Suspect in the Mass Shootings in lewiston. Now, Law Enforcement descending on that town and the surrounding communities and a shelter in place order has expanded now as this Hunt For Accused Mass Killer robert card enters a second day. Last night police surrounded cards home in bowdoin, maine, with spotlights, with drones, calling for anyone inside that house to surrender. Apparently he wasnt there, but it does show that police are systematically searching locations known to card. We have a team of reporters and analysts with us this morning. Lets start with nbcs Antonia Hylton live in lewiston, maine. Antonia, again, we are expecting this News Conference to begin any moment. Well break as soon as they begin. What do we know right now about where police are focusing their manhunt this hour . Reporter well, this has really become a multistate effort, and of course federal partners with the fbi and atf with also on the ground. We dont know the exact perimeters, but our understanding is that all options are on the table here. They executed Search Warrants Last Night in bowdoin, maine, right down the road where the card family owns some properties. A lot of people saw footage from that, at first they thought perhaps locals thought maybe they had found robert card, they did not. But what we know is they are also considering the possibility that he may have left maine. You know, for example, the car that was found was left by the water. We know that he owned a boat that is missing, and so authorities are searching everywhere, and thats part of why, you know, this county and surrounding areas, you know, theres a shelter in place order. School is closed, businesses are still shut down today, but there are other schools farther out of this exact zone that are also doing the same. People all over the state of maine are taking precaution, locking doors, locking up their homes, barns that they say they normally wouldnt lock because there is this person highly trained in firearm use, has experience with the military, and may know his way around the woods and know how to survive, it may be a while now before authorities can find him, and the real fear here is that we could end up with a situation, Something Like what we saw just transpire in pennsylvania, a hunt, an investigation that lasted for two weeks. And in this case, this is a person who has more skills than that escapee did. So you know, authorities have a major task ahead of them, and the community here is trying to grieve while they still face this threat. Take a listen to one witness who was there that night describing some of just the terror all this has caused. I saw him looking down at his gun. He was facing away from our group. I turned to everybody at the Bowling Alley on that side, and i said everybody get out that exit door right now, live shooter. I almost wish that i was up closer to him when he came in because i every time i close my eyes i visualize myself attacking him. Reporter you can hear just how much this has impacted him, but really its impacted this entire community because what i keep hearing from residents here is that there are very few degrees of separation between folks here. Many people here, theyve grown up in this area their entire lives. Their kids are in the same School System that they went through. Their cousin lives down the road. These are the hangouts, the locations that, you know, they frequent in their daytoday lives. You have to keep in mind too, right behind me here at the Central Medical facility, there are still three people in critical condition. So while the community is trying to wrap their heads around the 18 people who were killed that night, theyre still praying and deeply concerned for those who are still here and also were sent to some other facilities around the state of maryland, and so people are on edge. Theyre really on high alert right now, and often after these incidents, you know, that you and i have covered, ana, people get the chance to go to vigils. They get the chance to go to Community Centers and grieve. But in this case people are alone. Theyre at home and Hunkered Down, and thats just adding to all the pain. Back to the manhunt, antonia, what do we know about any clues or evidence that officials have come across as theyve been searching . Well, theres a couple clues. We know that there is a letter that has been found and while we do not know the contents, the writing of the letter, we know that officials are looking into what they may or may not be able to learn about his motives that night and his steps going forward. We also learned through nbc news reporting from Law Enforcement sources more about his mental state. We confirmed with his sisterinlaw that she described that he was in a manic state, had manic beliefs, which really matches what we learned initially from a Police Bulletin describing the fact that he had spent time this a Mental Health facility this past summer and has been raising questions in the community about how someone who had such a documented experience with Mental Health challenges recently could end up having firearms. An green, we are going to go right to this Press Conference now with officials in lewiston, maine, lets listen. From an operational standpoint, what happened overnight and kind of where were going from here. Before we do that, i would like to ask chief st. Pierre to come back up and join us and kind of touch on the lewiston experience overall. Chief. Thank you, mike, and good morning members of the media and the public who are watching closely as Law Enforcement continues to work diligently on this rapidly evolving investigation. The safety of our Community Remains paramount. I want to assure all that a tremendous amount of Law Enforcement, manpower, time and effort is being utilized around the clock, literally around the clock in every effort to apprehend the suspect as well as to safeguard this community. As the chief of the lewiston, maine, police department, i am extremely thankful for the communitys outpouring of support being offered during this tense and trying time. I extend my deepest appreciation for all of our Law Enforcement partners who have responded from literally, literally around this nation. Again, i will ask the community to be as patient as possible with this process, realizing that there are many, many moving parts in coordination of efforts involved between multiple agencies. We will attempt to provide as much information possible as this investigation proceeds forward. Would also like to acknowledge and thank the many businesses, restaurant owners, individuals who have provided meals and other Essential Items to support an investigation of this magnitude. Following this Press Conference, details will be shared regarding counseling locations, where somebody could make a donation if necessary or asked, and the hosting of several different vigils. On behalf of the hundreds of Law Enforcement officers who have descended upon our great city over the last three days, we want to extend our heartfelt support as well as our sympathies to the victims and families involved in this senseless tragedy. Thank you and ill turn it back over to mike. Thanks, chief, i appreciate that. I guess for starters, i i want to make sure that we always take a moment to acknowledge the victims, their families, and how this