Shooter's 1st victim fights for life as sister shares dad was shot dead in 2019

29 October 2023 , 19:51

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Justin Karcher is still fighting for his life in hospital (Image: Facebook)

The sister of the Maine mass shooter’s first victim has revealed his father was also killed in a random gun attack four years ago.

Justin Karcher, 23, is still fighting for his life on a ventilator after the horrific mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine on Wednesday (October 25). Shooter Robert Card, 40, was found dead on Saturday after what is believed to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound - after he murdered 18 people in the USA’s worst mass shooting of the year.

And now Haley Breton, 21, the little sister of Justin Karcher, has revealed that it is not the first time the family have been shaken to the core by unnecessary gun violence. Karcher’s father was tragically shot dead in a random gun attack in a Walmart parking lot in 2019. “In 2019, his father got shot in a Walmart parking lot. He didn't know the guy at all. That was a hard, hard day,” Breton recalled in a NewsNation interview.

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Justin and his girlfriend have just signed a contract for their first house (Facebook)

Justin is not the first in his family to be a victim of gun violence (Facebook)

Karcher is battling in hospital after he was shot in the liver, spinal cord, shoulder and stomach in Schemengees, a bar which was one of two sites of the shooting. He has undergone surgery to ensure the doctors “didn’t miss anything” and ensure there were no bullets left inside him.

Baby boy has spent his life in hospital as doctors are 'scared' to discharge him

Breton told Chris Cuomo on NewsNation that Karcher was playing pool with a friend when the shooter came into the bar. Karcher’s friend was shot and killed by Card, while another man they were playing with fortunately survived.

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Robert Card was found dead at 7pm on Friday (AP)

It’s been “really hard” for the family, Breton said, given the worrying state of her brother’s condition. “Everybody's been making comments about it,” she added. “Like, this is not the first time.

“This is the second time that family's been involved in a situation, a shooting. It's tragic and it's hard to put all together and understand why.” Breton told Cuomo that the most difficult part of the situation is “not knowing what the outcome is going to be”.

Justin's sister Haley, right, speaking on NewsNation (News Nation)

Karcher had only just signed a contract for his first home for him and his girlfriend. According to Newsnation, the couple were preparing to go camping to celebrate, but Karcher first went to the bar with his friend.

He did not know the shooter according to Breton - who says she also “knew nothing about the guy at all”. She added: “I never heard his name. I've never heard anything. Never even seen him a day in my life. And I don't think anybody, nobody has that I know of personally.”

Robert Card enters the bowling alley and begins his murder spree (@CinemaShogun)

Card slaughtered 18 people (Androscoggin County Sheriff's Of)

A GoFundMe has been set up to help with her brother’s medical bills and has raised over around $30,000 dollars so far. Karcher is “fighting his way to make it through and we are blessed with him still being here with her, sadly with him being in ICU bills are off the wall with surgery’s, X-rays, cat scans, and much more that comes along with it”, Breton wrote on the GoFundMe page.

“Justin bought his first house the day this happened. Anyone that’s bought a house knows how expensive it is. I’m asking for some help so he doesn’t have to stress more than he already has to when and if he comes home.”

Breton spoke to Newsnation before Card’s corpse was found in a tractor trailer in an area investigators said they had “cleared” twice. It was found on Friday evening at 7pm by a Recycling Corporation from which Card had been recently fired.

Alex Croft