(NewsNation) — When a gunman opened fire at Just-in-Time Recreation on Wednesday night, two bowlers in Lewiston, Maine, knew what they had to do.
“I had two options. One was to try to attack him or to try to get as many people out as possible.”
Chad Hopkins and Kenny Moore, both league bowlers, chose to guide the crowd inside the packed bowling alley out of the building and away from the shooter. Hopkins saved the lives of 39 people and Moore rescued numerous children who were part of the Lewiston Auburn United States Bowling Congress Youth League.
Hopkins said within his league, they thought at first someone dropped a bowling ball or a balloon had popped. Moore knew immediately the sound was different.
“Once I saw what was going on, I’m like, I can’t believe I’m really seeing this. ‘Everybody out! Shooter!’,” Hopkins recalled during an interview with NewsNation host Chris Cuomo.
Moore added: “I saw nothing but a neck down and a long gun. The first words out of my mouth were ‘Shooter! Shooter! Follow me!’”
Hopkins and Moore said they both noticed the gunman appeared to have a weapon failure.
“That was a moment of, ‘let’s go,’” Hopkins remembered. “I wanted to make sure my mother and my family were out. That’s all I cared about.”
Moore saw a huge curtain used to hide shut down sections of the alley as a lane to safety.
“I saw that curtain as cover and I said, ‘follow me!’ Half of my group followed me. The other half of my group froze and barricaded in a corner. From that exit door that I got everybody out of, I stood there and continued to watch into the building. Because that shooter was either going to continue my way, walking towards that group. This could’ve been a lot worse,” Moore said.
The league Hopkins was with happened to be playing on lanes near the back exit.
“We were both just trying to take care of our people and get out,” Hopkins said.
Hopkins said there were 40 people in his league Wednesday night. He was able to save 39 of them. Tricia Asselin, who Hopkins said had gone to a counter near the front of the building to help other bowlers, didn’t make it out alive.
“I love that my last memory of her (was) that she was beating me in bowling and I was rooting her on for it. She was doing what she always does. She wasn’t on the clock, but she was still helping everybody,” Hopkins said.
Amid the chaos, Moore reentered the bowling alley with the intention of getting others out of danger.
“I made my way back in. As soon as I got to that original corner that I had looked down, there was bodies. The owner of the facility who I know and I’m close with, great people, they brought our bowling alley back to life for us. I saw her running from the front entrance back into the building. The door was locked. It was secure. I felt no threat. At that point, it was: Who’s saveable?” Moore said.
Moore said he had around 15 kids in his league Wednesday night and one teenage bowler died in the shooting.
“(I’m) looking to God to guide me, to give me the strength, the words,” Moore said.
“Thoughts and prayers, absolutely. Intentions matter. You acted, OK. I’m giving thoughts and prayers. You acted,” Cuomo told Hopkins and Moore. “You got out 39 people, you got out those kids and then you went back in. That is tremendous, tremendous. And I’m not a member of the community, but I’m grateful for you.”
A manhunt remains underway for suspected gunman Robert Card. The shootings at two Maine establishments, Schemengees Bar and Grille and Just-in-Time Recreation, killed at least 18 people and injured 13 more.
