Maine mass shooter’s family reached out to sheriff 5 months before rampage, sheriff’s office says

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

After the alert, the Sagadohoc 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 Lewiston bowling alley and a bar last Wednesday, killing 18 people and wounding 13 others. After an intensive two-day search that put residents on edge, he was found dead 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 Sept. 15, 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.