Lewiston shooting survivor Ben Dyer rebuilds his life with unwavering determination

By Scott McDonnell

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AUBURN, Maine (WMTW) – For Ben Dyer, every day since the mass shooting in Lewiston has been a step toward healing visible and invisible wounds.

“It’s about being able to do things or learn — or relearn how to do things,” Dyer said.

It was a passion for cornhole that led Dyer to Schemengees Bar & Grille Restaurant on the evening of October 25, 2023.

“I was actually there as a substitute. So I was there just because of the circumstances, just playing the game, and all hell broke loose,” Dyer said.

In the middle of this chaotic hell surrounded by dozens of others, Dyer looked up and saw the shooter.

“The only thing I really remember is looking Robert Card in the face when he took my finger off because I was looking up at him from 35 feet away and he stopped to shoot me in the face and I raised mine hands and ducked. Dyer said.

Dyer instructed someone how to apply a tourniquet to his arm, gave police a description of the shooter and waited.

NC State quarterback Grayson McCall is quitting football after suffering a concussion that he “can’t come back from.” “I remember them saying, ‘How long until the first ambulance?'” And they said, ‘Four to five minutes,’ and they said, ‘He doesn’t have four to five minutes,'” Dyer said. “So they put me in the back of a pickup truck.”

Dyer was taken to hospital for life-saving surgery.

“I probably shouldn’t be here. They really didn’t think I would come out,” he said.

Ben Dyer was shot five times during the mass shooting on October 25, 2023 in Lewiston, Maine.

Dyer beat the odds after being shot five times.

“[The first bullet] came straight through and used my entire biceps (and) triceps. “Everything was gone,” he said.

Dyer had to relearn how to live because the road to recovery required perseverance and patience.

“Try putting the pants on with one hand,” he said.

For Dyer, enough was taken away from him, and a year later he made a change in perspective.

“I’m going forward. To this day, if I let Robert Card and what he did that night control me, he still wins. The carnage he wanted to cause is still there. I won’t let him. “I’m not going to let him hold me anymore,” Dyer said.

“Don’t wait. If you want something, do it,” he added. “If there is someone you love who wants to be part of your life – like my fiancée – you have to do it because you don’t know if you have tomorrow.

“Just don’t give up. You can get through it, work through it. Things will get better,” Dyer said.

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