Panel investigating Maine’s deadliest mass shooting to hear testimony from more victims
LEWISTON, Maine– An independent commission investigating the deadliest mass shooting in Maine history is about to hear from more family members of the tragedy’s victims.
The commission, created by Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, is investigating the facts surrounding the Oct. 25 shootings that left 18 people dead at a bowling alley and restaurant in Lewiston. The panel, which includes former judges and prosecutors, is also examining the police response to the shootings.
Victims who spoke at an earlier hearing by the panel last month said authorities had the opportunity to take guns from gunman Robert Card before the disaster, but they did not. Kathleen Walker, whose husband Jason was killed while rushing towards Card to stop him, said: “The system failed and we cannot allow this to happen again.”
More victims will speak at the hearing in Lewiston on Monday. The commission is expected to produce a comprehensive report on the shootings. The purpose of Monday’s meeting is “to listen to victims and others affected by the shootings,” said Kevin Kelley, spokesman for the commission.
Card, an Army reservist, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after a manhunt that followed the shootings. Police and the military were both warned that Card was suffering from deteriorating mental health in the months leading up to the shootings.
Relatives of Card, 40, alerted police that he was exhibiting paranoid behavior and they were concerned about his access to weapons. He was hospitalized for two weeks in July after pushing a fellow reservist and locking himself in a motel room during training. Then, in September, a fellow reservist told an Army officer he feared Card was “going to commit a mass shooting.”
The committee will hold another hearing Thursday in Augusta to hear from members of the U.S. military. The names of those expected to speak will be released at the meeting, Kelley said. The hearing with Army officials will be the seventh held by the committee and is the last hearing currently scheduled.
In previous hearings, law enforcement officials have defended the approach they took in the months before Card’s shooting. Members of the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office testified that the yellow flag law makes it difficult to take guns away from a potentially dangerous person.
Democrats in Maine want to make changes to the state’s gun laws in the wake of the shootings. Mills wants to change state law to allow law enforcement agencies to apply for a protective custody order to take a dangerous person into custody to remove weapons.
Other Democrats in Maine have proposed a 72-hour waiting period for most gun purchases. The proposals are likely to spark robust debate in Maine, where gun ownership rates are higher than in most of the Northeast.