is negatively impacting the state of maine, the city of lewiston, and really our entire country. We know when these things occur around country, we are all so incredibly focused on what happened, and then we try to get to the why, and there are certainly times when we cant quite figure out the why because every one of these situation is so tragic, so outside of the norm that it makes it difficult for Community Members of all types and all locations, east coast, west coast, it doesnt matter, to fathom how these kind of things could occur in the greatest country in the world. So were going to continue to work towards that, and as a piece of this, i wanted to come in and really speak to the partnership that we are committed to to have with you, and as we start to really flow into an operational period, we have more of a pattern to see what were doing day in and day out. Im going to commit to you to have a Morning Briefing every day at 10 00 right here in this location. As you can imagine, some of those briefings may be longer than others, but i want you to know that youre going to see us in the morning, so and were going to go over what happened overnight, and were going to kind of talk about what the plan of the day is, and ill speak to that plan of the day here in just a second. I would also say that we will certainly be considering Afternoon Briefings as well, if something new came up or something that we believe would be helpful for you to know and the communities to know, then well get back to you. Either way, you will receive a communication from our p Pio Shannon Moss saying were going to have a briefing or were not so you kind of have some idea of what your day and your afternoon is going to look like as well. So i would also say that these daily briefings, as you can imagine, would be more operational in nature. Our families, our communities, our loved ones are always going to be in the forefront of our minds and certainly in our hearts, but we do want to talk to you about this is what were going to do, this is what we did because i know thats incredibly important to you. Youre going to share that appropriately with your viewers, with your readers, and thats going to help everyone start that Healing Process as well. I know that information is power. You also know that there are going to be times that i wont be able to give you all the information that you need or certainly that you want. And that wont be done because were just not going to tell them. Thats going to be done because from an operational standpoint or a tactical standpoint, there are Safety Concerns that i have for our First Responders and we all have for our Community Members. Please keep that in mind, and i will go back to like a q a kind of a period. We want to allow that opportunity, and were going to try to do the best we can. If in my mind the math starts leading to im going to get asked ten questions and i cant answer nine of them, maybe thats counterproductive. Were going to try to are front load as much information as we can with these particular sessions. That is kind of the plan moving forward, and to speak to todays briefing in particular, i would tell you that the overnight hours and we are on 24 7, and we will be until the suspect in this case, again, is brought to justice. So overnight, our officers, our investigators, going to say our, im talking about local, county, state, federal, all of our partners, have been continuing to work 530 plus tips and leads that have come in from the General Public from a number of communities, a number of different relationships. And as you can imagine, those vary greatly depending on that individuals knowledge of what happens and what they want us to do about that. So were continuing to check those things off the list as we go. Were also continuing to do searches at the two primary venues here. The one being schemengees bar and grill and the second being the sparetime Bowling Alley. I will tell you its going to be easy to think how come whats taking them so long to work these scenes, right . And because everything we watch gets solved in an hour, and its all taken care of, but in order for us to do our jobs to be professional about what we do, be respectful of the victims and the families that were working with, in the process within which we work, we have to take our time. Were going to be processing every square inch of these facilities, not only do you have the victims in question, but every one of those rounds that got fired need to be investigated. Every one of those cartridges that lays on the ground needs to be collected. The vehicles that are in those parking lots, everything that we do around this we need to be careful. We need to be professional, and thats what were committed to do. So i would expect that were still days away from completing those particular investigations, those particular crime scenes. So youll continue to see us at those locations without question. And because of that, there are also affidavits, and affidavits are essentially the first step in a Search Warrant or an Arrest Warrant or whatever that looks like, so were continuing to draft affidavits ultimately for Search Warrants around any kind of Digital Media that were hoping to attain or investigate. That could be phones. That could be computers. That could be video from any location. So our officers, our investigators continue to work on that material, and so thats a lot of that stuff overnight as well as using that 3 00, that 4 00 in the morning, using that time frame to kind of plan out what the next day is going to look like. So were trying to get some people rotated through for operational periods. Were going to get them some rest. Lets plan what the next day is going to look like. We have a Morning Briefing, which kind of kicks off and says this is whats going to happen. We need a team to go do this, we need a team to go do that. This is who our team leads are, this is the process. And then we let those folks loose to go do the good work, and were going to try to share that information with you. So as we discuss that, we have some maps and some Additional Information up here with us right now. I will talk about a couple of these locations here, to the best of my ability. Obviously theres a lot of us here, and this isnt ideal as far as these maps go, but if you look at this Boat Launch Overview as an example, this dot here is that Lisbon Boat Launch area that weve discussed. Thats where the suspects vehicle was located ultimately. That white subaru station wagon, and i will also say that well have these three primary maps, but this qr code here and whether you can get it from your seats or come up after the fact, will give the digital version of those so you have those readily available. You certainly understand how all of that works. So we talk about that Boat Launch Area, and that particular location is 501 lisbon street, pa jep scot landing. And what will happen in this general location today is that we will be putting divers in the water along the river, which you see here, and thats going to look like a couple of different things. So the very first thing that youre going to see out there is youre going to see some Air Resources that will fly over this particular area, and theyre looking to see what can we clear from the air. Do i have to put divers in that