Maine mass shooter Robert Card is seen in chilling bodycam telling cops ‘I am capable’ after fellow Army Reservists called 911 fearing he was ready to kill – just months before he slaughtered 18 people

Maine mass shooter Robert Card is seen in chilling footage telling state police, “I’m capable,” after fellow troopers called 911 because they feared he was “going to do something.”

Card, a reservist, killed 18 people and injured 13 at a bowling alley and bar in Lewiston last October, sparking the largest manhunt in state history.

The body of Card, 40, was found in a recycling factory in Lisbon two days after the attacks, after he committed suicide.

Several months earlier, on July 16, police were called and Card was ordered to go to an Army facility to be hospitalized after fellow soldiers became concerned about him.

The footage provides a chilling glimpse of Card after he was involved in an altercation and locked himself in his motel room, alerting reservists.

In the newly released bodycam footage, he can be heard telling state police, “They’re scared because I’m going to do a damn thing.” Because I am capable.”

An officer can be heard investigating the comment and asking Card, “What do you mean by that?”

Card, appearing irritated, replies grimly, “Nothing,” before being told he will be taken to an army hospital to speak to a counselor.

He can also be heard telling police in the footage that people had been talking behind his back for about six months, sparking rumors that he was gay and a pedophile.

In the video, Card’s fellow reservists, whose names were redacted, expressed concern that he had lost weight and was all “skin and bones.”

They also said his behavior had changed significantly over the course of six months, with a man identifying himself as Card’s first sergeant telling officers, “Our concern is that he’s going to hurt himself or someone else.”

One of the reservists also described Card as a “gun nut” who had spent $14,000 on a telescope.

The reservist added: ‘I don’t know what he’s capable of. I’m not insinuating anything. But I’m just saying he’s got a lot of guns.”

Card was taken to Keller Army Hospital for evaluation by fellow reservists and ultimately spent two weeks in a psychiatric hospital.

Initial investigations have already shown that missed opportunities and alarm signals regarding Card were frequent revealing colleagues and family members repeatedly raised the alarm about the threats he made in the months before the shooting.

The Ruger .308-caliber assault rifle used in the Lewiston killings was legally purchased by Card on July 6, less than two weeks before his actions led to his two-week hospitalization, Maine State Police said.

He was hospitalized after suffering several psychotic episodes, and told his superiors that he had heard voices threatening the base he was stationed at.

In May last year, police were alerted that Card had become paranoid and they were concerned about his access to weapons.

In August, he was banned from handling weapons while on duty and declared himself ineligible for military service.

By September, the reservists were so concerned that he was about to be killed that they told each other to “change the passcode” for the entrance gate to their base in Saco.

One text from Sergeant Hudson reads: ‘Change the access code for the unit gate and be armed when Sergeant First Class Card arrives. Please. I think he’s confused in his head.

‘And threaten unity in other and other places. I love (him) to death, but I don’t know how to help him and he refuses to get help.

‘I’m afraid he’ll ruin his life by hearing things he thinks he heard. He dropped it off and was afraid his guns were still in the car… He still has all his guns.”

In another, he said, “I think he’s going to shoot and do a mass shooting.”

In Maine, there was a warning that Card might “shoot up” the Saco armory where his reserve unit was stationed, prompting a Sagadahoc County sheriff’s deputy to meet Card at his home in Bowdoin.

Card did not come to the door even though he was believed to be inside, and the deputy said he did not have the legal authority to throw open the door to force a meeting to assess whether he should be placed in protective custody are taken.

That move is necessary to enact Maine’s “yellow flag” law, which allows a judge to temporarily take away a person’s guns during a mental health crisis.

The deputy said an army official suggested letting the situation “simmer” rather than forcing a confrontation. The deputy also received assurances from Card’s family that they were depriving him of access to weapons.

Ultimately, Card was never confronted, and the shooting he engaged in became the deadliest mass shooting in Maine history.

A committee is currently investigating possible missed opportunities that could have prevented the shooting. A written report is expected in the coming months.

In December, a 93-page independent report found that the Maine sheriff’s response to concerns about Card’s declining mental health was “reasonable.”

Liz Seal, who lost her husband Josh in the shooting and is now raising four children on her own, called the videos “disturbing.”

“They show that there were clear warning signs that Card posed a risk to others, and yet the system failed to ensure that his weapons were taken away from him,” she said.

Travis Brennan, an attorney for some of the victims, said the video confirms concerns about the overall failure of the law enforcement, legal and mental health systems to take the guns away from Card.

On Friday, Brennan said: “His fellow members of the reserves were so concerned about his behavior and the things he said that they did not feel safe now that he had weapons on the military base and they did not want to train with him. .

“But somehow the system allowed him to walk out into the community and still have access to his guns.”

Ben Gideon, another attorney for victims, said the police video shows there was a “command directive” for Card to be evaluated and that made his psychiatric hospitalization “mandatory and involuntary,” and that he should not have been allowed under federal law have weapons. , regardless of New York’s red flag law and Maine’s yellow flag law.