♪ you're watching "cnn news central." i'm boris sanchez in washington. john bermen is live in lewiston, maine, where people are now entering their 17th hour sheltering in place as a manhunt for a mass killer intensifies. a short time ago, the governor updated the death toll in last night's shooting rampage to 18. this happened over two locations, about four miles apart. a bowling alley and a bar and grill in lewiston. we understand another 13 people were wounded. and now hundreds of officers are furiously searching for this 40-year-old army reservist named

robert card. we see him in these images released by the sheriff's office pointing an ar-style rifle. >> he should be considered armed and dangerous. based on our investigation, we believe this is someone who should not be approached. this is someone, if you come in any contact with this individual or someone who looking like this individual, you are to call 911. >> reporter: yeah, law enforcement made clear they consider him armed and dangerous, card is charged with eight counts of murder at this time, that reflects the number of victims that have been identified so far. eight have been identified so far. that means ten as of a short time ago still needed to be identified. authorities do say that eight of the 18 were gunned down at the bar which is right here behind me. and then the other seven died, first, at the bowling alley, which is about a ten-minute drive from here. there was a local council person

who said that you he can barely think about the scope of this tragedy, it's just beginning to hit him because his son works agency a manager at the local bar. listen. >> when you get anything that happens like this, you hope, you go empty. and it's just nothing, nothing you can do. your gut knows like a monster inside of you and it feels like it's going to fall off. >> all right. cnn's shimon is following the shooting. >> we've been communicating with the brother of robert card, he

says the family has been texted him, reaching out to him, telling him to surrender. as you know, this manhunt is still ongoing as police try to bring him to custody and the brother is telling me that the family is doing everything they can to bring him into custody. saying the police have been given anything we can offer to fog sill tate their efforts. also saying we've helped law enforcement in any way possible. the brother would not confirm to me whether or not robert card has responded to those pleas from his family to surrender. but we've also spoken to his sister-in-law who described this as something that was an episode, she tells cnn, he, robert card, did not have a long history of mental health issues. she said she's not someone who had mental health issues for a long time or anything like that. but what we're learning about him, he's 40 years old, searching in the army reserves. he's described by former colleagues as a skilled

marksman. one of them told us he was one of the best shooters in his army reserve unit. he was described as an outdoorsman very comfortable in the woods. but we know, over the summer, we experienced mental health issues. he was in a training facility in upstate new york, he started hearing voices, expressing that he wanted to harm fellow soldiers. he was admitted to a health care facility for several weeks and then released. and then we know what has unfolded last night since then. >> let's just repeat that one more time. he reported hearing voices he was then put in a mental health facility over the summer for some period of time and then released. any information, at all, pamela, on the terms of that release? >> yeah, that is something that we're trying to gather. what were the terms. clearly, he expressed an interest before being admitted to harming his former soldiers

and hearing voices. we don't know what happened after that. what we do know, he was released. he has a home on hundreds of acres in maine. and he legally possessed multiple weapons. we know he's a firearm enthusiast. and he was able to be released and gain access to his firearms but we're trying to learn more about why he was released. under what terms. clearly, he would have been evaluated before he was released. and we just don't know what the circumstances are. but that is one of the key questions right now, john. >> i want to bring in shimon prokupecz for the latest. shimon, we should know, i saw helicopters flying over that's a regular thing here in this part of maine. even driving here in portland, we were passed by this county sheriff, that county sheriff. state police. i thought i saw massachusetts law enforcement vehicle all headed to this area, so what's

the latest? >> reporter: yeah, i mean, there's a lot of resources here to help the law enforcement, the local law enforcement and the state law enforcement. there's a lot of areas for them to cover, you know, here, where we are, we're in lisbon. this is where he dumped the car. i'm going to show you here, john, here, this area. this is a boat launch last night. after the shooting. this is where police found that white subaru. what happened after this, unclear. they've been out here, police searching through this area, all day, all morning, they've been getting 911 calls. neighbors are frantic. residents here afraid for their lives are calling 911 if they hear a noise, if they see something suspicious. so police are responding and they are searching. we were with officers this morning during some of those searches. so definitely, people here on edge. and part of what's making some of this kind of difficult for

