The Lewiston City Council will hold a special meeting Tuesday night as Maine’s second-largest city faces a deepening youth violence crisis marked by shootings, stolen guns, repeat juvenile arrests, and growing frustration from residents who say the system is failing to protect the community.
The meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 30, 2026, in the Multi-Purpose Room at Lewiston High School, located at 156 East Avenue. According to the city’s agenda, the meeting will focus on “recent youth gun violence in Lewiston.”
Scheduled presenters include Lewiston Police Chief Carly Conley, Androscoggin County District Attorney Neil McLean, Lewiston Superintendent Jake Langlais, and New Beginnings Executive Director Chris Bicknell. After the presentations, councilors are expected to offer comments before Mayor Carl Sheline opens the meeting for public comment.
The special meeting comes after weeks of mounting public concern over youth-involved shootings and violent crime in Lewiston, where police and residents have increasingly warned that a small number of repeat juvenile offenders are driving fear and disorder across the city.
Lewiston police arrested 27 people for violent or gun-related crimes in May, and 20 of those arrested were juveniles. Corey Jacques, the Lewiston Police Department’s youth coordinator, said the same group of children are being arrested repeatedly and described them as “very young but very street smart.”
Jacques also said police have seen younger children carrying guns in Lewiston over the past four to five years, including some as young as 13 stealing firearms. He said the violence is rarely random and often involves the same youths targeting each other with what he described as a gang-type mentality.
For many Lewiston residents, the question is no longer whether the city has a youth violence problem. The question is whether city officials, prosecutors, schools, state leaders, and the courts have the will to do anything meaningful about it.
The recent violence includes a series of troubling incidents involving teenagers and guns.
On May 7, police responded to the area of Avon Street after reports of screaming and multiple gunshots. Officers found a 14-year-old boy suffering from a gunshot wound to the leg. He was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
Police later said a 13-year-old boy was charged with elevated aggravated assault, while a 15-year-old was charged with carrying a concealed weapon. Both juveniles were taken to Long Creek Youth Development Center. Police recovered three firearms, two of which were stolen.
On May 30, police responded to 125 Pierce Street around 11 p.m. after reports of gunfire. Officers found spent shell casings behind an apartment building and bullet holes in an apartment. Police said the intended victims had been warned earlier in the evening that they might be targeted.
Five teenagers, ages 14 to 16, were charged with conspiracy to commit murder. Four were also charged with violating conditions of release. All five were sent to Long Creek Youth Development Center, and police said additional charges could follow.
The Pierce Street arrests came after a string of incidents involving teenagers. During the first two weeks of May alone, Lewiston police arrested 12 teens and seized 10 guns, according to local reporting.
On June 14, a woman was shot on Webster Street around 3 a.m. Police said she suffered non-life-threatening injuries. On June 23, Lewiston police arrested a 15-year-old male in connection with the shooting and charged him with reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon. He was taken to Long Creek Youth Development Center. Police said the investigation remains ongoing and more charges are expected.
Those incidents have fueled public anger over what many residents describe as a revolving door for juvenile offenders. Police make arrests, guns are seized, charges are filed, and yet the same names and same groups appear again and again in new incidents, according to concerns raised publicly by law enforcement and residents.
The council meeting also follows a packed and emotional community forum held on June 3 at Calvary Chapel of Lewiston, where residents, law enforcement officials, and community members gathered to discuss the violence directly.
The forum was hosted by Pastor Aaron Davis and Jon Fetherston of The Maine Wire. Davis rejected accusations that the meeting was meant to target any demographic group, making clear that the issue was violence in the streets and the need for a serious community response.
Fetherston opened the forum by praising Lewiston police and calling for a broader citywide conversation.
“How we live in a world where children are shooting children is beyond my comprehension,” Fetherston said. “We’ve got to talk about this. We must have a conversation.”
Much of the evening centered on questions for Chief Conley and District Attorney McLean. Both defended their agencies while pointing to broader failures in Maine’s criminal justice system.
Conley told residents, “This is a broken criminal justice system,” while explaining that Lewiston police work closely with federal agencies, including Homeland Security, the FBI, ATF, DEA, and state police. But Conley also noted that federal agencies generally do not handle juvenile cases.
“This is really not the federal government’s purview,” Conley said of youth violence.
That statement underscored one of the central frustrations facing Lewiston: while federal agencies may assist with adult gun crime, drug trafficking, and broader public safety investigations, the city’s most urgent violence problem increasingly involves juveniles, teenagers and even younger children allegedly carrying stolen guns, exchanging fire in neighborhoods, and returning to the streets after arrest.
Residents at the Calvary Chapel forum raised concerns about curfews, parental accountability, school safety, gang activity, the need for stronger consequences, and the safety of first responders. Some questioned whether police, prosecutors, schools, courts, and state officials are operating with the urgency the moment demands.
Tuesday night’s City Council meeting will now put those concerns directly in front of elected officials.
The meeting also places Mayor Sheline and the City Council under renewed pressure. Residents have watched weeks of shootings, arrests, and public warnings unfold while many have demanded a stronger and more visible response from city leadership.
The public will likely expect more than sympathy, talking points, or another round of vague promises. The basic questions before city officials are clear: Who is being held accountable? What is being done about repeat juvenile offenders? What role are parents, schools, courts, prosecutors, and state officials playing? And what specific steps will the city take to stop children from shooting children in Lewiston?
For weeks, residents have been told the problem is complicated. They have been told police are doing their jobs. They have been told the courts, schools, families, and social service agencies all have roles to play.
But the gunfire has continued.
Tuesday night’s meeting will show whether Lewiston’s leaders are prepared to treat youth gun violence as the public safety emergency many residents already believe it has become.
