Just out of a briefing with Wiscasset Police Chief Lawrence Hesseltine Thursday morning in connection with last night’s mass shootings in Lewiston, Town Manager Dennis Simmons, a paramedic and past head of Wiscasset Ambulance Service, said the town had a rescue crew staged in Topsham last night in case it was needed to help. And, interviewed separately, Hesseltine told Wiscasset Newspaper he had three officers on duty last night instead of the usual one officer for a Wednesday night.

“Last night when I made that call (to up staffing), nobody really knew where he was headed,” Hesseltine said of an announced person of interest, identified by CNN and WMTW-TV as Robert Card, 40, of Bowdoin. “They knew he was headed outside of Lewiston and headed out toward Sabattus and Lisbon, and of course that’s not too far away from Wiscasset, so we just wanted the extra precautions just in case he came this way.”

There were no reported possible sightings in Wiscasset, Hesseltine said.

Asked his thoughts on Wednesday night’s mass shootings, Hesseltine said: “It’s hard to wrap your head around it. All of us in law enforcement knew it was just a matter of time before something like this happened in Maine. We knew it was getting close to Maine, and it happened.

“My thoughts today are just being ready, in case ... he comes this way. We have no idea where he’s at right now or what he’s in for a vehicle, so I’m like anybody else. I’m watching the updates, I’m listening for the updates from other law enforcement, and ready to respond. That’s kind of what cops do,” Hesseltine added. “We’re here and ready if needed. We’ll go where we need to go.”

Any message for people in Wiscasset? Hesseltine responded in the phone interview: “Just be vigilant. Be aware of your surroundings and if you see anything suspicious report it to your local law enforcement.”

As a rescue worker, Simmons, who was not on the crew who went to Topsham, has responded to “plenty of shootings, but not one with that many people” having been shot, Simmons told Wiscasset Newspaper in a phone interview.

“How do you process this? I don’t know, I’m kind of speechless by it, because I think we all have this opinion that Maine is this wonderful, quiet place to come and live and things like this don’t happen here. And I think from a public safety perspective, we’ve known that it was a matter of time before this was going to happen. It wasn’t if, but when.”

Simmons said public safety personnel in Wiscasset and elsewhere train for such incidents, however. “And when you get in these (real) situations, your education and training just takes over and you do what needs to be done. You might fall apart later, which is totally fine and totally normal, but those that have done this for a long time, you don’t think about anything else but getting that job done and (helping) that patient in front of you and trying to save their life, and that’s just the way it is.”

Hesseltine has also not responded to a similar incident, in 36 years in law enforcement. “And I couldn’t imagine what was going through the minds of the officers that were on the street last night and dealing with this firsthand.”