Relief and mourning in Lewiston after suspected mass killer found dead

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• John Yang:

  The residents of Lewiston, Maine woke up this morning without a Shelter In Place Order in effect. Now that the suspected gunman has been found dead the city can focus on coming together to mourn, to support each other, and to try to start to heal.

  Earlier today I spoke with Kristen Cloutier, a main state lawmaker who represents the area and a former mayor of Lewiston. I asked her how she was feeling the day after the manhunt ended.

  Kristen Cloutier (D) Maine State Legislator: A sense of relief, that the person that you know, perpetrated this awful act of violence is no longer at large and a sense of relief that I think we now get to be together to mourn the loss of the most lives in our community.

  But also this is sort of just the beginning I think in terms of healing and, you know, trying to get ourselves past the horror of this and that is sort of where the work begins.

• John Yang:

  I'd like to ask you because I think so many people, this is the first time maybe the first time they're hearing about Lewiston, Maine. How would you describe it to people? What do you want people to know about Lewiston beyond this incident?

• Kristen Cloutier:

  So I grew up here, and I'm raising my own family here, it's a place that I left and then came back to, it is gritty. So it's a very genuine community. We have a very elite liberal arts institution here, but it is definitely not a college town.

  I think that because of the grit of this place, it's an old mill town that's been partially revitalized. And it's very New England. And so we call Maine a small town. Lewiston is truly that. And everyone here knows each other. In times like this, I've never lived in a place that really sort of comes together and works as a community to sort of rebuild.

• John Yang:

  And because as you say, it's a very small town, everyone seems to know each other. I would imagine the impact of this is so much greater that everyone either has a direct connection or know someone who has a direct connection, talk a little bit about that about how it's affected the community.

• Kristen Cloutier:

  I think there was a lot of uncertainty because the names of the victims hadn't been released. Once they started releasing names, I feel like there was this additional rush of emotion because people weren't connecting themselves with folks.

  And I think even if you didn't know somebody directly, you didn't know somebody through like a first or second degree of separation. And so I think that that's been really hard. But I do also think that is sort of what's going to bring us together around remember remembering the lives that we've lost and celebrating those lives.

  So there's a lot of grief here but I think that there will also be a lot of celebration and remembering those folks.

• John Yang:

  You talked about the try to come together to heal what sorts of ways would you like to see the people of Lewiston come out to support the families of those who died support the wounded and quite frankly, support each other?

• Kristen Cloutier:

  Yeah, so there are things that have already been planned. One of those things is light up Lewiston, so everyone either puts their Christmas lights out early or turns their porch light on or puts candles in their window to really memorialize those lives that were lost. And then Sunday tomorrow, there is a big community vigil that's being held locally, one of the other area high schools had Lewiston sort of printed onto their football field.

  So there's just been this real outpouring of support from other communities. And then just a real effort for us all to sort of come together, be together and share in our in our grief and mourn those folks.

• John Yang:

  And you say this is the first step toward healing. How long do you think that process is going to take?

• Kristen Cloutier:

  A long time. I mean, I think about losing individual family members, personally. I mean, the grieving process, I feel like is probably lifelong. And so there's been a long road ahead of us, I would say.

• John Yang:

  But do you feel that Lewiston can come back to some semblance of normality that will, you don't want to forget this, but you want to move beyond it? I would imagine.

• Kristen Cloutier:

  Yeah, I mean, it will be I think it's really important for us to take the time to reflect and to process everything that's happened. And I think the reality will be different on the other side of this, but I think that the grit and determination that makes this that gives this town a sense of place is exactly what is going to get us through

• John Yang:

  State representative and former Lewiston mayor Kristen Cloutier. Thank you very much and our condolences to you and everyone in Lewiston for this horrific loss.

• Kristen Cloutier:

  Thank you.