Maine teen arrested after threatening ‘Lewiston part 2’ on Snapchat: cops

An 18-year-old former Walmart employee from Maine has been arrested over a Snapchat post that showed him posing with a hunting rifle and ammunition outside his ex-workplace with the caption, “Lewiston part 2.”

The baby-faced suspect, identified by the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office as Michael Bowden, was charged with misdemeanor domestic violence terrorizing and felony aggravated reckless conduct.

Bowden’s selfie showing him brandishing a Savage bolt-action rifle was taken in the parking of the Palmyra Walmart, officials said.

“He took a picture of himself in a vehicle in the Walmart parking lot, and in that picture you can see a gun — a hunting rifle,” Somerset County sheriff’s Chief Deputy Mike Mitchell told Kennebec Journal. “You can also see a bullet in his lap.”

The teen previously worked at the big-box store in Palmyra, located less than 80 miles northeast of Lewiston, but was fired in 2021.

Deputies said Bowden had recently been showing up outside the Walmart on a nightly basis, including last Saturday. 

“We take this stuff very serious [sic]. You have to nowadays,” Mitchell said.

Law enforcement officials received a report about Bowden’s post Sunday – just days after Robert Card, a 40-year-old US Army reservist, went on a shooting rampage at a bowling alley and a bar in Lewiston, killing 18 people and injuring 13 others.

Card was found dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound following an intense two-day manhunt.

Bowden was arrested Sunday at his home in Etna, where deputies found and seized the rifle that was seen in the menacing Snapchat post.

He was booked into the county jail but was released Tuesday on $10,000 bail, reported Bangor Daily News.

Bowden is due in court for his initial appearance on Jan. 3, 2024.