law enforcement, you know, this is a wooded area. we're not seeing them in any of the deep -- into the wooded area. the only searches they've been doing out here today have been around homes. as people are calling 911. to cars. some basic searches. but they're not going deep into. i'd not thought about that in i heard her report just now. cell phones if the family is communicating, or if he's receiving cell phone texts from them, law enforcement would know that. so they could ping his phone which could then potentially tell them perhaps where he is. so that could be playing a big part of this and providing big keys to law enforcement. because i will say one thing to you, john. that i have found kind of interesting is that they're rather calm, there is this shelter in place, don't leave your home. businesses are closed. but we're not seeing that surge

in law enforcement here. there's a lot of things going on behind the scenes and there's all sorts of planning. but on the streets here, it's quiet, it's calm, and you're just not seeing that kind of surge that you're normally seeing in a manhunt. it makes me wonder if they have some things going on behind the scenes, clearly, that we just don't know about. >> certainly, it is possible. a couple things we will point out, all kinds of establishments have closed shop for the day because they are concerned there's this armed and dangerous alleged killer on the loose. td bank closed 39 branches of its banks. department of motor vehicles. l.l. bean which is 15 minutes from here, open on christmas day is closed today out of the security concerns. so people are obviously being careful. shimon, i want to talk about the river, the river behind you, the boat launch, it does raise the possibility that this search is on land and on water. >> reporter: yeah, it is, so,

what was happening earlier was, we did see helicopters kind of flying around the river, out on the other side here, across the road here. helicopter photographer bob crowley saw him when he was here earlier, flying very, very low, just over the water, just doing a fly-by. that would certainly be something that would be interesting, right? if he had a boat here and was able to get away by boat. i mean, the level of planning would be pretty remarkable if that was the case. i mean, the question is, was this a random location for him, right? did he just drive by here, see a spot and say, you know what i'm going to dump this car here? where did he go from here? and, you know, law enforcement just won't answer those questions right now. but this just seems -- it's about 15 minutes or so from where you are. and it's a really interesting location.

yeah, the river is certainly a concern and then the woods, but so far, law enforcement has come up empty here. they've not seen him here. there's not been any kind of sightings, just people on edge, nervous, calling law enforcement and they're doing their jobs. it's a small police department here, john. 17-person police department. they've been the ones out here all day and all morning, doing the searches. >> no, it's a great point, this is a big area, a wooded area, a lot of wilderness here. there's also a lot of people who live nearby. lewiston is about is about 500,000 people, there's a lot of people in the near area very concerned where we stand this afternoon. shimon prokupecz, not far from where part of the search is taking place. really important information you're giving us in kind of a calm atmosphere surrounding the search. we'll get back to you in a bit, boris, let's go back to you.

>> john, just motels ago at a state department luncheon with the australian prime minister, vice president kamala harris addressed the mass shooting in maine, let's listen. >> as the secretary said before i address why we are convened for today. i will address the tragic events that happened last night in maine. last night, lewiston became yet another community torn apart by senseless gun violence. once again, routine gatherings, this time at a bowling alley and a restaurant, had been turned into scenes of horrific carnage. doug and i mourn for those who were killed. we pray for those who were injured. and grieve with so many whose lives are forever changed and impacted by what happened. the biden/harris administration

will continue to provide full support to local authorities and as we gather, we must continue to speak truth about the moment we are in. in our country today, the leading cause of death of american children is gun violence. gun violence has terrorized and traumatized d so many of our communities in this country. and let us be clear, it does not have to be this way. as our friends in australia have demonstrated. and with that then -- [ applause ] >> we should point out the vice president was recently named overseas newly established office of gun violence prevention that the white house set up, as a response to so many mass shootings in the united

states. let's get some perspective on the manhunt with cnn law enforcement only charles ramsey along with analyst juliette kayyem. great to see both of you, unfortunately again, under these circumstances, chief ramsey, let's start with the challenge of finding the suspect. terrain, rural, heavily wooded area. he's also someone with extensive military experience, a specialist with firearms. >> well, it's quite challenging. i mean, that's assuming that he's still in that area. and i don't know if they know for sure that he is. but having said that, it would be setting up grid searches and very carefully going through this. now, it's daylight, so they're able to conduct a search. last night, it was just very difficult, but not impossible, it was dark. very, very dark, if he'd been out in the woods, it was almost no light at all. so that many just adds to it.

