The 18 people killed in two mass shootings in Lewiston, Maine, included a 14-year-old bowler, a shipbuilder who loved playing the game of cornhole and a sign language interpreter.
According to Maine State Police, seven people died Wednesday night at Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley. Six were male and one was female. Eight more people, all male, died at Schemengees Bar & Grille. Three others died after being taken to hospitals.
Victims
William Brackett
William Brackett, who went by Billy, didn’t let being deaf interfere with anything he wanted to do, including playing multiple sports, said his father, also named William Brackett.Basketball, soccer, baseball, softball, he loved them all. As a teenager, he served as a batboy for a high school baseball team and would stand in the dugout teaching the players sign language. As an adult, he taught children how to play basketball in a summer recreation program.
“He was just a gentle person. He was big and rugged and I guess maybe that’s why all the little kids loved him,” his father said. “They swarmed to a bigger person. Maybe they thought, ‘He’ll be our protector.’”
More recently, Billy, 48, was teaching his young daughter how to fish.
“The attention span of a 2½-year-old isn’t great, and if she got a fish, she didn’t want to touch it. But he was teaching her, and she was paying attention,” his father said.
“That’s the way he was,” he said. “If it was your kid, he’d be doing the same thing.”
Bill and Aaron Young
Bill Young, 44, of Winthrop, had taken his 14-year-old son, Aaron, to play in a youth bowling league at Just-in-Time Recreation. Both died.“Bill was a man dedicated to his family,” his cousin, Kim McConville, told The Associated Press via social media. “He was a master auto mechanic. Always trying to be a funny guy.”
Aaron was an avid bowler who had received recognition from the youth league.
In a statement, the superintendent of Winthrop Public Schools confirmed that a high school freshman and his dad were among those killed. Jim Hodgkin’s statement said an uncle of another high school student was also killed.
Peyton Brewer-Ross
Peyton Brewer-Ross was a dedicated pipefitter at Bath Iron Works who left behind a partner, young daughter, and friends, members of his union said.Brewer-Ross, of Bath, was doing something he loved—playing cornhole and enjoying friends—when he was shot to death, his brother said.
“He was a character. He didn’t meet anyone he didn’t like,” Wellman Brewer said of his younger brother.
Brewer-Ross loved the game of cornhole so much that he brought out the angled boards and beanbags at family gatherings, his brother said.
He said his fun-loving brother, a shipbuilder at Bath Iron Works, was the life of the party.
“He has a Randy ‘Macho Man’ Savage Slim Jim jacket that he wore,” Mr. Brewer said, noting the apparel choice that originated with a flamboyant professional wrestler. “Not too many people could pull that off.”
Brewer-Ross and his fiancé, Rachael, had just celebrated the second birthday of their daughter, Elle, two weeks earlier.
Joshua Seal
Joshua Seal, a sign language interpreter, was shot and killed while playing in a cornhole tournament at Schemengees with other members of the deaf community.His wife, Elizabeth Seal, said in a Facebook post that he was “a wonderful husband, my best friend, and my soulmate. He was also a wonderful boss, an incredible interpreter, a great friend, a loving son, brother, uncle, and grandson.”
Robert and Luceille Violette
Retiree Bob Violette, 76, and his wife Luceille, 73, died in the shootings. Bob devoted himself to his volunteer job coaching the youth bowling league that was practicing that night, said Patrick Poulin, whose teenage son has been a member for three years.“He’s taught so many people over the years how to bowl, and he wasn’t getting paid,” he said. “We’ve really been focused on trying to keep the sport alive, and Bob was really an integral part of that.”
Mr. Poulin described him as unfailingly approachable and caring.
“Sometimes kids are having a hard time for whatever reason, discouraged or something,” he said. “He was great at picking them up and getting them to move along from that issue and get things going in the right direction.”
Two weeks ago, Mr. Poulin was at the bowling center with his son and offered him some tips. His son resisted, but eventually took the advice and bowled a great game.
“You gave him some good instructions, so when are you going to get out here and coach with me?” Mr. Violette asked him.
Michael Deslauriers
Michael Deslauriers’s father told CBS News that his son was one of those killed at Just-In-Time Recreation. His father, who shares the same name, said his son and a friend both were killed as they charged at the shooter after making sure their wives and several children were safe.Joe Walker
Joe Walker was the bar manager at Schemengees Bar & Grille. His father, Auburn City Councilor Leroy Walker, told NBC News on Thursday that his son was shot twice in the stomach as he went after the shooter with a butcher knife.“He died as a hero,” he said.
On Sunday, Mr. Walker was greeting people at a trick-or-treat event hosted by an organization he leads. He smiled broadly when the kids hugged him, and accepted hugs from community members.
But he became emotional when he spoke of his son, Joseph, who normally would’ve joined him at the event.
