Maine gunman’s family alerted sheriff five months before shootings

Concern over Robert Card’s mental health dated back to last summer after a training facility episode sparked an evaluation

Five months before the deadliest mass shooting in the history of the New England state of Maine, the gunman’s family alerted the local sheriff that they were becoming concerned about his deteriorating mental health while he had access to firearms, according to authorities.

After the alert, the Sagadahoc county sheriff’s office reached out to officials of Robert Card’s army reserve unit, which assured deputies that they would speak to Card and make sure he got medical attention, Sheriff Joel Merry said.

The family’s concern about Card’s mental health dated back to early this year before the sheriff’s office was contacted in May, marking the earliest in a string of interactions that police had with the 40-year-old firearms instructor before he marched into a bowling alley and a bar in Lewiston last Wednesday, opening fire with a military-style rifle and killing 18 people and wounding 13 others.

After an intensive two-day search that put residents on edge, he was found dead on Friday evening from a self-inflicted gunshot.

Card underwent a mental health evaluation last summer after he began acting erratically at an army training facility in New York, officials said. A bulletin sent to police shortly after last week’s attack said Card had been committed to a mental health facility for two weeks after “hearing voices and threats to shoot up” a military base.

Documents released from the sheriff on Monday gave the most detailed timeline yet of warning signs and failed efforts to stop the gunman months before he killed.

On 15 September, a sheriff’s deputy was sent to visit Card’s home for a wellness check at the request of the reserve unit but could not find him – nor the next day on a return visit. The sheriff’s department then sent out a statewide alert for help locating Card, with a warning that he was known to be armed and dangerous and that officers should use extreme caution.

By this time, Card’s reserve unit had grown sufficiently concerned that it had decided to take away his military-issued firearms, the sheriff’s office was told. Army spokesperson Lt Col Ruth Castro confirmed that account, adding that Card was also declared “non-deployable” and that multiple attempts were made to contact him.

According to the sheriff’s statement, a unit commander assured his department that the army was trying to get treatment for Card and that he thought it was best to let him have time to himself.

The deputy who had visited Card’s home next reached out to Card’s brother. The brother said he would work to secure any firearms that Card had access to.

Authorities recovered a multitude of weapons while searching for Card after the shooting and believe he had legally purchased them, including a Ruger SFAR rifle found in his car, officials said Monday. A Smith & Wesson M&P15 rifle and Smith & Wesson M&P .40-caliber handgun were with his body.

Authorities have not said whether they believe Card planned the 25 October rampage in advance. Nearly three months ago, he tried and failed to acquire a device used to quiet gunshots, according to a gun shop owner in Auburn.

Rick LaChapelle, owner of Coastal Defense Firearms, said Card purchased a suppressor, also called a silencer, online and arranged to pick it up at his shop.

Card already had submitted information to the federal government to purchase it, and federal authorities had approved the sale to that point, he said.

When Card filled out the form at LaChapelle’s gun shop to pick up the silencer on 5 August, he answered “yes” to the question: “Have you ever been adjudicated as a mental defective OR have you ever been committed to a mental institution?”

“As soon as he answered that ‘yes’, we know automatically that this is disqualifying, he’s not getting a silencer today,” LaChapelle said.

Silencers are more heavily regulated under federal law than most firearms. Federal law requires buyers to apply with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and be approved. The typical wait time is between six and eight months, said Mark Collins, federal policy director at the gun violence prevention group Brady.

After the bureau approves the application, the silencer is sent to a licensed firearm dealer, where the buyer is required to fill out another form required for any firearm purchase. The dealer then has to run a background check.

That form asks questions similar to the paperwork required to buy a gun. In Card’s case, he likely would have completed the original federal paperwork months before he was committed to the mental health facility in July.

LaChapelle said he does not know when Card made the online purchase.

He said Card was polite when notified of the denial, mentioned something about the military and said he would “come right back” after consulting his lawyer.

Investigators are facing increasing public scrutiny and are still searching for a motive for the massacre, but have increasingly focused on Card’s mental health history.

On Monday, Maine’s governor, Janet Mills, a Democrat, held a news conference to provide an update on the response to the shooting. The conference turned contentious quickly when Mills declined to provide information about what the investigation has turned up so far.

Mills said state lawmakers would revisit Maine gun control laws. Proposals for tighter laws have stalled or failed in recent legislative sessions.

“I’m not going to stand here today and tell you I’m proposing X, Y and Z,” she said. “I’m here to listen, work with others and get people around the table as promptly as possible.”

Card’s body was found late on Friday in a trailer at a recycling center in Lisbon Falls, but it was unclear when he died.

Residents of Lewiston returned to work on Monday, the morning after coming together to mourn those lost in the shootings. More than 1,000 people attended the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul for a vigil in Lewiston.

The deadliest shooting in Maine’s history stunned a state of 1.3 million people that has relatively little violent crime and only 29 killings in all of 2022.

The Lewiston shootings were the 36th mass killing in the US this year, according to a database maintained by the AP and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. The database includes every mass killing since 2006 from all weapons in which four or more people, excluding the offender, were killed within a 24-hour time frame.

The Associated Press contributed reporting

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