Nine months after a former member of the US Army Reserve killed 18 people in two linked massacres that led to deadliest shootings in Maine historyA special commission set up to investigate what happened and whether it could have been prevented released a final report on Tuesday detailing missed opportunities to potentially stop the shooting.
The report pointed out that both the army reserve and local police forces failed to intervene sufficiently to address the shooter’s mental health crisis, creating a picture of a reservist in crisis who should have had his weapons taken away before he could carry out the attacks.
The independent commission, which held more than a dozen public meetings, heard dozens of witnesses and reviewed thousands of pages of evidence, cited failings by the police for failing to confiscate the shooter’s weapons and by the Army Reserve for failing to provide adequate care for 40-year-old shooter Robert Card.
The commission, appointed by Democratic Governor Janet Mills, announced its conclusions at Lewiston City Hall, less than 3 miles from the two locations where the shootings occurred on October 25, 2023.
The 215-page report reiterated the panel’s conclusion from an interim result in March that law enforcement had the authority under the state’s Yellow Flag Law to seize the gunman’s weapons and take him into protective custody weeks before the shootings. But it also said the Army Reserves should have done more to protect and handle the weapons as well.
Although the commission began its report by stating that the gunman was “solely responsible for his own conduct” and might have committed mass murder even if his weapons had been taken away from him before October 25, it also pointed to opportunities for intervention “which, if used, might have changed the course of events.”
In the case of the Yellow Flag order, commissioners found that the local sheriff could have obtained such an order against Card in September 2023, shortly before the shootings.
“Based on information available to the Sheriff’s Office from Card’s family members and colleagues in the (Army Reserve), as well as historical information in his own files, the Sheriff’s Office had reason to believe that Card was mentally ill and that there was a likelihood of him being a serious threat due to that illness,” the report said.
Robert F. Bukaty/AP
Daniel Wathen, chairman of the commission, began his speech by thanking the victims. “None of us can even begin to imagine the pain you had to endure on that terrible day,” he said.
He said it was impossible to say whether the tragedy would have happened if the police and army had done a better job. He also said the police had done their best to respond to the tragedy, but noted that “utter chaos” reigned as hundreds of police officers flooded into the area.
In a letter to Governor Mills introducing Tuesday’s report, Wathen also acknowledged some of the broader consequences of the shooting.
“Every Mainer was touched by what happened on October 25, 2023. The acts of violence ended and upended our lives, changed our communities forever, and shattered a sense of safety and tranquility that defines what it means to live in Maine,” he wrote. “Our investigation and the information and findings presented in this final report are intended to bring the truth to the families of the victims, the injured, and the people of our state and nation.”
Wathen concluded the letter on behalf of the commission by saying he hoped their findings would “assist the healing process” while “enabling the public and policymakers to learn from their mistakes.”
The commission began its work one month after the mass shooting by Card, an army reservist who killed 18 people at a bowling alley and a bar in Lewiston and then took his own life. Over nine months, there were emotional testimonies from family members and survivors of the shooting, police officers and members of the U.S. Army Reserve, and others.
The commission’s public hearings showed how quickly the police responded to the shootings, but also how chaotic the intensive search for the shooter was. Card’s sister testified at one hearing, her hand resting on his military helmet. Kathleen Walker, whose husband Jason was killed when he rushed to stop Card, said: “The system failed, and we cannot allow something like this to happen again.”
Family members and fellow reservists said Card had been exhibiting delusional and paranoid behavior months before the shootings. He was hospitalized by the Army in July 2023 while in training, but a commanding officer admitted to the commission that he did not check on Card during follow-up.
Matt York/AP
The clearest warning came in September, when a fellow reservist texted an Army superior: “I think he’s about to freak out and commit a massacre.” Card was found dead by his own hand after an investigation into the shootings.
After the shootings, Army officials conducted their own investigation. Lt. Gen. Jody Daniels, then commander of the Army Reserves, said they found “a number of failures on the part of the unit’s leadership.” Three Army Reserve leaders were disciplined for dereliction of duty, said the report, which found communication deficiencies within the chain of command and between military and civilian hospitals.
Following the shootings, the Maine state legislature passed new gun laws for the state, which has a long tradition of hunting and gun ownership. This month, a three-day waiting period for gun purchases went into effect.
Wathen is a former chief justice of the Maine Supreme Court. The seven-member commission also included two former federal prosecutors, two other former judges, the state’s former chief forensic scientist and a private psychiatrist who is an executive officer at a mental health clinic.
