Robert Card, the man suspected of fatally shooting 18 people and wounding 13 in Maine has been found dead on Friday. According to authorities, Card was wanted in connection with the “shootings at Schemengees Bar and Grille and at Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley in Lewiston, Maine.” As currently reported, Card is believed to have “died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.”
A U.S. official provided The Associated Press some details, which were skeletal. Card, 40, of Bowdoin, Maine, was a U.S. Army reservist who, as reported, “underwent a mental health evaluation in mid-July after he began acting erratically during training.” Card had been sought since the Wednesday night shootings, and murder warrants were issued against him. Timeline of the Lewiston, Maine shootings and Card’s actions can be seen here.
The argument can be credibly made that sufficient information about Card’s mental health was known prior to the mass shooting that, arguably, could have prevented this horrific attack. As reported, “A bulletin sent to police across the country shortly after the attack said Card had been committed to a mental health facility for two weeks this past summer after “hearing voices and threats to shoot up” a military base.” See discussion of Maine’s “yellow flag” law and its applicability to Card based on the information then known about him this past summer.
A summary of engagements with Card this past summer disclose that a U.S. official said Card was training with the Army Reserve’s 3rd Battalion, 304th Infantry Regiment in West Point, New York, “when commanders became concerned about him.”
Reporting further discloses that “State police took Card to the Keller Army Community Hospital at West Point for evaluation, according to the official, who was not authorized to publicly discuss the information and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.”
After the shootings, on Friday, authorities “scoured the woods and hundreds of acres of family-owned property, sent dive teams with sonar to the bottom of a river and scrutinized a possible suicide note Friday in the second day of their intensive search for Card.” A “shelter-in-place” order had been imposed but was lifted, although the search for Card continued. “This is not to say the crisis is over, the emergency is over,” Maine Department of Public Safety Commissioner Michael Sauschuck stated, adding, “We want residents to remain vigilant.”
All 18 victims have been identified and their families have been notified. “Photos of the victims were posted on a board behind Commissioner Sauschuck as he read the names at a news conference Friday. A moment of silence followed.” The 16 males and two females killed Wednesday night ranged in age from 14 to 76.
Nearly two days after the shooting, law enforcement officials gave no indication that they have any leads on Card’s whereabouts. During a lengthy news conference absent of any major developments, Sauschuck said: “We’re going to be all over the place. That’s not saying that we know that the individual is in this house, you know, in that house or they’re in that swath of land, this acreage.”