Lewiston, Maine, is a small city — with a population of just 38,493 people as of last year, according to the US Census.
It’s home to Bates College, a private liberal arts school, and is regularly ranked as one of America’s safest cities.
“We know that these events have shocked and frightened our community. And we grieve for those whose lives were tragically lost in this heinous act of violence,” Bates College said in a statement late Wednesday, referring to the mass shooting.
Lewiston is the second biggest city in Maine, after Portland, and sits on the banks of the Androscoggin River.
And though Maine is the whitest state in the nation, according to the 2020 census, immigrant communities have grown in size recently, as well as in other states including Minnesota, Ohio, and Washington.
Between 2017 and 2021, more than 7% of Lewiston residents were foreign-born, according to the census — still lower than the national average of nearly 14%. And in those years, 19% of Lewiston residents spoke a language other than English at home.
