As some of you know, what happened on Wednesday, October 25th? For the past few days, after discovering what happened on that tragic day, I have been thinking over and over about what to say or how to express myself. But I have been unable to; I could not find the words because I have been left speechless or signless. Should I say something or express something about what had happened? Because if I did, it wouldn’t reverse what happened that day. What happened on that day was pure evil and hit too close to home. We are used to seeing something like that happen often everywhere. What happened on October 25th is common here in the United States, but October 25th was different. What I mean by common is that we are seeing a lot of mass shootings happening all over the United States, and that a lot of lives were taken away from them.
But it was different on October 25th, 2023, because on that day, there was a mass shooting in Maine, and we thought to ourselves that it was another mass shooting that we were so used to hearing or seeing until we realized it wasn’t. On that day, there was a mass shooting in the state of Maine in Lewiston where a man named Robert Card went into two buildings with an AR-15 firearm and shot to kill 18 people. The first building he entered was Just-In-Time Recreation, a bowling alley to shoot, and then he walked out to another building named Schemengees Bar & Grille, a restaurant/bar to shoot. In total, Robert Card shot and killed 18 people.
Four out of eighteen were murdered were members of the Deaf community
Four of the eighteen people that Robert Card killed in cold blood with his AR-15 weapon were part of our Deaf community. Four Deaf men were murdered by a man named Robert Card, who was a US Army Reservist, a certified firearms instructor, and had a mentality issue where he said that he was hearing some voices in his head. Robert Card himself had some powerful hearing aids but dismissed that he was hearing through these hearing aids but more so in his head. I’m not sure if his motive was that he was made fun of by his hearing aids, as some people in the Deaf community speculate, but the news said that he recently had a bad breakup. After a few days, Robert Card was on the run, finally found in the river but took his own life and left a suicide note, which the police in Maine refused to reveal the contents of, so the motive is still a mystery. But I am very glad that they have finally found Robert Card, so hopefully that gives the families of these people that he took lives from them peace of mind, knowing that Robert Card has been caught regardless of whether he was still alive or dead.
But enough about that murderer, a guy who was evil and even taking his own life, was a cowardly move because he took the easy way out rather than having to face the families of who he had murdered and taken from their families. I know I am being a bit mean for calling him a cowardly murderer and nothing but pure evil. Still, I am just stating what a fact is because he was nothing but pure evil for killing 18 people, but four of them hit close to home for the Deaf community because these four Deaf men were part of our Deaf community. They were over there for the Deaf Cornhole Tournament, where they played the Cornhole games. They weren’t doing anything but playing cornholes and… Have their lives taken away. I just cannot fathom it. They did not do anything that would give the murderer a reason to kill them in cold blood, so why? I hope that their families will find out what was the motive of the shootings, and then we know what was.
The names of the four men that was and will ALWAYS be part of our Deaf community are Joshua Seal (36), Bill Brackett (48), Steve Vozzella (46), and Bryan MacFarlane (41). Here are a few articles with more information about what had happened, more details on who these four deaf men were known for, what their families said about this and their interviews.
- Maine shootings leave deaf community reeling after 4 are killed written by Minyvonne Burke, David K. Li, and Emilie Ikeda at NBC News.
- Maine’s close-knit deaf community is grieving in the wake of shootings that killed 4 beloved members written by Patrick Whittle at AP News.
- Lewiston’s mass shooting deals devastating blow to deaf and hard of hearing community written by Steve Mistler at Maine Public.
- Maine mass shooting may be nation’s worst-ever affecting deaf community, with 4 dead written by Trevor Hughes at USA Today.
My Thoughts
As you have read, I have already shared a bit of my thoughts above, where I said that I am very glad that the murderer was found and that he was pure evil who made a cowardly move by taking the easy way out by taking his own life rather than having to face the families of these four that he took lives away from them. Also, I have been struggling to think of what to say or how to express this, except that it hits close to home. When I discovered what had happened that day, the first thing that came to me was, why? I don’t know these four Deaf men, although I have seen two of them on social media, so I see them around on social media but never had a talk with any of them or anything. When I see them online, especially videos of them, they seem cool and good people. I wish that there was more to say about them; I cannot because I never had a conversation with any of them, but I wish that I had the privilege so I can describe them better than just that they seem to be cool and good people. Unfortunately, I never had the privilege to, and I suggest you read some articles above that I shared with all of you or look them up on social media, which would give you a better picture of who these four Deaf men were. What I can say is that, even though I don’t know them, what I know for sure is that we as a Deaf community are grieving regardless of whether we know them or not – those who, including me, feel affected because they were members of our community, the Deaf community. That is how tight-knit we are as a Deaf community; regardless if there is someone in the Deaf community we know or don’t know, we all feel it. We grieve together, we feel it together, and we get through it together even though we know that they will forever be part of our community – the Deaf community.
