home, looking through the woods. what is happening here is that the police tell us that they are getting calls from people in the area, this entire neighborhood, kind of on lockdown. a shelter-in-place. and so neighbors are hearing things in their yards and they are getting concerned so they are dialing 911 and then the officers are responding. but what is significant about this is that this is the first time that we're actually seeing -- how are you, guys, thank you? first time that we're seeing the officers out here like this searching. and so now they will go to another location i believe. i think the officer wants to