particular area or can i tell from the top based on the current and how muddy the water is and all those other things. Can i see to the very bottom here . And so thats going to start this entire process. Then theres going to be some screening and some divers that are actually in the water that may start on this side by the boat launch and will continue on this side. I would envision at some point well be moving over to these particular locations here for ground searches as well. They could be dragging a diver behind them literally while that diver is checking for evidence, checking for potential bodies, and i would also say that while this is going to look like a major focus today with a lot of people, we have a lot of other irons in the fire, so im not saying that the suspect we know the suspect is in the water and this is what were doing. What im telling you is youre going to see a lot of activity here, and im going to tell you that in advance. Weve got nothing to hide in that regard at all. So then youre going to have some sonar as well thats going to be utilized here. That can look like a couple of different things, a remote operating vehicle, an rov as divers could use that, and that will look like a pod under the water, and that is looking for sonar so picking up shadows, if you will, of what does that look like . Could be a log, could be anything under there, and our divers, that dive team when i say, again, our divers, thats going to be teams from all over the place. The Main Warden Service is heavily involved with this. We work with them all the time. The Maine State Police will be in the watering leading this initiative. Thats what well see here with a couple of different kinds of sonar. And then along the shoreline, youre going to see a line search, if you will, that means literally officers online as theyre working that shoreline. Theyre looking for evidence, anything that may help them down the road. Ill say youll see this because for us we want to make sure that were working with you, so theres a Church Parking lot across the road here. Theres also some parking available on this side of the road. Mark lady, who is the pio from the Main Warden Service, and some officers will be in the area to assist. If you decide that you want to go to that location to pick up video and see what theyre up to, i think theres some Parking Opportunities here. This 196 can be busy. This area here happens to be pretty low speed, at least thats what the speed limit is, so were going to be around there to try to keep that as safe as possible. What we want you to be mindful that we may ask you not to stand on a railroad trestle. We want you to get your coverage. We want to be partners with you, however, youre not going to be able to have full access to that site. I think thats common sense, and we want to make sure that you can do your jobs and we can help you facilitate that. So youre going to see a bunch of people in that area, that 531, lisbon road. A couple of these other locations, if we start here, this is the Bowling Alley scene, this red dot is actually where that is. You all understand that. We will have some additional officers there checking this wood line and continuing to do those sweeps, those searches. There was a lot of shots fired in these locations. We want to make sure we have all the evidence humanly possible, and then this is far from ideal, considering its directly behind the podium, but this is can we do that . Jammed in here with the with the wall. Yeah, we may lean towards that qr code, if you cant see that, i apologize. Well have to take a look of this particular option in the future if this works for us. The bar and grill here, there is a red dot and you can see some wood line around that. Each one of these locations is going to have lots of Police Officers there as you imagine. A piece of all of these things will have a qrf or a Quick Reaction force. So were going to maintain security here because clearly, as you realize, the suspect in this case is not in custody. That continues to be our focus, and i think if you look at these two things, we have an investigative bucket with a great deal of resources that are investigated in crime what occurred, and theres clearly an Apprehension Team here of a lot of folks that are involved in that. Of course theyre going to intermingle. Thats a given. I think in this scenario, i want you to keep those two things in mind because even though were going to be active with this search in the investigative side always in our mind, were going to be looking for the suspect and making sure that the people that are involved in these various searches to include yourselves are safe. So that is clearly another focus that we have in mind. I would also like to talk about if we talk about procedures, you talk about practices, there was a lot of activity last night from members of the media in bowdoin, and what i would tell you is that im showing you these three locations. Theres a bunch of others that were going to be working on, and thats not so we dont have 50 maps up here. Were just going to be working on other locations, and thats not meant to be secretive. Thats just to tell you that were going to be all over the place. Thats not saying that we know that the individual is in this house or we know the individual is in that house or theyre in that swath of land, this acreage. Thats not what were doing. But we do look at all these situations as if the individual could be in there, and if thats the case, youll see tactical teams at some point, a lot of folks are just dressed in a more casual manner or bdu or Battle Dress Uniform just because theyre going to be out in the woods and crawling around. So that doesnt mean just because were making announcements over a p. A. System that the individual is in there and we have an armed standoff and there are police swarming. This is a lot of resources that it takes to work these scenes, right . I think that part of it, again, is common sense, and we want to be as forthright as we can around that as well. We wont be able to say every time were hitting a location, hey, were going to be at this spot because its just not practical, and its not safe for a lot of folks. So if you hear announcements in p. A. Systems as an example, a piece of that is us just giving notification that, yes, in fact, we are the police. We are going to be knocking on this door, we would like you to come out if youre in there. Some of that is case law oriented, some of that is Best Practice, and some of thats just Standard Operating Procedures from our end. So keep that in mind. If you have a question, you can certainly reach out to shannon moss. Many of you have. And if we can answer it, we will. And it may not be immediate, but were going to do the best we can to do that, and i think well be better at that, again, as we kind of get into this flow. Now we know what were working with, starting to settle in as much as a tragedy like this can, and again, we want to be good partners with you across the board. So let me just take a look to make sure ive covered everything that i wanted to cover. I would also say that this is a big deal here, this particular link, and shannon will be sending that out through her media list, so this is a digital tip line, and what a digital tip line would mean is anybody, yourselves