The suspect in a mass shooting that killed 18 people in the US state of Maine has been found dead, the state's governor said Friday, ending a two-day manhunt that mobilized hundreds of law enforcement agents and set jittery residents of the northeastern state on edge.

Robert Card, a 40-year-old Army reservist, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and his body was discovered at 7:45 p.m., Maine public safety commissioner Mike Sauschuck said.

Card's body was found in Lisbon Falls, southeast of Lewiston near the Androscoggin River, authorities said. US media said his body was found near a recycling center that was Card's place of employment before he lost his job there.

Roads leading to the site were blocked by police Friday evening, an Agence France-Presse journalist saw.

Sauschuck said he could not immediately say when Card shot himself.

Earlier Friday, law enforcement agents deployed along the Androscoggin River — near where Card's white SUV was found — and divers using sonar entered the river to look for evidence — or a body.

"I'm breathing a sigh of relief tonight knowing that Robert Card is no longer a threat to anyone," governor Janet Mills told a hastily called news conference.

Card is believed to be the perpetrator of a rampage on Wednesday evening that left 18 people dead and 13 others wounded in a bowling alley and a bar-restaurant in this hard-scrabble city.

The shooting — and Card's fugitive status — had brought dread to southern Maine over the past two days. Authorities had described Card as "armed and dangerous."

WITH AFP