Survivors of Maine’s deadliest mass shooting and relatives of victims are suing the federal government, alleging the US Army might and ought to have stopped one in all its reservists from finishing up what they name “one of the most preventable mass tragedies in American history.”
Eighteen people had been killed in October 2023 when Robert Card opened hearth at a bowling alley and a bar and grill. An unbiased fee appointed by Maine’s governor later concluded that there have been quite a few opportunities for intervention by each Army officers and civilian legislation enforcement as Card’s psychological well being deteriorated. He was discovered lifeless by suicide two days after the shootings.
The lawsuit, filed in federal courtroom on behalf of greater than 100 survivors and victims’ members of the family, accuses the US government of negligence, saying its conduct “directly and proximately caused the mass shooting.” It alleges that Army officers and others “failed to act reasonably, broke the promises they made to Card’s family and their community, violated mandatory polices, procedures and disregarded directives and orders.”
“By March 2023, the United States and its personnel knew Card was paranoid, delusional, violent, and lacked impulse control. The Army knew he had access to firearms. The Army promised to remove his guns but did not fulfill that promise,” the lawsuit states. “Worse, through its acts and omissions, the Army withheld information and actively misled local law enforcement, thereby preventing others from intervening and separating Card from his weapons.”
Attorneys plan to offer extra particulars Wednesday at a information convention in Lewiston, not removed from the place the shootings came about.
The attorneys started the method of suing the government rather less than a yr in the past once they filed notices of declare, saying the Army didn’t act regardless of being conscious of Card’s mental health decline. Card’s psychological well being spiral led to his hospitalization and left him paranoid, delusional and expressing homicidal ideations, the declare mentioned. He even produced a “hit list” of these he needed to assault, attorneys have mentioned.
Family members and fellow reservists mentioned Card had exhibited delusional and paranoid habits months earlier than the shootings. He was hospitalized by the Army throughout coaching in July 2023 in New York, the place his unit was coaching West Point cadets, however Army Reserve officers have acknowledged nobody made positive Card was taking his medicine or complying together with his follow-up care at residence in Bowdoin, Maine.
The starkest warning got here in a September textual content from a fellow reservist: “I believe he’s going to snap and do a mass shooting.”
“From the start, the Army disregarded its mandatory policies and procedures, and regulations when dealing with Card,” the lawsuit states. “Despite the serious issues Card presented at the company or battalion level, they were not reported up the chain of command to senior military officials with the knowledge, experience, and resources to address them. Instead, low-ranking, part-time personnel mis-managed the risks, resulting in disastrous consequences.”
Army officers carried out their very own investigation after the shootings that Lt. Gen. Jody Daniels, then the chief of the Army Reserve, mentioned discovered “a series of failures by unit leadership.” Three Army Reserve leaders had been disciplined for dereliction of obligation, according to the report. When the governor’s fee launched its last report final August, the Army issued a press release saying it was “committed to reviewing the findings and implementing sound changes to prevent tragedies like this from recurring.”
The Lewiston shootings led to new weapons legal guidelines in Maine, a state with a protracted custom of searching and gun possession. The legal guidelines prompted legal action on the a part of gun rights advocates within the state and stay a contentious matter practically two years after the shootings.