Law enforcement records obtained by the Maine Wire paint a startling picture of life and crime in Lewiston, Maine’s second-largest city, which has seen significant increases in firearm-related incidents and opioid overdoses since 2019.
The Maine Wire obtained several years’ worth of data from the Lewiston Police Department regarding life-threatening drug overdoses and police responses to gunfire incidents in Maine’s second-largest city. This information was released in response to a Freedom of Access Act (FOAA) request for public records covering a six-year period.
Records show that there were 192 shooting incidents in the city from the start of 2019 to early July of this year, and a staggering 1,503 drug overdoses within the same time period.
The shooting database does not differentiate between fatal and non-fatal incidents. The list also does not distinguish between incidents in which a suspect was apprehended and police responses that did not result in any arrest after a response to a report of gunfire.
The overdose data show that the city has suffered 166 fatal overdoses since 2019.
The data reveal trends in criminal activity year after year, showing a drastic increase from just ten shootings in all of 2019 to 36 in 2024 and 20 already for just the first half of 2025. Within the police records, the shootings include any illegal discharge of firearm investigated by the Lewiston PD regardless of whether anyone was injured.
Shooting incidents by year:
- 2019: 10 shootings.
- 2020: 13 shootings.
- 2021: 27 shootings.
- 2022: 42 shootings.
- 2023: 44 shootings.
- 2024: 36 shootings.
- 2025 (through early July): 20 shootings.
Drug overdoses have also increased significantly, with 113 overdoses in 2019 compared with 115 in the first half of 2025, and 193 in all of 2024. Notably, while 13 of the 2019 overdoses proved fatal, only five of those recorded this year have resulted in a death.
The reduction in overdose deaths despite an increase in overdoses may be in part the result of a 2023 law that took effect in 2024 requiring all law-enforcement officers on duty to carry naloxone hydrochloride, commonly known as Narcan, a drug meant to reverse the effects of opioid overdoses.
Overdose Incidents by year:
- 2019: 113 overdoses, 13 fatal.
- 2020: 179 overdoses, 21 fatal.
- 2021: 305 overdoses, 27 fatal.
- 2022: 342 overdoses, 40 fatal.
- 2023: 256 overdoses, 36 fatal.
- 2024: 193 overdoses, 25 fatal.
- 2025: 115 overdoses, 5 fatal.
The database also shows which city streets residents and visitors might want to avoid because they are associated with a significant number of the city’s drug and shooting crimes.
For instance, Bartlett Street had 158 confirmed overdoses and 23 shootings, including two that occurred at the nearby Masjid Salaam mosque.
230 Bartlett St. the building directly next to the mosque, houses medical offices and was the location of 27 of those overdoses and one shooting.
Knox Street saw 17 overdoses and 23 shootings, Lisbon Street had 129 overdoses and five shootings, and Pierce Street had 40 overdoses and 16 shootings.
Earlier this month, the Maine Wire submitted FOAA requests to police departments in Lewiston, Portland, Bangor, South Portland, and Augusta, asking for information on shootings and drug overdoses. Some cities attempted to outright deny the request, claiming that it is too burdensome, while others have yet to produce any documents.
The Lewiston Police Department, in contrast, replied within two days, and provided documents within two weeks listing the date and address of every shooting (excluding the October 2023 mass shooting) and drug overdose recorded in the city since the start of 2019.
