WHEREAS, on the evening of October 25, 2023, Maine people were bowling with their kids, enjoying a cold beer after a long day at work, competing in a cornhole league tournament, and spending time with their family and friends at Just-In-Time Recreation and at Schemengees Bar and Grill in Lewiston when their lives were shattered by gunfire; and

WHEREAS, eighteen beloved people -- our friends and family and neighbors -- lost their lives and many more were seriously injured; and

WHEREAS, several members of Maine's Deaf and Hard of Hearing community lost their lives and many more were impacted; and

WHEREAS, many ordinary people demonstrated extraordinary courage, attempting to stop the perpetrator and to usher children and others to safety; and

WHEREAS, confronted with an unprecedented emergency, hundreds of law enforcement officers from county, state, and federal agencies ran toward the danger to protect Maine people and to search for the perpetrator; and

WHEREAS, paramedics, doctors, nurses, and health care workers did everything in their power to save lives and to treat wounds both seen and unseen; and

WHEREAS, ASL interpreters stepped up in their own moment of grief to ensure that crucial information was translated to those who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing; and

WHEREAS, when the perpetrator's body was found and public safety restored after 49 frightening hours, Maine people came together to grieve as one, offering the people of Lewiston support and strength with generosity and grace; and

WHEREAS, that support has never waned, with Maine people remaining steadfast in our conviction that we are one community, bound by our shared humanity and our love for each other and for this state; and

WHEREAS, we will continue to walk hand in hand along the road to healing, doing everything we can to support the victims' families and the survivors of this tragedy;

NOW THEREFORE, be it resolved that I, Janet T. Mills, Governor the State of Maine, do hereby order the United States and State of Maine flags be lowered to half-staff on Friday, October 25, 2024, in remembrance and honor of those we lost, those who were injured, and all those who have been affected by the Lewiston tragedy.

In testimony whereof, I have caused the Great Seal of the State to be hereunto affixed GIVEN under my hand at Augusta this sixteenth day of October Two Thousand Twenty-Four