Bob Violette, 76, was teaching children in a bowling league at Just-In-Time Recreation in Lewiston, Maine, in the United States, when gunfire broke out on Wednesday night (25).
Family members believe Violette died protecting her students from gunfire, according to WBZ, an affiliate of CNN .
At least 18 people died in the episode. The other shooting happened at a restaurant.
“Bob has been helping out in the youth league for as long as I can remember,” his friend Brandon Dubuc told WBZ.
“If he was there with those kids, he was protecting them. I have no doubt about that,” he continued.
Witnesses said Violette stood between the shooter and her students to keep them safe, according to the Portland Press Herald.
“They told me he got the worst of it. He was trying to protect someone else,” his daughter-in-law Cassandra Violette told the newspaper.
Violette’s family described him to the Press Herald as a person who made everyone feel comfortable and cared for.
He died just days before celebrating his 77th birthday, relatives told WBZ.
What do you know about the case so far?
Authorities are asking residents to continue sheltering in safe places this Friday (27), as they continue an intense search for a suspect responsible for the shootings that left at least 18 dead and 13 injured.
Robert Card, 40, faces an arrest warrant for eight counts of murder and should be considered an armed and dangerous man, police said.
He is a certified firearms instructor and a member of the U.S. Army Reserve, according to authorities.
Investigators recovered a cell phone belonging to the suspect and a note he left behind. Police are investigating the motive and focusing resources on searching waterways near where Card’s car was found.
The case is the deadliest mass shooting in the US since the Uvalde school massacre in May last year. That adds to a grim record of 565 such accidents in which four or more people were shot, excluding the shooter, nationwide this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
See also: FBI surrounds home of US shooting suspect
Source: CNN Brasil
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