“Mass shooting.” Two words heard all too often in the United States.

There were 656 mass shootings in the U.S in 2023. The one in Lewiston, Maine on October 25, 2023 was the year’s deadliest — and it may have also been the most preventable.

For the last year, the newsroom at Maine Public Radio has been on the ground investigating, combing through documents, listening to testimony and interviewing dozens of people.

Over six episodes, Breakdown explores the missed opportunities to prevent the shooting, the role of guns and hunting in Maine’s politics, and the aftermath for shooting victims, some of whom were deaf and hard of hearing.

Breakdown is a new podcast series from Maine Public Radio, the Portland Press Herald, and FRONTLINE.

To hear the rest of the series, subscribe to Breakdown on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or stay tuned for more episodes on The FRONTLINE Dispatch.