Central Connecticut Cornhole members say members of a Maine cornhole group who they know were killed in Wednesday night’s mass shooting in Lewiston.
The devastation in Maine following a mass shooting that killed 18 people and injured dozens more is being felt here in Connecticut.
The Central Connecticut Cornhole league is waiting for updates out of Lewiston, Maine with bated breath, after hearing that several cornhole players were killed at Schemengees Bar & Grille.
“You see different posts, different numbers, different names. To be honest, I don’t know. We just don’t know back here in Connecticut, we don’t know yet,” said Phil Lugo, one of the league’s organizers. “People [are] texting each other … who was OK, who was there, who wasn’t there, who made it out and stuff like that.”
Lugo said the "Maineiacs" cornhole league was playing in a tournament when shots rang out. He said some of them who were there were deaf players.
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“It was a tournament for fun, Halloween of course, and it’s just bad. It’s devastating,” Lugo said. “It’s horrible. You can’t say anything. What do you say? It’s rough.”
He said they’ll be collecting donations for their friends in Maine at their event at The Truck Bar in Berlin on Thursday night and for the weeks following.
“We’re always in Maine, Maine’s always here. Same thing with Vermont and everybody else, we’re all close-knit. So, if something happens, we all try to help each other out. It’s like a big family,” he said.
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Others in Connecticut are worried sick for their family members who are still being told to shelter in place.
“Locking windows, making sure doors are locked, being vigilant, listening to see if anyone’s trying to break in. Constantly looking over their shoulder,” said Laura Tirendi of Enfield. “I was very angry. Very angry, sad, worried, because here I am like four hours away not knowing if all my family and friends are safe.”
Laura Tirendi was born and raised in Lewiston but moved to Connecticut in 2004. She said her mother and sisters still live there.
She knows Lewiston like the back of her hand and said the two locations where the shooting happened are busy spots that aren’t close by.
“My thought is, he must have had this well planned out. Sparetime is on one part of the town, and Schemengees is on the other part of the town,” she said. “It takes a little bit to get from one place to the other.”
Tirendi said it’s a community where everybody knows everybody, and sadly she knows someone who’s lost a loved one in the shooting at Sparetime.
“People I do know have had relatives … one was killed and one was hurt,” she said.
