AUGUSTA, Maine — The military could not use New York’s red flag law to disarm a reservist who was experiencing a mental health crisis before a mass shooting in maine because he was not a New York resident, a nurse practitioner told an independent commission.
Major Matthew Dickison testified that Robert Card exhibited psychosis and paranoia in July 2023 when he evaluated Card at an Army hospital, where Card was taken for evaluation. Dickison concluded that Card was unfit for duty and should not have access to weapons, and said he was surprised when Card was released from a private psychiatric hospital two weeks later.
Months later, 18 people were killed in Maine in October when Card opened fire at two locations in the deadliest mass shooting in Maine history. Card committed suicide and his body was found two days later.
Dickison told commissioners Thursday that he tried to use New York’s SAFE Act to temporarily seize Card’s guns, but gave up when it became clear the law could only be applied to New York residents. Card, of Bowdoin, Maine, was in New York training West Point cadets when fellow reservists became alarmed by his behavior.
Meanwhile, a civilian working as an army medical officer ignored a subpoena to appear before the independent commission, which is investigating the facts surrounding the shooting and what could have been done to prevent it.
Anne Jordan, the commission’s executive director, said she was told the witness, identified as Patricia Moloney, refused to testify because she was the subject of a potential medical negligence claim. It was unclear whether that claim arose from the Oct. 25 shooting in Maine. at a bowling alley and in a bar and grill.
The committee ended a session held via Zoom after Maloney failed to appear on Thursday, then reconvened several hours later with Dickison’s testimony from Korea, where he is now stationed.
Dickison, a nurse practitioner specializing in psychiatry, was on temporary assignment at Keller Army Hospital when Card arrived for evaluation. Card repeated his claims that people were calling him a pedophile behind his back, along with his dire warnings that he might need to do something about it. From there, Card was taken to a private psychiatric hospital for treatment.
Dickison’s actions have been discussed before in testimony by other witnesses, including the leader of Card’s Army Reserve unit, Capt. Jeremy Reamer, but Thursday was the first time he addressed the committee.
Dickson said he gave Reamer a list of recommendations after his hospitalization, including confiscating Card’s personal weapons and attending medical appointments and taking his medications. But Reamer has previously testified that his authority as commander applied only when soldiers were on training exercises.
The committee has previously looked into New York’s red flag law and Maine’s yellow flag laws, both of which allow guns to be seized from someone in a mental health crisis under certain circumstances. The committee issued an interim report in March He said police should have seized Card’s weapons and placed him in protective custody, under the state’s yellow flag law.
Police in Maine testified that the family agreed to remove Card’s weaponsbut the commission said that leaving such a task to them was “an abdication of law enforcement responsibility.”