US police launch search team on gunman for killing 22 people

About two dozen people were killed and over fifty injured in the most recent mass shooting to hit the US on Wednesday night, terrifying a little hamlet in New England.

NAN reports that the first of at least three shooting incidents was reported at 7:00 p.m. (00:00GMT), which is when the mayhem in Lewiston, Maine, started.

The Lewiston Sun Journal revealed that at least 22 people were reportedly dead.

At a press conference, Commissioner Mike Sauschuck of the Maine Department of Public Safety announced that a manhunt involving hundreds of officers was in progress late on Wednesday.

First, according to the Sun Journal, police were called about a gunman at a bowling alley.

A short while later, a local pub and grill was the scene of another gunshot.

At the time of the assault, the bowling alley was hosting a children's event, Lewiston Councillor Robert McCarthy told CNN.

Following reports of an active shooter in several areas, the Maine State Police advised locals to take cover within their locations.

“Please stay inside your home with the doors locked,” they wrote on social media.

“Law enforcement is currently investigating at two locations right now.

“Again please stay off the streets and allow law enforcement to diffuse the situation.’’

Not long after 8 p.m., there came word of a third gunshot at a Walmart distribution centre.

A picture of a suspect brandishing an assault rifle while sporting cargo trousers and pointing a firearm was uploaded to the internet by the Androscoggin County Sheriff's Office.

While local police identified a 40-year-old man as a person of interest in the horrific shooting, the Boston Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was supporting the response.

At the late-night news conference on Wednesday, Sauschuck refrained from identifying him as a suspect or giving any other information. 

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