LEWISTON — The search for Robert Card is over. Police have confirmed Card, the suspect in Wednesday night’s shootings in Lewiston, has been found dead.

Mike Sauschuck, Maine Commissioner of Public Safety said at a press conference that Card’s body was found at 7:45 p.m. Friday near the Androscoggin River in Lisbon Falls. He did not give an exact location.

Card’s cause of death was “an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound,” said Sauschuck.

Wednesday night’s shootings in Lewiston took place in two locations : Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley and Schemengees Bar and Grille. The shootings killed 18 people and injured 13.

Card was believed to be in the Army Reserve stationed out of Saco, according to a bulletin issued by the Maine Information and Analysis Center. He had recently reported mental health issues, including hearing voices and making threats to shoot up the National Guard Base in Saco, and had spent two weeks in a mental health facility this past summer, according to the bulletin.

 Governor Janet Mills said she, like many other people in the state, was breathing a sigh of relief knowing Card was no longer a threat to anyone.

“Tonight the City of Lewiston and the State of Maine begin to move forward on what will be a long and difficult road to healing, but we will heal together,” said Mills.

Officials have set up a Family Assistance Center at the Lewiston Amory,  65 Central Ave., Lewiston, where families of the victims of the shootings can receive help and support. The center will open be open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and will remain in operation for an undesignated period of time.

If you are experiencing a mental health crisis or have thoughts of suicide or self-harm and are in need of help, you can call the Maine Crisis Line at 1-888-568-1112. Trained crisis call specialists answer the line  24 hours a day and provide free and confidential telephone support and stabilization.

Publisher Liz Gotthelf can be reached at newsdesk@sacobaynews.com.