included for whatever reason. If youve got a photo, if you got a video of what happened or of, you know, something that you think is evidentiary in nature, youd think that it would be valuable for us to have. You could upload that information through that link, and that link stems from Best Practice in other communities where tragedies like this have occurred, that a lot of people have a lot of information. Where does it go. Maybe this is the key. I dont think they know that, or probably do know that. 75 other people sent it to them. Send it to us anyway. We want to see that information, thats pictures, thats video, thats any of that kind of material to that particular length, and again, the qr code is something that we already talked about from a mapping perspective. I would say that our ongoing Victim Services efforts, that is something that were working with victims families. The community as a whole, and we are working with families that have currently been notified. Were continuing to identify victims in this case, and as those occur, Additional Resources will be available to the general community. I would say, again, its a little bit of a reminder. Some searches you may see, well, why does that search have an Armored Vehicle involved, and then theyre walking along the river, you know, shoulder to shoulder. Some of those are going to be tactical ground searches versus just the kind of standard line search or grid search. The Main Warden Service do this stuff all the time. Theyre incredible, searching for people, and incredibly valuable for us as it kind of expands out to evidence in many of these many of these circumstances. We do clearly continue to have air assets whether thats helicopters or planes. Just because theyre involved, again, as we mentioned here, right, thats going to be an overview, theyre just flying over that site. They may be hovered someplace else. Is that because we found the suspect . Thats not a guarantee that thats the case at all. I would also tell you probably new information, initially that first night we had 70ish or so witnesses, the fbi has been incredibly helpful with things that may sound as simple as you got to transcribe 70 plus witness statements. Theyre bringing a lot of resources to play. Were continuing to do a lot of that work behind the scenes as well. I think that the shelter in place order, right, thats currently in place for lewiston, auburn, lisbon, and bowdoin, when you hear the names of those communities, obviously you know that a lot of our focus, a lot of what occurred occurred in those communities, whether its bowdoin thats where the suspects house was, lisbon, or lewiston, auburn, some conversation about auburn locations and lewiston the focus of where those first two tragic active shooter situations occurred. Thats an ongoing conversation that well have every minute of every day. Does it makes sense that those orders are still in place and can we relax those, change those, they have not been changed in any way at this point, but we realize that we want to keep our community safe, so thats, again, in the forefront of our minds, but we know that a shelter in place order in general similar to orders around covid can have some negative impacts on families and going to school and businesses and all those other things. So we have that in our mind. There is that pluses and minuses chart thats just kind of active as we kind of work through this thing. So know that we are actively thinking about that, and truth be told working with specifically right here in lewiston working with our officials, working with chief st. Pierre, working with the mayor and others, having conversations about what does that mean, and what is that going to look like this afternoon, tomorrow, and in moving forward. So i think thats enough sharing from my end. Thats a lot of information to overload you with there. I would want to come back, however, to say that theres a lot of stuff going on here, but what matters to us, again, is the safety of our communities, the safety of our residents. We care about each and every one of them as you do, and were going to continue to fight on their behalf to bring this individual to justice because we know that that has an impact on starting that Healing Process. Its not a slam dunk. Its not we got him, now everybodys better. This is going to take a while, right . Its going to take a while for communities to work through. Its going to take forever for families to work through. You lose somebody that you love. Thats a big, big deal. I dont want to get lost in the minutia of this is what were doing and this is a map and thats a qr code. It always comes back to this other stuff for us. So again, were going to try the q a deal and see where we go. Go ahead, right here. There were reports you found a note at his home. Do you know the contents of that . We heard the same thing. There was a note at one of these residences. Im not permitted to really talk about what that included, and i think thats probably, again, a common sense answer because that does involve is there a mindset here, is there a motive, what did that entail. So well definitely continue to work on that, and when we can release it, we certainly will. Right here, sir. Commissioner, so in reference specifically to whats behind you and whats going on at the river, is there any information you have thats leading you in the direction that he may have killed himself and his body is in there, or is it just one of the possibilities . Well, i think that one of the possibilities is key, right . Clearly we dont have him located at this point. We dont have him in custody. So all of those options are on the table. We certainly dont want to wait too long because the river is a big piece of this. The car was located there. Evidence is located in the vehicle or right there along the shores of the androscoggin river. Thats stuff we want to make sure were checking. Were using the expertise we have available, the dive team and all our partners to make sure were checking that. At the same time were checking all these other things, working through the crime lab on this other information. All of those things are occurring at the same time. I would also state and i want to make sure that i say this because theyve been very, very helpful. The Brookfield Power Company owns two dams, operates two dams in this area, and theyve been very cooperative. You know, they live it every day, so as an example, one of the things that were doing, the river currently runs at 8,500 cubic square feet per second, and when they tighten the dam tools down they actually lower that down to 5,500 cubic feet. What it means to us is that that current, if we can slow that current down, we can lower the amount of water in the river. Its certainly easier for us to work. Its easier for our divers to see in clear water than muddier water. If its a foot lower than it was before, its easier for us to work, and theres different searches, obviously, but unfortunately people lose their lives in Bodies Of Water on a regular basis. So this is something that were trying to dial in. Deer hunting starts tomorrow. Can you address that . Sure. I had conversations with the commissioner, Inland Fisheries and wildlife. We are having those conversations. I would expect to hear more about that later in the day. Its a big deal