the fact that he's a marksman, a very skilled one. we know he has say high-powered weapon with him, perhaps he's got other weapons that he had in his car, that makes it incredibly dangerous for the men and women out there doing the search. but they were systematically go through the area and hopefully, they're able to locate him before he's able to do harm to anyone else. >> juliette, investigators aren't just systematically going through the area, they're also looking at cell phone data, they're interviewing family members and associates, how does that information potentially lead them to him? >> yeah, there's two kinds of this kind of investigation or focusing on the signal imprint. and the one is, where is he? and we're assuming that he's kept his phone. so, all of this talk, you know, can they get pings or whatever, he clearly, carefully planned this. he picks sites that become

progressively more isolated. so the last is closer to a place where he can hide. he's survived close to 14 hours along without getting caught. we don't know if he had planned an isolated place to hide. he may have also gotten rid of his phones. all of those things, whether it's tracking on roads, it's drones, these areas around maine are both -- some of the most beautiful parts of our country that they, you know, you can put drones over them and at least look for movement or heat movement, or anything like that. you can do the same over water and the lakes. the other reason why you want to do, sort of check his computers and everything, is, of course, motive. we don't know now, we're hearing about mental health issues. that's not a reason, right? lots of people with mental health issues are not doing this. what was the triggering -- was there any hint of a triggering, loss of a job, was it something

personal? was it something political, that he is absorbing? and that's what's important to know because we don't know much about the victims. and we kind of deserve to relatively soon. i've been surprised how little information we've been getting at this stage. i think its incumbent on law enforcement to provide that, once families are notified, of course. but to figure out the reason for them, that he picked these places. >> sure. chief ramsey, there's also concern about geography, because this area feasibly is within walking dance from the canadian border. so how does that then complicate the search? >> well, i mean, obviously, they've notified customs and border patrol, no doubt about that. but yet, that's one more complication. i mean, you've got neighboring states, vermont, new hampshire. he's not that far from m massachusetts. i mean, if he's mobile, we

talked about did he are a boat where he ditched the car or did he have a vehicle? one thing they haven't provided us with is any search area to give us a sense where they are searching. so, they've been holding a lot of information back. i understand from the investigative standpoint there is information that needs to be held back. i do think more information could be provided. you know, people are afraid right now. and part of the responsibility is to kind of do your best to assure them. and right now, i just don't see that. >> juliette -- >> can i say something? >> yeah, go ahead. >> no, i mean, being here in this position with you or someone else at cnn a lot. look, a community is being told to stay inside. this is not sustainable for a long period of time. someone's going to have to make a decision within the next couple of hours that you're just making a risk calculation, if we

don't find him, if they don't find him. but you can't have populations traumatized by the shooting now traumatized by the search. and not providing what you're doing as chief ramsey was saying. i struggle with these lockdowns because you kind of don't want people living in fear. at some stage, relatively soon, someone has to make a decision that the calculus, and this is what was done in the boston marathon, people had to also begin to mourn together, be a community again together, rather than hide. and it's hard. i can't imagine what it's like living in that area now. >> yeah. it's a dielicate balance of providing the public with information and protecting that jf information, juliette kayyem and chief ramsey, thank you for the time. >> thank you. we still have more on the breaking news out of maine. we're going to take a closer

look at how hospitals handled the chaos and care. plus, we're still watching news out of the middle east, the israeli military said it carried out a targeted raid with tanks overnight. what that could sisignal aboutue nextxt phase of f the war. that's stitill ahead o on "cnn centraral."

