PORSMOUTH, N.H. — An independent commission investigating the Lewiston, Maine, mass shootings from last year has concluded that both Army Reserve and law enforcement officials missed key moments to potentially prevent the tragedy, as stated in its report released on Tuesday.

Established by Maine Gov. Janet Mills, this commission included various attorneys, a forensic psychologist, and a psychiatrist. Their final report addressed the October 2023 shootings in Lewiston that resulted in 18 fatalities. The document highlighted that while the actions of the shooter, Robert Card, were his own, the local Army Reserve unit and police failed to act on multiple concerns regarding his behavior.

At a press conference, Daniel Wathen, retired Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court and chair of the commission, explained that their role was to investigate the facts surrounding the shootings rather than offer recommendations. He noted that it is uncertain if the tragedy could have been avoided had officials intervened appropriately.

The report criticized authorities for not taking crucial steps to mitigate the threat Card posed to society. It emphasized that police should have enacted Maine’s yellow flag law to confiscate Card’s firearms.

Maine’s yellow flag law allows anyone who suspects that a gun owner may pose a danger to report them to police, who are then obligated to evaluate the situation and decide whether the individual should be taken into protective custody or have their firearms seized. The report indicated that several individuals close to Card, including his son and ex-wife, had raised concerns with law enforcement about his threatening behavior leading up to the shootings.

Consequently, local police had sufficient grounds to apply the yellow flag law before the incident, reiterating a point made in the commission’s earlier interim report. Testimonies from police indicated that they found the yellow flag law to be “cumbersome, inefficient, and overly restrictive.”

Report indicates Army Reserve officials failed to inform police about Robert Card’s threatening actions

The report also highlighted failures on the part of Army Reserve officers to act on Robert Card’s troubling behavior. These officers were aware of Card’s issues, including hallucinations, aggression, and threatening remarks, yet they did not fully communicate these concerns to local law enforcement.

Family members, friends, and fellow Army reservists had warned Army Reserve authorities about Card’s alarming behavior. Despite this, the report noted that officials disregarded strong recommendations from Card’s mental health providers to remain actively involved in his care and to ensure that necessary actions were taken to remove weapons from his possession.

The commission suggested that had the Army Reserve officers informed police about the seriousness of Card’s actions, law enforcement could have taken more decisive action.

Overview of the Lewiston incident

On October 25, Robert Card, a 40-year-old Army reservist, committed mass shootings at a bowling alley and bar in Lewiston, resulting in 18 deaths and injuring 13 others. Following days of searching that confined residents indoors, law enforcement eventually discovered Card deceased from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Post-mortem examinations of Card’s brain, requested by the Maine Chief Medical Examiner’s Office and conducted by Boston University’s CTE Center, indicated substantial evidence of traumatic brain injuries at the time of the shootings. Card’s family made the findings public but opted not to provide further comments.

Researchers reported that the observed injuries included damage to neurons responsible for communication between different brain regions, inflammation, and a minor blood vessel injury. The report, prepared by Dr. Ann McKee, director of the lab at Boston University, confirmed that there was no indication of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a brain condition typically seen in athletes and military veterans with repeated head injuries.

Dr. McKee stated, “While I cannot definitively link these pathological findings to Mr. Card’s behavioral changes prior to his death, based on our prior research, it’s likely that brain injury contributed to his symptoms,” earlier this year.

Contributing: Christopher Cann, Minnah Arshad, and Adrianna Rodriguez, YSL News