Tricia Asselin
Tricia Asselin worked part time at the Just-in-Time Recreation bowling alley. She had Wednesday night off but went bowling with her sister.When she realized shots were being fired inside the bowling alley, Asselin, 53, went to call 911, but was shot and killed, relatives said.
Asselin “had a great passion for life,” and was a loving mother, “the most caring person there was,” her mother, Alicia Lachance, told NBC News.
Asselin’s cousin, Tammy Asselin, was at the bowling alley with her own daughter, Toni, who played in a youth bowling league on Wednesdays. They knew Tricia worked there, but they hadn’t seen her yet that night.
When she heard the gunfire, Tammy Asselin couldn’t find her daughter and then tripped on some bowling bags and fell. Tammy and others tried to hide, getting a table to flip over and act as a wall near a corner booth. Her daughter had gotten to an exit and was safe, she found later.
“I never prayed so hard in my life as I did that night,” she said.
Arthur Strout
Arthur Strout was playing pool with his father at the bar. His son wanted to stay and play a couple more games, but his father, Arthur Barnard, left shortly before the shooting.“I said, ‘OK,’ and he said ‘I love you,’ because all my kids tell me that every time we see each other,” Mr. Barnard told CBS News. “Ten minutes later, I get a phone call.”
Strout, 42, and his wife, Kristy, had a blended family of five children.
Bryan McFarlane
Bryan McFarlane, 41, a commercial truck driver and a member of the deaf community, was playing a cornhole tournament at the bar.McFarlane grew up in Maine. He spent a lot of time in Vermont, where he became one of the first deaf people in the state to get a commercial truck driver’s license, according to his sister, Keri Brooks. A favorite companion on the road was his dog, M&M, named after his favorite candy.
McFarlane would go to the bar every Wednesday to play cornhole, Ms. Brooks said.
Stephen Vozzella
Stephen Vozzella, 45, a U.S. Postal Service worker and a member of a deaf cornhole league, was playing with friends at the bar.“He had much more life to live before it was stolen from him in an all-too-common senseless act of gun violence,” Brian Renfroe, the president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, said in a statement. Vozzella was a member of branch 241 of the labor union.
Thomas Conrad
Thomas Conrad, 34, worked as general manager at the bowling alley.A co-worker said what he remembers most about Conrad is “his love of the kids.”
“Every kid that came in, he wanted to make sure they had the best time they ever did at the bowling alley,” Josh D’Angelos told WGME-TV. D’Angelos was not working that night.
Survivors
Thirteen others were injured in the two mass shootings, including a 16-year-old, a man who helped get youth bowlers out a back door to safety and a father of two young girls. Among the survivors are:Gavin Robitaille
Gavin Robitaille, 16, of Auburn, was shot while at the Just-in-Time bowling alley.He underwent emergency surgery before he was transferred to a Boston hospital, according to a fundraising page set up for the family by a friend. More surgeries were planned “to reconstruct his shattered arm and extensive muscle and nerve damage,” the page states.
Gavin, a sophomore at Edward Little High School, in Auburn, plays competitive baseball as a pitcher and enjoys playing golf with his dad and brother.
Thomas Giberti
Thomas Giberti, a past manager at the bowling alley, was watching the youth bowling league with coach and friend Bob Violette when he went in the back to get a screwdriver, according to an online fundraising page for his family set up by his nephew. When he came out, “he was greeted with bright flashes of light from the muzzle of a gun,” the page states. He motioned for the children to come to him and got them out the back door to safety, but as the last child was going through the door, Mr. Giberti was shot in the legs, according to the GoFundMe page.As he tried to crawl from the doorway, he was shot again multiple times in the legs. Mr. Giberti was able to close the door and crawl to the back wall where another bowler helped to apply tourniquets to his legs, the page states.
“The quick thinking and actions of my uncle undoubtedly saved the lives of multiple children that day,” wrote his nephew Will Bourgault.
Kyle Secor
Kyle Secor was shot multiple times while playing cornhole at Schemengees, according to an online fundraising page set up for his family.The husband and father of two young daughters is a former hockey player for the Lewiston/Auburn Nordiques and continues to support the program, the page states.
Steve Richards Kretlow
Steve Richards Kretlow, of Winthrop, was playing in a cornhole tournament with some members of the deaf community at Schemengees Bar & Grille when he was shot and injured. The husband and father of three was taken to a hospital and underwent knee surgery, according to an online fundraising page set up for he and his wife.Justin Karcher
Justin Karcher was shot multiple times at Schemengees Bar & Grille. He had just bought his first house that day, according to an online fundraising page set up to help him with medical bills.He is fighting his way through, his sister wrote on the page.
“I’m asking for some help so he doesn’t have to stress more then he already has to when and if he comes home,” she wrote on the fundraising page.