all right, john berman here in lewiston, maine. you're looking at live pictures outside of schemengees bar & grille. on the right-hand side of that screen, behind that tree there, you see a group of law enforcement there. it's a mixture of state and federal officers there. there are officers there. you can't really make them out in this picture, wearing fbi vests -- there you go. this is the first time we've actually seen of the fbi, we've known that there are fbi on the scene here. you can see them there wearing those vests. so a mixture of federal and state law enforcement now

engaged in this furious manhunt for 40-year-old robert card who is now wanted specifically in connection with the deaths of eight people because they've only identified eight of the 18 victims. so far, he is considered armed and dangerous. and they are casting a wide net throughout this area around lewiston, maine. as i said, at this time, only eight of the 18 victims have been identified. with me now is brian todd, to get a sense, brian, about what we know about those lives lost? >> reporter: well, john, we're getting new information from medical officials in the area about the volume of patients taken to the emergency rooms and it was overwhelming. dr. john alexander, he's the chief medical officer of the central maine hospital. he said his hospital received 14 patients in the course of 40 minutes. you can imagine, that's incredible volume when you're talking gunshot wounds coming in a span of 45 minutes.

this is what dr. alexander had to say about how his hospital had staffing in place to deal with that. >> we had approximately 100 team members who were off duty come to the hospital to make sure we were able to care for not only the patients we received from this horrible scene, but also take care of the patients that we have here. >> reporter: and dr. alexander said of those 14 patients that were brought in, john, eight of them are still in the hospital. three of them were in critical condition. they did have victims pass away at that hospital. just the sense of overwhelming care that these hospital has to deal with. >> it was so quick how they all got there. they talked about in the beginning there was people there serving the people, but in the end, they even had more medical professionals onsite. they kept on streaming in. brian, thank you. meg is here to talk about it, sadly, meg, so many people around the country, hospitals

are now prepared to deal with these mass shootings? >> yeah, john, i was just talking with three different surgeons, you know, folks who focus on these sort of gunshot trauma, i was talking to dr. megan ranney, and dr. joseph sacrum from yale and johns hopkins, all of whom said they and their colleagues have to be prepared for these kinds of things. they're constantly talking amongst themselves in the e.r. community how to deal with gunshot wounds. we heard about the speed at which patients came into that hospital. and that's what all of these folks reflected on hero's work. they call it battlefield medicine. seeing 14 patients come in 40 minute. it's a level iii, level i is the top. all of them said, a level iii

trauma center celtat the center their goal is to stabilize them and get them to a higher hospital where they can get comprehensive care. the doctor was telling us about the golden hour where a gunshot wound victim comes into the hospital and needs to be stabilized. they really worry about bleeding and stabilize it. really think it's chaotic to deal with this kind of thing even in the highest level trauma centers. they say 20 to 25 people are needed for just one patient, john. it gives you a sense of the amazing work they did. >> it is amazing under awful circumstances. when you speak to medical professionals who take part in something like this. many of them will tell you, the thing that's most similar to this is combat medicine, field medicine, when doctors have to go out and help during wartime. this is what this is like. meg tirrell, thank you so much for that. again, the latest from lewiston, maine, boris, this manhunt very

much under way for robert card, 40 years old, wanted now specifically in connection with the death of eight people. but there were 18 killed at these dual mass shooting here. you have the community, the greater community, of hundreds of thousands of people, very much on edge. boris. >> now, the 17th hour of a shelter in place order. john, we know you'll stay on top of that story. still to come, we're going to take you live to israel, idf said it carried out a targeted raid in gaza overnight. we have details, straight ahead.

♪ we want to focus on the middle east now where just hours after israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu declared in his strongest language yet that israel was preparing for a ground offensive against hamas, military forces conducted a targeted raid overnight in northern gaza. video published by the israel defense forces showed images of tanks and armored vehicles including a bulldozer, you see it in the top corner of your screen, moving on a road near a fence. idf said this is part of preparations for the next stages of combat. the tanks fire the artillery before moving. let's take you to sderot with cnn diplomatic editor nic robertson. nic, what more do we know about the raid and what's to come? >> reporter: yeah, it was large in scale, they say, but limited