in maine. It may not be a big deal for a lot of people from other communities, but we know what thats going to look like. We also know were in the woods, you know, if you just happen to be in the woods minding your own business going for a walk, thats going to make us a little concerned, right . Its definitely a good question and something that were actively working on. Right here. You talked about the tremendous amount of assets, can you talk about the pressure you guys are feeling to find him to give this community some sense of answers as this enters its third day. Pressure is one way to put it. Were concerned about the victims, their families, and our communities. Im concerned every day 24 7, 365, at this point for 30 years. Thats why i got into this business. We do want to help people. We do want to make them safe. Making them safe and making them feel safe may not be the same thing either. Because i think our Law Enforcement partners, our First Responders around the state, everybody is dialed in. They do that all day every day. This is clearly a completely different animal, so for us, we want to make sure that we bring this individual to custody. We got to do it right. We got to do it the safe way, dont want to see anybody else get hurt, certainly our people and our Community Members. We want to make sure we do that right. Were not going to be rushed, but were running right on that level that were going to work as hard as we can, as fast as we can, with as many resources as we can to try to bring some kind of closure. Right here, man. Do you understand that the family do we understand that the family is being cooperative, what are they telling you . Whether you see the 530 tips and leads overall, i think were seeing a lot of cooperation across the board. Im not going to speak to anybody in particular, but i think theres a lot of cooperation. There is a lot of compassion here, theres empathy, that people understand what happened here not only to the victims but, again, to the state and to our country. So people are coming forward. They are participating in the process, and thats just the nature of the im not sure i answered it, so go ahead and follow up. Yeah, im so sorry. Specifically the family of the suspect, we understand they are cooperating. What are they telling you, and how are they helping you in the investigation . I wont speak specifically to what anyone said one way or another. We know this is difficult for everybody, no matter how youre you could be the neighbor of somebody. This is tough for people to digest and understand and to try to work through. Right here, sir. Right here. Thank you very much, sir. Forget about information, the family has told multiple news outlets there were warnings provided to Law Enforcement. Which agencies received those warnings, and did you think at any point it might warrant a yellow flag pursuit . Im heavily involved in the yellow flag conversation overall, but the reality for today is im not going to talk specifically about who knew what and when. Were still actively involved in a very dynamic situation here, and were focused on an individual that currently has eight warrants out for murder. Were trying to figure that part out. Were trying to bring him in to justice as well as investigate this crime. There will be a time when can you confirm warnings were issued . I cannot. I cannot confirm that. Yesterday sir, right here. Yesterday the senator, senator collins said that the yellow flag law should have been enforced in this situation, so as you stand here today, what is your response to that, and also, as you stand here today, was Law Enforcement notified of the threats that he was making of his condition . Were they aware of it, and what steps were taken to investigate that . Yeah, i appreciate the question, and senator collins is great, we have a great federal delegation that works incredibly hard on behalf of the state of maine. I dont know exactly what the good senator said. I respect her a great deal, so i wont answer or answer to any comments that she made, thats her perspective based on what she knows through the General Public or otherwise, thats fine. She certainly has the right to do that. Based on what ive seen, were going to continue to work through that. We asked good questions, it may have been you, sir, around the firearm itself. The atf is here, theyve been working with us. Theres going to be an opportunity to answer all those questions and figure out was that a violation or not. The its also an opportunity to talk about what that will are means, what that l are looks like and what the options, in fact, are. The thing is that folks want know im going to go over here, sir. I appreciate the followup. Talk about time line, 911 calls, do you have the precise times that Police Arrived on the scenes . Arrived, no. So it was 6 56 for the initial call and then 7 08 for the second call, multiple calls for each location and so thats what i had. I dont know exactly when they arrived other than to say these calls in any scenario are a priority to say the least, so everybodys going and theyre going as fast as humanly possible. So thats the im not done im not done answering the first question so. Was that enough sir . Does that make sense on that . I will take a look at the arrival time so that we have that information, and we may be able to provide and i would say this, okay, the way this is going to work, just so were all clear, the way this is going to work, if we have a q a and you ask me questions and i attempt to answer them, as soon as we start yelling over each other, im done. Just so were clear. We dont want to do that. Were trying to be as cooperative as we can across the board, but well be back another time, and were just trying to figure that out. Yes, sir, right here. Were coming up on 48 hours, are you concerned the trail is growing cold . I think that every minute that this goes on were more and more concerned, you know, because whats the next thing thats going to happen, and we understand that, and thats why were working 24 7 to bring this individual to justice and to try to bring some closure and overall safety to our communities. So yes, we feel that just as much as the Community Member does or any of us. This is a privilege. This is an honor we have to do something about these trgeies when they occur. In many instances, ive been in those scenarios, youre sitting on your couch wishing you could do something to help. Were in a position to do something to help, and we will. Theres no question in my mind that we will bring this individual into custody one way or the other. Im going to take one more question from you, sir, and then were going to be done. Can you confirm that youve identified 16 out of the 18 bodies . And if so, can you confirm the demographics, please . Yeah, and i think that that may be a question the specifics may be a question for a future briefing. We have identified and notified the families of eight of the 18 fatalities that were involved in this incident. We mentioned those eight murder warrants and the reason why we have 18 victims thats because eight of those people have been identified, and eight of those people the families have been notified, which is certainly key for us to make sure we get that right. But further demographics around that, the colonel gave gender yesterday, and well take a look at ages and some other information. Id like to be able id like to be able to honor the group of victims by talking about them in a specific session that i would view coming shortly. 