Co-owner of Lewiston bar that was site of mass shooting dies at 57

One part of the husband-wife duo behind Schemengees Bar and Grille, a beloved Lewiston pool hall that closed after it was targeted in Maine’s deadliest mass shooting on record, died Tuesday.

David Lebel died unexpectedly Tuesday, according to his wife, Kathy, who opened Schemengees with her husband in 1999 and later relocated the business from the former R.I. Mitchell building downtown to 551 Lincoln St. by the Androscoggin River. Lebel, who is also survived by a son and was previously diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, was 57 years old.

“He embraced life and people with an open heart,” Kathy Lebel wrote Tuesday night in a Facebook post that did not mention the cause of death. “Making friends came effortlessly to him; once you met Dave, you couldn’t help but feel the warmth of his kind soul.”

Kathy Lebel previously said she got the idea while in bed one night to purchase Schemengees to satisfy her love of pool after her husband mentioned one of her former haunts was for sale.

https://www.bangordailynews.com/2024/08/21/central-maine/central-maine-business/david-lebel-lewiston-shooting-bar-schemengees/