in its intent and scope. and its scope was to try to take out some hamas -- hamas group that was planning to launch attacks into israel. it's interesting that we woke to that news this morning, because last night, we were watching tank fire, right across here, behind me, behind me here, right in the area that we learned this morning that there had been this operation. so, we were able to watch it in realtime, but the idf wasn't speaking about it in realtime. so, we could see a lot of tank fire. we could hear and feel a lot of very heavy detonations. the type of munition that we haven't really heard before. you're hearing artillery now, you may hearing a missile explosion behind us, there's a jet overhead. we had one a few minutes ago. but the detonations we were hearing last night didn't sound like anything we heard before. hard to describe them. but that was the operation. so it is, apparently, according

to the idf, part of the preparations for more operations to come. and from the military point of view, if you go in and have an operation that perhaps clears a path or something that hamas is planning, if you leave too long of a gap in time before you put troops in there again, then hamas can come back in with other operatives and repair the damage done, get ready to do again what they were planning to do last time. so it does feel and seem as if this is potentially a build towards a big incursion. again, we don't know when that could come. but every indication that we're still moving in that direction, boris. >> yeah. a lot of anticipation for that potential incursion. nic robertson, from sderot, thank you so much. let's discuss the humanitarian crisis in gaza now with juliette touma, she's a communications director for the united nations relief and works agency. it's been caring for some

600,000 people at its shelters in gaza. julia, thank you so much for being with us. you said if you don't get fuel by tonight, you will be forced to halt operations altogether. what is the status? how are you managing that situation? >> we would be pushed to the very edge. we're being pushed to the brink. we had to start rationing the very little amounts of fuel. and to facilities and bakeries that we support in the gaza strip. and we are running out and we're still hopeful that an urgent shipment of fuel does come in so we're not forced to make a decision that no humanitarian services do to stop services to

people in need. >> put that in context for us. what exactly does that mean? turning off incubators in hospitals are taking people off of life support? is that what is at stake here? >> it also means very simple things, like it means we will not have the fuel to drive our cars, and deliver our assistance, including medicine, oone example. it means that water salination plants will not work. it means that the bakeries that we have flour for will stop baking. it's a chain, you see. and that chain will be broken because it's not getting any fuel for assistance in the gaza strip. >> the idea with this back and forth with the united nations with this, they've argued that there are already hundreds of thousands of liters of fuel in gaza, but that fuel is

controlled by hamas. i'm wondering if the organization has any communication with hamas. if there's been any discussion with that group that governs gaza. >> what i do know that we do have not fuel at the moment, we need an urgent shipment of fuel to come into gaza in support of our operation, and if we don't, we're going to have very severe consequences on the people who are already suffering quite a lot. 600,000, in over 150 shelters. very, very overcrowded. it's four times the capacity of what we had planned for. we need that fuel to come in. >> it sounds like it's not clear at the moment whether there is any communication with hamas to provide some of the fuel that the idf alleges that hamas has. what are your agency's plans if israel carries out that ground incursion that's been anticipated? are you making any preparations? >> well, we're terrified.

we're terrified, also, for the safety of our own staff. i 19, as of this evening, we're very sad to confirm that another 15 colleagues of ours have been killed. and that number to 51 colleagues have been killed, half of which are teachers. any form of escalation would only bring loss and brief. it's time for a cease-fire, not for anything else. >> juliette touma, i'm sorry to hear of the passing your colleagues. thank you so much for sharing your time and your perspective with us. still ahead on "cnn news central," president biden has ordered american flags lowered to half-staff in thewake of the tragic mass shooting in maine. the latest on the mass shooting in the united states when we come back.

♪ it's within congress' power to pass legislation that will make our streets safer. that will make our communities safer. that will make our schools safer. the house has a new speaker, who he said -- he said he's ready to get to work and to find common ground. now is the time. now is the time to find common ground. >> you can hear the new reaction from the white house, just hours after this string of mass shootings in maine left 18 people dead. there is an intensive manhunt under way, we should note, at this very moment for the