8 of the 18 have been identified and notified, not 16 and i dont know where that came from. Thank you very much, i do appreciate it. We will see you again along the way. Thank you. Okay, youve been watching maine officials there holding a briefing on the unfolding manhunt in lewiston, maine. That was the state department of Public Safety commander there who is giving us some overview of what types of activities theyre doing in their investigation. He talked about processing the two shooting scenes. He talked about really zooming in on a Boat Launch Area and the waters near that Boat Launch Area where they found the suspects car. Apparently there was a gun inside that car. He also mentioned tlair going through more than 500 tips called to the Law Enforcement on scene. Antonia hylton is back with us. Also with us is frank figliuzzi, nbcs tom winter is with us as well, and casey jordan, a criminologist. Let me start with you, frank. You and i were listening to that Press Conference here, what is the headline . What stood out to you . My takeaway, reading between the lines having given many Law Enforcement Press Conferences is that they dont have much to go on. We heard a lot of talk but very little substance. By that i mean i can glean from what they said that certain things may not be working for them. What am i talking about . Technical forensics and cell phone identification. Why do you think they dont have that . Because they literally say we dont know where he is. We dont have a lead. Were checking all these areas. Were checking were doing dives in the river. Were going to go arm in arm and do a line search through the woods. He may have ditched any device that he had on him. Secondly, it would appear that heat seeking infrared technology that you use from the air seems not to be working because theyre not focusing on a certain area where they see a Heat Signature. Why might you not see a Heat Signature . Because maybe the body is cold. What are the key questions, tom, that you would have liked him to answer that he was very vague. He took a handful of questions and on my notes cant talk about that. He basically dodged the question about the family being cooperative. He couldnt offer any time line specifics. I think thats the key one, and i think we were talking about it while we were listening is the idea of the family. What is going on there . How can they help . Are they in a position to help . Do they really know whats going on here . I think youve got somebody who is not not that anybody that ever commits one of these Mass Shootings is a rational person, but this person appears to have had severe Mental Health issues, so to the extent that anything that they told anybody prior to this as reliable i think is probably pretty thin at this point. Thats the first thing. The second thing is with respect to the family, what do they know . What have they been able to share . Are they actually coming forward and talking . I think thats something well ask more questions about today so i think they are in a situation here where theres not a lot to go on to franks point, and i think if they had somebody who is actively working from a standpoint of moving through areas, if they had somebody who is and i think at this point, you know, franks talked about it from a Cell Phone Perspective that dont appear to be using a cell phone at this point or at least one that they know is associated with him, and so and i will say this, it is a little bit more difficult to do Cell Phone Analysis in an area like this where there are few cell phones. It is a little bit more difficult to try to determine where people are. I dont want to get into too many details on that in case this individual is watching. It is a little bit more of a challenge. It is an area where there is just very dense foliage. I think sometimes we think and i know frank knows this that Thermal Imaing from helicopters solves all. All of a sudden somebody pops out on a screen and its definitely there. Its a little bit more nuanced than that. Thats the second thing. Third, if this person is alive and i think its a big if. We continue to talk about a manhunt and trying to find this person. I think thats a big if. If this person is alive, theyve been benefitted by some unseasonably warm temperatures in maine. That changes over the weekend. We were just discussing information about whats going on with the k9s. K9s are part of this search. Speaking with Search And Rescue efforts over the years, one of the things that will help in a dog search is temperatures cool. More importantly we start to get light rain over the weekend, that takes the human scent thats in the air, and it brings it down lower to the ground. That helps a k9 to be able to start to track because dogs are obviously lower to the ground than humans are. That helps a k9 begin to do some tracking. Hopefully were at a point where the weather, if he is alive, the weather starts to force this individual to come out from wherever they might be or assist the dogs in trying to track a body alive or dead. I want to get to casey in just a second, but real fast, frank, why wouldnt they have the dogs already out there . We havent seen much with dogs. It may mean theyre not talking about it, or it may more likely mean they dont have a trail, theyve tried it and the trail went dead on them. Sometimes the trail goes dead in the water, so that may be leading them to the water. Theres also another kind of dog which is a cadaver dog, and that may be something we see later on. Obviously at this point theyre treating it as if he is still out there and armed and dangerous. I want to play some thoughts from somebody who knows this suspect, robert card. And with what we did meeting him and the way that he showed us how to use a weapon, the mans smart. Hes really smart. He knows warfare, he understands it. I think they need soldiers to be honest with you, to be here. I really do. Hes smart. He knows warfare, he knows how to use these weapons, but casey, if this is also someone who has Mental Health issues, who was hearing voices, what could that mean for his mindset right now . I have to tell you from an investigative standpoint when we tried to construct our profiles based on what we know, and we know very little at this point, he is an amalgam of several different profiles. Hes an outlier because of the Mental Health issues, and they appear to be severe. For you to be taken, you know, from your assignment over the summer because the Military Base called the police and had you taken to a Mental Health hospital where you stayed in patient for two weeks. I mean, clearly there were diagnoses done there. We arent privy to that. We dont know that. But his behavior based on what his family has said and his friends have said, its very consistent with somebody struggling with paranoid schizophrenia. When you hear about that, plus the fact that he was smart and good with weapons, which remiens me a lot of John Mohammad from the d. C. Sniper case more than 20 years ago, you do begin to understand how frustrated the police could get with this investigation because nothing we know from