Restaurant Provides Food and Comfort Amid Lewiston Manhunt, By Reuters

By Gabriella Borter

LEWISTON, Maine – The phone at Best Thai II, located in coastal Maine, has been ringing incessantly.

Following a recent tragedy in which a gunman killed 18 individuals, the local community has experienced a profound shock, leading to a wide-reaching manhunt for the suspect. In the wake of this event, an unsettling quiet has fallen over southeastern Maine.

Businesses such as grocery stores, gas stations, hardware shops, and schools have temporarily shut their doors. Streets that would normally be filled with activity have become empty, except for the presence of police patrols. Few residents are seen outside.

Despite this atmosphere, Best Thai II has remained a bustling hub. Owner Pongsakorn Hanjitsuwan made the decision to keep his restaurant open just hours after the shootings.

“Like everyone else, we’re scared,” Hanjitsuwan stated. His family has run the restaurant in Bath for over a decade. “But people need to eat, and we need to earn a living, so we have to push through.”

After considering the safety of his staff and customers—his restaurant is situated next to a police station—Hanjitsuwan felt it was appropriate to continue operations, especially since Bath is approximately a 30-minute drive from the site of the manhunt for Robert Card, the suspect in the horrific events.

For those who frequent the restaurant, it has become a refuge—a place to gather, share stories, and cope with the shock and sorrow that has overtaken the area.

“This place feels like home,” said Maria, a 78-year-old Bath resident and former restaurant worker, who chose not to disclose her last name. She dropped by for lunch with a friend to enjoy pad thai.

Since the tragic events unfolded, Hanjitsuwan reported that business has been “nonstop,” serving both regular customers and visitors, including news crews who came to cover the unfolding story of gun violence in America.

Authorities in Maine announced that stay-at-home orders would be lifted on Friday evening, though a local alert urged residents to remain cautious, giving businesses the option to reopen or stay closed.

Some residents gradually began to venture out.

Toni Martin, 50, patiently stood in line for 45 minutes at a local fast-food restaurant upon its reopening, eager for coffee and a meal after her and her husband had subsisted on snacks the day prior.

The long wait echoed memories of the pandemic, Martin reflected, when consumers raced to stock up on food as stores closed their doors.

“It felt like an urgency, almost like it was their last meal,” she remarked.

In Auburn, the neighboring town to Lewiston, a local grocery store saw a checkout line that wound throughout the store on Thursday. With all major chains closed, the family-owned market, in operation for 48 years, had become the sole option for customers.

By Friday, shelves were substantially depleted, yet the flow of patrons remained steady.

“My store looks like it’s been ransacked,” said owner Michael Roy, who greeted familiar faces as they came through the door.

Asking for bread, one customer was reassured when Roy informed her that a delivery would arrive once his bakery supplier resumed operations.

Roy, deeply affected by the events, decided to open his store on Thursday to meet the needs of the community.

“I could either sit idle or do something to help by opening,” he reflected. “People thanked me all day long.”