The Army Reserve, law enforcement, and others had many opportunities to alter the tragic events that morning, according to a final report released by the Lewiston Commission to investigate the deadliest shooting in Maine’s record on Tuesday.
On Oct. 25, 2023, a , assailant killed 18 citizens and wounded 13 others , in a nearby Lewiston bowling alley and bar and grill. The gunman, identified as 40-year-old Army military Robert Card, was found deceased in a tractor-trailer in Lisbon two days later. He died by suicide, according to an examination.
” Within moments, the safety and security that we all feel as Mainers was shattered”, Daniel Wathen, payment head and former chief justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, said at a press event Tuesday. ” Robert Card is completely liable for his own conduct, solely responsible. He caused murders and wounds that day.
We will not know whether he might have also carried out a mass shooting, yet if a person had been able to get their weapons out before October 25,” Watten continued. However, the Commission universally determined that there were a number of opportunities that, if taken, may have altered the course of these horrible events.
Following the shooting, details about how much the Army Reserve and local leaders knew about Card’s continued hallucinations, threats to himself and the government surfaced, posing questions about what could or should have been done.
The Commission, appointed by Gov. Janet Mills, aimed to” get the facts so the law enforcement, defense leaders, the people elected and appointed officials may make informed decisions to reduce the risk of such tragedies in the future,” not to create policy or functional recommendations, Wathen said. On Tuesday, the Chair concentrated on three large conclusions.
Second, the Commission affirmed , a discovering from March , detailing the local Sheriff’s Office had produce to” get Card into secured custody under Maine’s Yellow Flag Regulation and establish a petition to remove any firearms he possessed or over which he had control. The business did not follow through.
Second, the Commission discovers that the commanders of his Army Reserve product failed to exercise their power over him and take necessary actions to lessen his threat to the public, Wathen said, citing commanding officers ‘ knowledge of” auditory hallucinations, increasingly aggressive behavior, collection of weapons, and almost comments about his objectives.
Next, Wathen said, the leaders of Card’s Army Reserve system knew of his hearing hallucinations, violent behavior, guns, and comments about his intentions”, ignored recommendations of Card’s mental health providers to be engaged in his attention and take steps to remove weapons from his home”, and neglected to reveal information with the Sheriff’s Office.
Finally, the report recommends the Maine State Police commission a full, independent after-action review and finds “unprecedented” challenges and” at times utter chaos” for law enforcement following the shooting.
We hope that this truth will aid the healing process while also enabling both the public and policymakers to learn from their mistakes, “wrote Wathen.
The victims ‘ families are organizing a press conference on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the findings.
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