About 10 months later Reservist fatal A violent attack in Lewiston, MaineAn independent commission said Tuesday that local law enforcement agencies and the US military missed “several opportunities” that, if taken, “could have changed the course of these tragic events.”
While independent final report of the commission Gunman found that while Robert Card was solely responsible for his own conduct, other wrongdoing also played a role, including:
- A Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office sergeant who conducted a welfare check on Card in the weeks before the shooting had “sufficient probable cause” to take him into protective custody under state law.
- Kart’s Army Reserve supervisors “failed to take appropriate steps to reduce the threat he posed to the public,” including ignoring “strong recommendations” from mental health providers to care for him and ensure that he had no weapons in his home. removed, and they “neglected to share” with the local sheriff’s office all the information they knew about his past threats.
- The gunman’s company commander had the ability to keep the military’s personal firearms, and Cardla was properly vetted after he was placed in a psychiatric ward last summer while on Army training at West Point, N.Y. physical altercation with another reservist.
- Last summer, medical staff at Keller Army Community Hospital at West Point, where Card was initially evaluated, failed to provide a SAFE Act notification, which is used to alert someone to a possible danger to themselves or others.
Maine Governor Janet Mills to turn oned commission A month after the shooting on October 25, 18 people lost their lives bowling alley and bar.
The commission, consisting of former state justice and legal officials and medical experts, held more than a dozen hearings and collected their statements. local law enforcement agencies, military, the survivors of the shooting, the families of the victims and the family of the gunman. The panel said law enforcement agencies, military leaders and elected officials are tasked with “finding the facts” so they can reduce the risk of such a tragedy happening again.
The commission’s chairman, Daniel Wathen, said at a press conference on Tuesday that the investigation process had been delayed by the army bureaucracy in obtaining information, but that the army remained cooperative. He added that he expects the Maine State Police to investigate his actions.
A 40-year-old armed man was found dead by suicide after a two-day search.
The commission published a Interim report in March he criticized Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office Sgt., who was notified by Card’s family. deterioration of mental health and had a welfare check about five weeks before the shooting. The commission said there was probable cause to start the sergeant’s case Maine’s “yellow flag” lawit allows law enforcement to confiscate a person’s firearm if they believe they pose a danger to themselves or others.
But that’s when Card obstructed law enforcement because he refused to answer his door, the sergeant said.
The state’s yellow flag law “can be difficult at times,” the commission noted. In April, Mills signed a bill to strengthen the legislation, including allowing police to obtain a protective order from a judge for those who pose a threat and possess firearms.
After the shooting, control also fell on the military.
Card was an Army reservist and longtime hand grenade training instructor for two decades. Family members told the commission in May said they tried to contact the Army last year, citing concerns about his mental health and access to weapons, but their calls went unanswered or unanswered.
An internal military report examining the Army’s response revealed how Card’s unit was did not follow certain procedures In July 2023, he was hospitalized in the psychiatric ward of a civilian hospital for two weeks after he was involved in a shoving incident with another reservist. At the time, his reported symptoms included psychosis and homicidal ideation, and he had created a “hit list,” according to an Army investigation.
The Army banned Card from having access to weapons while on duty.
But his unit did not conduct a required “duty investigation” that would have also documented his mental state, and the report also noted that Card’s chain of command was not given any information about his diagnosis, prognosis or discharge instructions. . There were also communication gaps between the army and the civilian hospital, which the report found could be improved in future cases.
Ultimately, a military investigator concluded that “flawless enforcement by military personnel in each designated area would not have prevented such tragic events” and placed responsibility on the local sheriff’s office. About the gunman, “then mass shootings and suicides can be avoided.”
Lawyers for the families of the victims have complained that investigations by different agencies have produced conflicting conclusions about who should be held responsible. They are still seeking a broader investigation by the Defense Department’s inspector general.
Card’s family said they were concerned he had many years to live subject to low-level explosions Closed as a hand grenade instructor in the military researchers found evidence of “severe” traumatic brain injury earlier this year.
The military denied in its report that the brain injury was related to his military service. Still, the military said it would begin conducting “baseline cognitive assessments” for its cadets this summer and develop improved protective equipment to minimize blast exposure.
As for a definitive motive for the murder, Card’s family failed to offer it to the commission in May.
“We could ask a million reasons for the rest of our lives,” said Cara Lamb, the shooter’s ex-wife, with whom he had a son, “and never get a good enough answer.”