‘It rips you apart’: Father of Lewiston victim said son tried to stop alleged gunman

LEWISTON, Maine — The father of one of the victims of this week’s mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, said his son tried to stop the alleged gunman, and that Joe Walker died a hero.

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Leroy Walker said his son, who was a manager at Schemengees Bar & Grille and was working at the time suspected gunman Robert Card walked in and opened fire, Boston25News reported.

Joe Walker grabbed a butcher knife from behind the bar and attacked Card, trying to defend himself.

“He tried to go at the gunman to stop him from shooting anybody else. The gunman shot him twice through the stomach,” Leroy Walker told NBC News. He said knowing the exact circumstances of how his son died made his pain worse.

It took 14 hours to find out that his son was one of the victims, Leroy Walker told MSNBC. He was first told that something had happened to Joe Walker when Leroy’s youngest son called him.

“I almost fell to my knees,” Leroy Walker told MSNBC through tears. “I said, ‘Don’t tell me that.’”

The elder Walker said he hasn’t been able to sleep since the shooting.

“It comes and goes. I can sit over there with my family…and I can feel pretty good. Then five minutes later, it hits you again,” he told our sister station, fighting back tears. “It just rips you apart.”

“We did a lot of praying, a lot of crying all night, and off and on all day. When you read some of the things that are written, it breaks your heart even more,” Leroy Walker said. “It kind of wakes you up to the point where you know you’ve lost him and you know you’re going to miss him forever.”

Joe Walker leaves behind a wife, two grandchildren and a stepson, his father told MSNBC.

“Joe was a great, great son, a loving husband. He had two grandchildren and a stepson... thousands of people loved him,” Leroy Walker said. “What are we gonna do tomorrow, the next day? How are we gonna handle this?”

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Lewiston shootings Police respond to an active shooter situation in Lewiston, Maine, Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty) (Robert F. Bukaty/AP)