suspected killer who is very much on the loose and on the run. let's go right to the white house, cnn's arlette saenz is with us now. arlette, what are you hearing from the president on this? >> reporter: well, john, president biden says once again, the country is in mourning in the wake of this mass shooting that killed at least 18 people in lewiston, maine. just behind me here at the white house, flags have been lowered to half-staff. in a statement a little while ago, the president said this is a situation that should not become normal and that action needs to, quote, address the epidemic of gun violence that was addressed in the briefing. president biden last night was at the white house, hosting the australian state dinner. he was actually pulled out of that dinner to receive a briefing after the shooting took place last night. he also spoke with the governor of maine as well as the state's two senators and congressman. and the president this morning was also breached by his senior

advisers. one thing that the president has stressed and the white house has stressed as well from the podium that people in the area need to listen to local law enforcement officials as there is still that search under way for the suspect. but the president also used the statement as another attempt to renew calls for further action when it comes to gun safety in this country. the president has said he's exhausted many of the options available to him, via executive order. you'll remember there was some legislation passed after that horrific shooting in uvalde, texas. and the president did recently establish an office that is focused on gun violence prevention. in his statement today, the president once again renewed his calls for an assault weapons ban, on magazines and state torch laws for firearms and trying to end the immunity from liability for gun manufacturers. president, in his statement saying, quote, this is the very least we owe every american who will now bear the scars, physical and mental, of this

latest attack. as you heard karine jean-pierre say it's the time for congress to act. she specifically called on the new house speaker to try to take steps to address this issue of gun violence but so far, there's been very little appetite on capitol hill for passing more meaningful reforms. so it remains to be seen what exact actions could be taken in the wake of yet another horrific mass shooting. >> yeah, by some count, arlette, 500 mass shootings in the united states this year alone. arlette saenz at the white house, thank you very much. as arlette just noted, people here in lewiston need to listen to local law enforcement. follow instructions. shelter in place. there are businesses around the state that are shut down as this manhunt for a mass killer continues. much more of our breaking news coverage, right after this. to duckduckgo on all your devie

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♪ the u.s. economy defying expectations yet again, growing at its strongest rate in nearly two years in the face of stubborn inflation and high interest rates. the commerce department today reporting that gross domestic product, or gdp, the biggest test of measure of the economy's health soared over the summer quarter to a 4.9%. rate. that's more than double the growth we saw in the spring. and faster than economists predicted. cnn business and politics correspondent vanessa yurkevich

is digging into these numbers, vanessa, what was behind the surge? >> yeah, boris, it was this time of year when analysts and big ceos at financial institutions were expecting that we would be in a recession but this third quarter gdp report shows anything but that. as you mentioned extremely strong growth. the u.s. economy growing by 4.9%. that was led by consumer spending. americans still out there spending, despite high inflation. and then you have home buying. home buying playing into this report, for the first time in two years. people still purchasing homes, despite higher borrowing rates. and then you have americans really spending on entertainment and travel. experiences. if you remember the sort of girl power summer, you had millions of americans spending on going to the movie theater to see "barbie." going to see taylor swift and beyonce in concert.

that actually has played into third quarter gdp. and also, we're seeing these results play out in realtime. today, we saw earnings, third quarter earnings, from companies like mastercard that said that continued resilience in consumer spending was one of the key reasons why they saw strong growth in their third quarter. and you have royal caribbean, cruises, people taking experiences. they're saying that the acceleration of consumer spending on experiences have propelled us towards another outstanding quarter and a robust 2023. so you're hearing it from the companies themselves. that they are seeing this intense consumer spending in the third quarter. >> vanessa, not to be a buzz kill, but economists are warning that this is likely going to slow down very soon? >> yeah. analysts are not expecting this the sustained momentum into the fourth quarter. and that is because in this third quarter gdp report, we also saw that household income

dropped a bit. so you're going to see less disposable income going into the fourth quarter. you're also going to be seeing people feeling their student loan payments again, and that started up. and also interest rates continuing to climb. people may start pulling back because of that. and, boris, despite the fact that consumers are still spending, they're putting a lot of their purchases on credit cards. and that contributes to consumer debt. so, not as much of a rosier picture for the fourth quarter gdp report as we've been expecting. boris. >> vanessa yurkevich, thank you for the update. stay with "cnn news central," we're continuing to follow the search for the suspect in mass shooting in maine. we're going toto take you to th scene e for the vevery latest.t. ♪