A neighbor of the Maine mass shooter has asked why the suspect was able to carry out the massacre after threatening to carry out a rampage at a military base earlier this year.
Rick Goddard, 44, who lives across the street from Robert Card’s father’s farm in Bowdoin, was outraged that nothing was done to stop the massacre of 18 people at a Just-In-Time bowling alley and Schemengees Bar and Grille in Lewiston .
“I heard he was in the psychiatric hospital in Augusta for veterans for a few weeks because he was hearing voices in his head,” Goddard said of Card, a U.S. Army Reserve specialist.
Card also threatened to shoot up a National Guard base in Maine, officials previously revealed.
Goddard continued: “I don’t understand why that wasn’t taken care of – or why he didn’t get better treatment or more treatment.
‘It’s like. Why wasn’t that taken seriously? No one will say they’re going to do something like that if they’re just joking.
Army Reserve Firearms Instructor Robert Card, 40, is on the run after the shooting at Sparetime Recreation bowling alley and Schemengees Bar
The Card family home in Bowdoin is pictured above. It is the last known address of the suspect
‘It’s not funny. It’s not, “Let’s just throw this out for fun and see if anyone cares.”
‘And it happened. He went and did what he said he was going to do. It doesn’t make sense that this wasn’t addressed before it could actually happen.”
Card was a known gun enthusiast who otherwise kept a low profile, according to Goddard, who last saw the suspect looking “completely normal” while helping his father make hay on their farm.
“I know last year when he shot a deer here he had a $2,000 thermal scope on his rifle. I mean, that’s eager as far as I’m concerned,” Goddard said of Card, who is said to be an accomplished marksman and outdoorsman.
Card was training with his unit in the Army Reserve’s 3rd Battalion, 304th Infantry Regiment at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in New York in July when his military commanders said they saw him exhibiting erratic behavior.
In an updated statement, a U.S. military spokesperson said Card was not trained as a firearms instructor, as police had originally reported.
The senseless massacre immediately renewed debate over one of the most divisive issues in American politics, gun control, and drew attention to Maine’s laws, which do not require background checks at gun shows and have a more limited “yellow flag law” rather than a red flag law.
Shocked and frightened Maine residents remained in their homes for a second night Thursday as hundreds of heavily armed police and FBI agents conducted an intensive search for Card.
Lewiston, a once bustling city, is now a ghost town as hundreds of FBI agents and Maine state troopers search for Card.
The ongoing shelter in the state covers almost 700 square kilometers.
Much of Thursday’s search focused on a property owned by one of Card’s relatives in rural Bowdoin, where trucks and vans packed with armed agents from the FBI and other agencies eventually surrounded a home. Card and everyone inside were repeatedly ordered to surrender.
The Army reservist was named Wednesday as a suspect in the killings of 18 people in Lewiston, Maine
“I know last year when he shot a deer here he had a $2,000 thermal scope on his rifle. I mean, that’s eager as far as I’m concerned,” Goddard said of Card
Much of Thursday’s search focused on a property owned by Card’s relatives in rural Bowdoin, where trucks and vans full of armed officers eventually surrounded a home.
The ongoing shelter in the state covers almost 700 square kilometers
‘You have to come out now with nothing in your hands. Put your hands in the air,” police said over a loudspeaker. In most cases where police execute arrest warrants – even for suspects wanted for violent crimes – they quickly enter the home. But hours later, after repeated announcements and a search, authorities left — and it was still unclear whether Card had ever been at the location, state police said.
Richard Goddard, who lives on the road where the search took place, knows the Card family. Robert Card, who is four years younger, knows the terrain well, Goddard said.
‘This is his permanent spot. “He grew up here,” he said. “He knows every ledge he can hide behind, every thicket.”
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. Maine’s largest city, Portland, closed its public buildings, while the Canada Border Services Agency issued an “armed and dangerous” alert to its agents stationed along the US border.
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.
“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 need to keep an eye on him.” Police also discovered a cryptic note in his Bowdoin home.