Maine shootings leave deaf community reeling after 4 are killed
Central Maine's tight-knit deaf community was hit particularly hard by this week’s mass shootings. A deaf cornhole tournament was attacked in the shootings.
LEWISTON, Maine — Central Maine's tight-knit deaf community was hit particularly hard by last week’s mass shootings.
After a gunman opened fire at a bowling alley, he next took aim at Schemengees Bar and Grille, where several victims had been competing in a cornhole tournament.
At least four of the 18 people killed Wednesday night were deaf, loved ones have said.
"Our ... community is grieving deeply," said Karen Hopkins, the executive director of the Maine Educational Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing/Governor Baxter School for the Deaf, which has educated children in those communities and supported their families for 65 years. "We lost four of our cherished community members."
Joshua Seal.via FacebookJoshua Seal, a well-liked American Sign Language interpreter and director of the interpreting service agency Pine Tree Society, was a “fierce advocate for their equity, accessibility and educational needs,” his wife, Elizabeth Seal, said Friday.
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