Jeremy Janes said he was working at a foundry near Schemengees Bar when they heard gunshots and locked the facility down.
“Immediately we locked down, closed our doors and closed the shop,” Janes told NBC Boston outside of a hospital in Lewiston.
A friend of Janes’ said his 21-year-old son was shot, and Janes said he heard he was shot one time “and he’s doing OK.”
“We’re hoping and praying that everyone’s OK, and he’s OK,” Janes told the station.
All town offices will be closed Thursday in Lisbon, the community of around 9,700 where a vehicle that was being sought in the Lewiston shootings was found, the town said.
“Law enforcement in Androscoggin County is investigating two active shooter events. All town offices will be closed on October 26th. Please prioritise safety and continue to shelter in place,” the town said on its website.
Lewiston also said all of its offices were closed. Shelter-in-place orders were issued in both cities after the shootings. A gunman has not been apprehended.
Law enforcement officers carry rifles outside Central Maine Medical Centre during an active shooter situation in Lewiston on Wednesday evening.
The number of people believed to be killed in the shootings is 15 to 20, according to law enforcement sources.
NBC News earlier reported that 22 people had been killed, citing a Lewiston police source.
Up to 50 people may be injured, not all of whom were shot. Some reportedly had injuries from a stampede, the sources said.
The city of Lewiston said that all municipal buildings are closed Thursday as the hunt for a shooter who caused multiple casualties in the city Wednesday evening continues, the city government said.
Schools are also closed. People were told to shelter in place after the shootings. Police identified a bar and a bowling alley as scenes.
The city said that non-emergency personnel should stay home.
A reunification center was set up at Auburn Middle School after shootings in Lewiston, state police said.
People who have questions about their loved ones can go to the school at 38 Falcon Drive in Auburn, police said.
Auburn Mayor Jason Levesque told NBC affiliate WCSH that witnesses from the two locations were taken to an area to be cleared and interviewed, and then bussed there for a reunification process.
Of the witnesses, “it was all ages,” he said. “I just talked to some teenagers,” Levesque said. “It was all ages.”
The person of interest in connection with the shootings studied engineering at the University of Maine about 20 years ago, a school representative said.
Card was a student there from 2001 to 2004, though it was not immediately clear whether he graduated, University of Maine spokesperson Eric Gordon told NBC News early Thursday.
Gordon said he did not have access overnight to any other student information about Card.