Fugitive Maine mass shooter Robert Card may have changed his appearance and could use his military experience to evade detection and plan another attack, law enforcement experts told DailyMail.com.
The 40-year-old remained at large on Thursday afternoon after killing 18 people and wounding more than a dozen others on Wednesday evening. A massive manhunt is underway involving hundreds of law enforcement officers from multiple states.
Card, a U.S. Army Reserve soldier, launched the first attack at a Lewiston bowling alley around 6:56 p.m., then struck again just 12 minutes later at a bar and restaurant about four miles away.
His car was found abandoned several hours later in the nearby city of Lisbon and he has avoided detection since. Police say he is armed and dangerous.
Marko Galbreath, a former Florida police sergeant and SWAT team member, told DailyMail.com that Card could have traveled anywhere – and that the entire country should be vigilant.
Card, a U.S. Army Reserve soldier, launched the first attack at a bowling alley (pictured) around 6:56 p.m. and then struck again at a bar and restaurant four miles away just 12 minutes later
The 40-year-old remained at large on Thursday afternoon after killing 18 people and wounding more than a dozen others on Wednesday evening.
“He could still be in that area, planning to have a shootout with police, planning to commit suicide, planning to commit another attack. Or, you know what, he could be in Texas right now. We have no idea.
“If he planned it well enough, he could very well be far from that area right now,” said Galbreath, who provides active shooter response training through his company T4Tactics.
“We need to tell the entire country that we need to exercise due diligence until this man is captured.”
He added: “He could have shaved, he could have put on a wig, he could have changed his appearance. He may not look like what people think he looks like, so we really have to keep an eye on him.”
Galbreath added that Card’s military training would also have provided a “survival skills and mentality” that would have taught him how to “live in an environment that is not comfortable.”
Card reportedly joined the military reserve in 2002. A bulletin sent to police nationwide after the attack said Card had been admitted to a mental health facility for two weeks last summer after “hearing voices and threats to shoot.” military base.
A U.S. official said Card was training with the Army Reserve’s 3rd Battalion, 304th Infantry Regiment at West Point, New York, when commanders became concerned about him.
Galbreath said Card’s history of mental illness meant he could have taken his own life in a remote location to “keep the fear going” among the public.
A tactical police unit makes its way down a street during the search for mass shooting suspect Robert Card in Lisbon Falls, Maine, U.S., October 26, 2023
Law enforcement outside the home of suspected shooter Robert Card in Bowdoin, Maine, where a search warrant was executed on October 26, 2023
Robert Carlson, a law enforcement officer and firearms instructor who founded the Brave Defender Training Group in Memphis, told DailyMail.com that Card’s military history means he has “the same, if not possibly higher, level of training and experience as the responding military personnel.” officers’.
“It especially adds to the danger when you have someone who has a certain level of training or is familiar with tactics and weapons,” he said.
Carlson said it is important that law enforcement agencies provide information so that “the public is not only aware of their risks, but also so that they can assist law enforcement agencies in their efforts to identify or locate that individual.”
The search included forests, waterways and small towns around the rural areas in Maine where the shootings occurred.
Schools, doctors’ offices and supermarkets closed and people remained behind closed doors in cities up to 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the scene of the shooting.
Police said there have been no reports of Card since the shooting at Sparetime Recreation bowling alley and Schemengees Bar and Grille, about four miles away.
A search was carried out at his home on Thursday, during which a note was reportedly found. His sister also reportedly told police that he may have been looking for his ex-wife, who filed for divorce in 2007.
Card’s car (pictured) was found abandoned several hours later in the nearby city of Lisbon and he has avoided detection since. Police say he is armed and dangerous
Ewiston Police Chief David St. Pierre speaks during a press conference about the mass shooting on October 26, 2023 in Lewiston, Maine
The Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office released two photos showing the suspect walking into the bowling alley with a gun to his shoulder.
Maine Governor Janet Mills vowed to do whatever was necessary to find Card and “hold whoever is responsible for this atrocity accountable… and seek full justice for the victims and their families.”
“We do not rest and will not rest in this endeavor,” she said.
Eight murder warrants were issued for Card after authorities identified eight of the victims, police said. Ten more will likely be issued once the names of the remaining dead are confirmed, said Col. William Ross of the Maine State Police.
Three of the 13 people injured in the shootings were in critical condition and five were hospitalized but stable, Central Maine Medical Center officials said.
Former FBI agent Brad Garrett Brad Garrett told ABC News, “Anytime you see someone walking free who committed this heinous act is a big deal because you don’t know what he has in mind; if he is mentally unstable, if paranoid delusions still haunt him, if that is true, would he seek another location?
“Or did he give up and shoot himself? We just don’t know, but it’s very important to locate him, whether he’s dead or alive.”