The month before an Army reservist killed 18 people in Lewiston, Maine, law enforcement officers had enough information to take him into custody and remove his firearms but failed to do so, an independent commission investigating the tragedy found.
By September, the sheriff’s office in Sagadahoc County had probable cause to believe Robert Card “posed a likelihood of serious harm” and should have taken him into custody under Maine’s “yellow flag” law, the commission found. Officers also had enough information to pursue criminal assault charges against him.
Instead, a sergeant responding to a report about Card — including that Card had threatened to carry out a shooting — failed to fully investigate, the commission found, and the sheriff’s office failed to assign the case to someone else after the sergeant went on leave.
The report laid out concerns and warning signs about Card, many of which have been previously reported, that accumulated in the months before his attack. His family members had sought help for him, reporting a decline in his mental health to law enforcement, and his behavior had alarmed members of his Army reserve unit.
Maine’s yellow flag law allows for firearms to be temporarily removed from someone who is deemed to be a threat, but it has more requirements for use than red-flag laws in other states, requiring police involvement and medical evaluation. Still, the commission found that the sheriff’s office had enough information about Card to meet the bar for seeking a yellow-flag order.
The commission also found that the sheriff’s office abdicated its responsibility by making the “decision to turn over the responsibility for removing Mr. Card’s firearms to Mr. Card’s family” rather than pursuing the yellow-flag order.
A final report from the commission, which is chaired by a former chief justice of the state supreme court, is expected this year.
Card opened fire at a bowling alley in Lewiston on Oct. 25, killing eight people, then drove to a bar and killed 10 more people. Thirteen people were wounded by gunshots, and 14 additional people were injured in the chaos.
Card fled, sparking a two-day manhunt involving hundreds of officers in the rural, heavily wooded county. Lewiston and surrounding areas went under lockdown. Card was found dead in a trailer at a recycling company on Oct. 27; law enforcement said he died by suicide.
The Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday morning. The office published a report in December carried out by a third-party reviewer that concluded that the sergeant did not have grounds to take Card into custody and that the sheriff’s office’s response was reasonable.
Commission chair Daniel E. Wathen said in a statement that the group would hold additional public meetings before issuing its final report.
“Nothing we do can ever change what happened on that terrible day, but knowing the facts can help provide the answers that the victims, their families, and the people of Maine need and deserve,” he said in a statement.
This story will be updated.