investigative profiling is really going to help with all of these circumstances. I did enjoy this presser. I thought he was extremely articulate and we always appreciate good communication. The fact that theyre going to do a deep dive of that river bed using sonar seems to indicate they want to rule out the possibility or consider the possibility that he may have committed suicide and might be in that river since that was the last place they found the car. The idea that hes smart and good with weapons really does and this is how i want to leave make me very concerned about Hunting Season. I think that was one of the best questions that came up this the presser. What are they going to do with deer hunter season, which starts tomorrow, which is going to send thousands of hunters Into The Woods where he might be hiding. What did you make or read into the fact that he wouldnt answer the question about whether the family is being cooperative . The family, i believe, is being cooperative. Theyve been even telling us more through the press that i believe it was nbc that reported, you know, the concerns the family had when he got his hearing aid that he started to hear voices. It was as if he obviously had hearing loss from being a firearms instructor, but it was coinciding with the new powerful hearing aid that he heard voices hed never heard before and they were attacking him. They were talking bad things about him. This is very consistent with schizophrenia, and that can come and go, and thats what makes it so unpredictable. He may get level if hes alive, he may be okay, Hunkered Down in the woods somewhere, but if the voices Start Talking to him again, if he hears hunters In The Woods Walking towards him and he believes these are demons directing him to do something, that could be an incredibly dangerous situation, which is why everybody is sheltering in place. Its not that we have any concept that hes going to target another population, its that anyone could just be in the path of harm if the voices Start Talking to him and they are in his path. And frank, when you hear that a note was recovered from his home and they found a gun in his vehicle, what can Law Enforcement glean from these clues . Yeah, we didnt hear the commissioner talk a lot about the fruits of the searches theyve done so far. Excuse me, but the letter is very significant. In fact, theres a field of forensic studies called psycholinguistics where someone can actually read the letter and through the writing understand more about mindset and intentions. Ive seen that work very successfully, and with regard to what you can glean from a house search and social media and hard drives and computers, the fbis social media exploitation teams, somex is on the ground, and if theyre allowed to do this, they will exploit that media and discover if he had plans, where he was intending to go, what his motive was, and where he might have gone to hide. What do we know about the weapon, tom, because youve discovered he obtained the gun that they believe was used in this massacre legally, right . That is correct, yes, and it was obtained prior to the Mental Health episode this summer. Thats just a little bit from a time line perspective. I want to pick up on one other thing that was mentioned before, after the Boston Marathon bombing and after there was a shootout in water town, the whole community was locked down, and it wasnt until after the lockdown was lifted i think at the time given how dangerous the situation was and the fact that the tsarnaev brothers were involved in an active shoot, it made sense to lock that area down. It was when the lockdown was lifted that an individual looked into a boat behind his house and found that there was blood and that the tarp on the boat was torn, and thats when they finally were able to determine that tsarnaev was in there. There is a flip side to this card of Hunting Season and the fact that there will be so many people in the woods, will that be an opportunity, particularly if the individuals deceased, to your point the body has gone cold. The individuals not doing anything that might spark Law Enforcements attention. Back to the gun, we have some questions as far as how many guns there actually were. Clearly an arstyle rifle that was used in this purchased prior to that Mental Health issue, and i think to the point that the head of the maine Public Safety is saying and everything that weve talked with and then our pentagon team, everybodys reviewing what happened here. What happened on the then our pentagon team, everybody is reviewing what happened here. What happened on the military side, what happened with respect to his Mental Health treatment to determine if any of the laws that exist in maine could have, should have been triggered. Sometimes though as we found over the years with other shootings, when everything lines up, you find that either there were things that were missed or loopholes in the laws or found out someone should have raised their hand along the way. We dont know enough about the process at this point to be able to report out definitively what may have occurred. Antonia, there is the question about motive that they stayed completely away from here and obviously Mental Health issues come into play here. But three Law Enforcement officials tell nbc news that investigators are looking into whether a female acquaintance of the suspect frequented that bar and grill where the game of cornhole was apparently happening on wednesday, and we have a photo in fact of the suspect competing in a cornhole competition to raise money for Breast Cancer treatment, this was last year. What more do we know about this female acquaintance and that facet of the investigation . Reporter well, ana, we know from Law Enforcement sources that theyre aware of this possible female acquaintance, that they are running down that lead, but it is just a theory, i should caution at this point. They are not certain yet that this was a motive or that this person was even on the scene and in the bar that night when all of this took place. This is a very tight knit community, though, where people you just played a moment ago sound from somebody who had known robert card and had awareness of his skills with firearms, you know. Hes not the only person. A lot of people in this community were aware of his family. Some surprised, others say they had observed behavior over time and had heard things in the family that made them less surprised about this. And so, you know, what people are really eager to hear right now and i think, you know, unfortunately just based off the discussion that you all were just having, i think it is going to be disappointing for many residents is they were eager to hear there was a new perimeter or they were advancing in some area there was a fresh lead leading them somewhere, but the idea theyre diving into the water, this continues to be a broad multistate search and maybe they dont know yet, that is not going to bring much solace to the people ive been talking to, ana. A lot of answers left for all of us to want to get more information. Thank you so much, Antonia Hylton, frank figliuzzi, tom winter and casey jordan, appreciate each of you for your reporting and analysis. Turning to our other Breaking News from overnight, the u. S. Launching new strikes on iranianlinked