- Sergeant Jon Guay said state police ignored vital local knowledge during the 48-hour search for Robert Card as terrified residents remained in lockdown
- The Lewiston-born officer later deleted his impassioned Facebook post
- But his sheriff says he didn’t force him to remove it, and he “understands” his officer’s frustration
A police officer who tried to stop Robert Card’s gun rampage through his hometown has lashed out at Maine police, accusing them of botching the search for the mass murderer.
Sergeant Jon Guay of the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office described Maine police as “complete clowns” and said they couldn’t be trusted to run a Dunkin Donuts after it took them 48 hours to find the killer who killed last week 18 deaths.
The Lewiston-born officer was among those who responded to the initial emergency calls, but in an impassioned post on Facebook, he accused state police of keeping local colleagues in the dark.
“Radio silence is the best expression to describe the amount of information the Maine State Police shared with the hundreds of law enforcement officers who responded to assist in this manhunt,” he wrote.
“The upper echelons of the Major Crimes Unit and the Maine State Police Command Staff are complete clowns and I would not hire them to manage the morning rush hour at Dunkin Donuts, let alone an investigation of this magnitude.”
Sergeant Jon Guay of the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office described Maine police as ‘complete clowns’
Sergeant Guay, a 24-year veteran of the Lewiston Police Department who was born in the city, later deleted his impassioned post
Maine State Police, seen here at the scene of the first shooting, led the manhunt for Robert Card
Sergeant Guay later deleted the post, but his boss, County Sheriff Eric Samson, denied asking him to delete the post and said no office policy had been violated.
“Look at that tragedy, and look at what we all went through, everyone involved,” Samson said bangordailynews.com
“But he expressed his frustration, and I understand that.”
Card killed 18 people and injured 13 others at a bar and bowling alley on either side of Lewiston before disappearing the night of October 25.
More than 350 law enforcement officers from state, county and local levels in Maine and neighboring states assisted in the search for Card within 24 hours of the mass shooting, but Sergeant Guay says many were left twiddling their thumbs in a city on lockdown.
Robert Card was found shot dead 48 hours after killing 18 people and wounding 13
“No one knows this county better than the local officers who work there,” wrote.
“We have used this networking strategy many times before in individual incidents, but when the Maine State Police showed up Wednesday evening… that all stopped.
‘Nothing is more frustrating for an officer than seeing a massacre of dead and wounded, knowing you can’t do anything about it, but then being locked out of the whereabouts of the person responsible.
“I say this not as sour grapes, but because it was said to me by every law enforcement officer I spoke to,” he wrote.
“The failure to include our local agencies in the information loop is insulting and something we will never forget.”
Card’s body was eventually found Friday with a fatal gunshot wound in a trailer at a Lisbon Falls recycling center where he had previously worked and which had already been searched.
Maine State Police have yet to explain how they conducted the search and how responsibility for it was divided between agencies.
“It is unfortunate that this statement has been made, but it has been a grueling and frustrating 48 hours for everyone,” said Shannon Moss, spokesperson for the Maine Department of Public Safety.
County Sheriff Eric Samson denied asking Guay to delete his Facebook post and said it did not violate any office policies