Even though the Deaf community is divided, and it has its problems, one thing that is for sure is that whenever there is a death in our community, we become one to grieve for our own. We come together to try to help our own in need and stand behind the families of the members who passed on.
My heart goes out to the families of Joshua Seal, Bill Brackett, Steve Vozzella, and Bryan MacFarlane. My deepest condolences go out to you all. To those of you who are a family of these four Deaf men, if there is anything I could do for you or you need/want to talk with me about them, please feel free to do so, as I’d love to hear about who they were. You can get through to me by emailing me using this contact page or messaging me through JoshiesWorld’s Facebook page. My deepest condolences also go out to the rest of the eighteen people’s families.
Supporting the families of four Deaf members killed
For anyone who would like to help them, you can do so by donating. Here are the links for you to donate the funds to them to support their families. Donating would be greatly appreciated; even a small amount can help them!
- For Billy Brackett’s family.
- For Steve Vozzella’s family.
- For Joshua Seal’s family.
- For Bryan MacFarlane’s family.
Ban Assault Rifles
Some of you roll your eyes when you see the topic’s name above. But it is time that we have assault rifles banned because they are NOT meant for civilians to have except for the military and maybe police officers. I mean, what is the reason to have assault rifles that are capable of killing many people at once in one spot? If you tell me they are used as a defense, I say BS. I have heard that excuse over and over for many years, but it is an excuse behind the fact that you want to have them feel so highly. Not because you want to defend yourselves and your family but to make yourself feel so highly. If you want to defend yourself and your family, then get a handgun, a bolt-action rifle, a shotgun, and whatnot, which is powerful enough to defend yourself or your family, but assault rifles? That is way OVERKILL! If we had already banned assault rifles such as AR-15, AK-47, and whatnot, then we would see significantly fewer numbers of mass shootings. These 18 people that were killed on Oct 25th, 2023, including 4 Deaf people, would have a lot better chance to escape or survive. But no, for your selfish reason, you don’t want to ban assault rifles even though you know that they are capable of killing so many people in seconds, but you want to own them. You are so selfish for not wanting to ban assault rifles just because you want them, but at the same time, you know that they are the very things that kill people. It’s choosing assault rifles over the lives of people. Get real! Stop lubricating the barrel for your pleasure of shoving up your anal and start doing the right thing by joining the coalition to have assault rifles banned. Banning assault rifles does NOT mean banning guns or weapons – the only thing that needs to be banned is the assault rifle that is meant for the military. You can still have handguns, bolt action, single bolt, rifles, shotguns, and all different types of weapons EXCEPT assault rifles; that’s it.
Don’t get me started on the second amendment about the right to bear arms because that amendment in the United States Constitution was done in 1791 when there was only a single loader rifle. What? You thought it was in 1776; no, it wasn’t because that second amendment was created and ratified on December 15, 1791. Back then, there was no such as assault rifles, and the founding fathers decided to create that amendment with single-loader rifles only in mind if they were still alive today; seeing that civilians can get their hands on assault rifles, I bet you they would change their mind quickly about creating that amendment or wishing that they never did.
Leave a comment below or if you need help
If you would like to share your feelings or thoughts about the mass shooting in the state of Maine that killed four members of the Deaf community, please do! I hope the comments below or on social media help us share our feelings or thoughts about what happened. If you are having a hard time with this, I strongly recommend that you call or text this number 988 or visit this link: https://988lifeline.org/help-yourself/for-deaf-hard-of-hearing/
Joshua Seal, Bill Brackett, Steve Vozzella, and Bryan MacFarlane, may the peace be with you all!
Joshua “Joshie” Sullivan.
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