Award-winning journalist Robert Conlin stands in front of the Damariscotta River at the town landing on Friday, July 26. The Wiscasset-based author released his latest book The Lewiston Shooting: an all-American tragedy with Wild Blue Press on Tuesday, July 30. (Johnathan Riley photo)
Grief, accountability, and mental health are at the forefront of Wiscasset-based author Robert Conlin Jr.’s latest book, “The Lewiston Shootings: an all-American tragedy.”
Released Tuesday, July 30 by Wild Blue Press, Conlin’s book is an in-depth look at how Maine’s deadliest shooting happened despite warnings about the shooter; the toll it took on the Maine community; stories from victims’ loved ones; conversations with those close to the gunman.
“Ultimately, the story is they left behind a lot of family and friends,” Conlin said. “It was tough. It was tough to keep it together.”
The 225-page book from Conlin comes just nine months after Robert Card II walked into Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley and Schemengees Bar and Grille in Lewiston with a gun, killing 18 people and wounding 13 others.
Conlin said the Colorado-based publisher reached out to him after the incident occurred in late October and asked if he would consider covering the story. After some thought, Conlin said he agreed to because he felt a resident of Maine should produce the story.
“That was the start and then from that point it was like, yes, somebody is going to do it, why not me?” he said. “I’m not in-and-out. I’m going to be able to retrace the steps and do all the things that really make for a better, more accurate story.”
By mid-November Conlin started on the book and by April he had finished the first draft.
“I didn’t do anything else, didn’t go anywhere,” he said. “I didn’t do anything. I just worked on the book. Emotionally this took a lot out of me, but I also felt like I had a real obligation to do the absolute 110% best I could do.”
The author of seven books, Conlin has worked as a reporter and editor in Maine, Massachusetts, and the Netherlands. During his time as the editor at The Wiscasset Newspaper, the publication was awarded Best Newspaper in 1998 by the Maine Press Association and Conlin received first place recognition for both spot and feature writing. He holds a degree in journalism from Boston University.
Conlin met with Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley owners, family of the victims, friends and family of the shooter, and state authorities to better understand the road that led to the horrific events on Oct. 25. However, Conlin said he understood the difficulties in approaching people as they retold such harrowing experiences.
“I vowed to approach (the story) like, listen, you know that this could feel exploitive, certainly to the victims’ families,” he said. “But any tragedy where you cover it, you know there’s an element to telling the story that you don’t have to tell that story, so by virtue of the fact that you are, you are exploiting.”
Conlin said he tried to be respectful and empathetic when contacting victims and the shooter’s loved ones and found that some people wanted to talk.
For example, Elizabeth Seal, the wife of Josh Seal who was killed at Schemengees, wanted to speak to Conlin to help memorialize the good person her husband was. Elizabeth Seal uses American Sign Language to communicate, so they used an interpreter.
“She didn’t want that to get lost,” Conlin said. “In a way, when there are 18 victims people get lost, not to their families, but in the big picture.”
The book gives attention to each of the victims and their families, Conlin said, but because of the varying individual involvements in the incident, some are talked about more than others.
Conlin spent time corresponding with Card’s ex-wife, sister, and best friend, whom he said articulated Card’s declining mental health that ultimately led to the shootings.
“They all spoke to me because they said ‘We want to be able to be sure that people were aware of the circumstances surrounding the long decent into paranoia,’” he said.
Those conversations are examples of the trust Conlin said he tried to develop in his correspondence, which he said he did slowly and by conveying that he wasn’t writing “a sensationalist story.”
The intentions of the book are as much memorial as they are accountability, but Conlin hopes that the book can spread awareness so that devastating events like this don’t happen again.
“I think like everybody else who lives here I felt affected personally,” he said. “This is Maine. This isn’t supposed to happen here.”
A book signing may occur at Sherman’s Maine Coast Book Shop in Damariscotta, but that date has yet to be set. The book will be available “everywhere books are sold” according to Conlin and is available for purchase from Amazon.com as a hardcover, softcover, or for the Kindle, Amazon’s e-reader.
For more information about the book, go to wildbluepress.com.