targets inside syria as tensions rise in the middle east. Those strikes are in retaliation for a series of Drone Attacks on American Military bases in syria and iraq, were told. This comes as we learn of 900 american troops now deploying to the region. Lets bring in Pentagon Press secretary Brigadier General Patrick Rider now. General, thank you for making time for us. The Defense Secretary called these selfdefense strikes. Why this response now and do you think theyll serve as an effective deterrent against further attacks . Yeah, first of all, thanks very much for having me. As you highlight, these are selfdefense strikes. We have u. S. Forces in iraq and syria for one reason and one reason only and thats to support the Ongoing Mission to defeat isis, our forces are in iraq, at the invitation of the government iraq to assist their Security Forces on that important mission. And so as we said from the very start, we will maintain the inherent right of selfdefense, well take all necessary measures to protect our forces and our interests overseas. So these strikes were very surgical, very targeted, to send a clear message that we will protect our forces. It is also important to understand we do not want conflict with iran, we do not seek to widen this. Hopefully they get that message loud and clear and will cease these attacks against our forces in iraq and syria. So the Defense Secretary says iran is behind these attacks, you believe thats the case. Do you think iran is trying to further entangle the u. S. In the current conflict in the region . Does iran want the u. S. To be involved in a war . Well, look, you know, to your point, we are very focused on ensuring that the situation with Israel Fighting Hamas does not become a wider regional conflict. This is why youve seen us send additional assets into the middle east region to include the uss ford Carrier Strike group, the uss eisenhower Carrier Strike group, which will go into the Central Command area of responsibility. Because of the iransponsored proxy and militia groups, we have seen this kind of behavior in the past. They foment and attempt to foment instability in the region. But, again, our forces are there for a very specific purpose and we will not hesitate to take action to protect those forces as they do this important work on the ground in both of those countries. Right, which you already did. What kind of response do you expect from iran . Well, you know, well see, well see if iran gets the message. But, you know, as we have done in the past, we certainly reserve the right to take additional strikes and continue to ensure that the message is loud and clear, that we will protect our forces and that these kinds of attacks are unacceptable. Im not going to telegraph potential actions in the future, other than to say as we demonstrated last night, well do at a time and place of our choosing. General, yesterday, you confirmed this deployment of the 900 troops headed to the middle east and that also the u. S. Is going to provide israel with two iron dome systems. What do you tell americans who see these increased u. S. Movements and worry the u. S. Could get drawn into war . Yeah, well, again, i can assure you our focus is on preventing a broader war. Right now the forces are going into the region for two very important purposes. One is, again, to deter a wider conflict. And to send a message to any state or nonstate actors to include iran that they should think twice about trying to escalate this conflict. And, number two, is to ensure that we have the capabilities we need within this area of operations to protect our forces, no matter where theyre serving. So, that is why those forces are there, and as it relates to israel, look, we have a very focused effort to ensure that were communicating closely with the israelis to provide them with the Security Assistance they need to conduct their operations to protect their people against hamas Terrorist Attacks. So given what is happening in israel, the threats of hamas and hezbollah and by extension iran, what is the line for america putting boots on the ground . Is there a line . Yeah, so im not going to get into hypotheticals. As i mentioned right now our focus is on communicating with israel to ensure they have the Security Assistance they need, while also at the same time ensuring that we have the force presence across the middle east to deter a potential escalation in this conflict. No one wants to see this widen. No one wants to see a wider war. And so, again, thats what well stay focused on. Before we let you go, i want to ask about the maine shooting suspect. Can you confirm which Law Enforcement agencies were told about the concerns about his Mental Health and could more have been done . Right, so, certainly were following this reporting that is taking place on this and our hearts and our prayers certainly go out to the Family Members who are victims in this. As it relates to this particular individual, this is really something for the maine authorities to address. To my knowledge, the Department Of Defense has not been asked to assist in this effort. But, again, were all watching this just like you are. I mean, we have confirmed in our reporting that cards Unit Commander with the army reserve sent him to psychiatric treatment this summer. So, can you confirm and we also confirmed they notified Law Enforcement. Thats what were told. Can you confirm who specifically they notified, what Law Enforcement agencys . Yeah, i really cant. I just dont have those details in front of me. I know the u. S. Army has been looking into questions on this, but i just dont have those details. Let me ask you one more question related to israel, and the battle against hamas specifically. We have been getting more and more reporting about what their operations and air strikes and the Ground Forces have been working to do and overnight they say they reportedly killed another commander of hamas. Yesterday, they said they eliminated a group of senior figures including the head of hamas intelligence. They have done hundreds of air strikes, they had some raids on the ground, destroying tunnels, command centers, Missile Launch sites and more, they say. What is the u. S. Assessment of how much of hamas leadership and their fighting capabilities have been destroyed . Yeah, thanks for the question. Well, first of all, im just not able to go into our own intelligence as it relates to that. I will tell you that when it comes to the israeli operations, it is really best that they be the ones to address those from a u. S. Standpoint, our focus is on ensuring we understand what their Defense Needs are, and certainly in those conversations were discussing the kinds of things they need to take into account in terms of operational planning, to include things like only taking civilian safety into account, enabling humanitarian assistance to get into gaza, as well as thinking through some of the operational second, Third Order Effects as they conduct this. We recognize israel has a right to defend itself after they suffered this brutal Terrorist Attack on october 7th and were committed to continuing to support them in their fight against hamas and terrorism. Brigadier general patrick ryder, Pentagon Press secretary, thank you very much for joining us. Thank you. My pleasure. That does it for u