Massachusetts comfort dogs travel to Maine to console grieving students after mass shootings

LISBON, Maine — A pair of comfort dogs from Massachusetts traveled to Maine to console grieving students as they returned to class Tuesday for the first time since a gunman opened fire at a bowling alley and bar in Lewiston last week, killing 18 people and wounding 13 others in the deadliest mass shooting in the state’s history.

The Norfolk Police Department said resource dogs, Mitch and Harper, were deployed to Lisbon, a neighboring town of Lewiston that’s home to a middle school student who lost his father in the shootings.

“The Lisbon students are returning to school this morning for the first time,” Norfolk police wrote in a Facebook post. “It is our sincere hope that Mitch and Harper will bring comfort to the children in this community at school today.”

Lisbon was one of many Maine communities under a shelter-in-place order from Wednesday night to Friday afternoon as law enforcement officials from across the region worked to track down 40-year-old Robert Card, who was found dead on Friday, two days after the shootings.

Authorities said Card was found dead inside a trailer in an overflow parking lot by the Maine Recycling Facility.

In Lewiston, education leaders said schools will spend the coming weeks easing students back into the swing of things and building plenty of time for counseling and self-care.

“School days with an intentionally light schedule, reflection time, and just gathering,” Lewiston Superintendent Jake Langlais said.

Langlais added that the district will also make a conscious effort not to rush the grieving process and give people space when they need it.

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