By Patrick Whittle, Steve LeBlanc and Nick Perry -
The Associated Press
Law enforcement should have confiscated a man's firearms and placed him in protective custody weeks before he committed Maine's deadliest mass shooting, a report released Friday said.
An independent commission reviewed the events leading up to the killing of 18 people at a bowling alley and a bar on October 25, 2023 by Army reservist Robert Card, as well as the authorities' response to the incident.
The commission criticized Sergeant Aaron Skolfield, who responded five weeks before the shooting to a report that Card suffered a mental health crisis, when he assaulted a friend and threatened to shoot up a gun store in the town of Saco.
Police and federal agents participate in the search for Robert Card, who killed 18 people in Lewiston, Maine, on October 27, 2023. Associated Press
The commission found that Skolfield, of the Sagadahoc County Sheriff's Office, should have realized he had reason to initiate a legal process that allows a judge to temporarily take away someone's guns during a mental health crisis.
Maine State Police and the sheriff's office did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment.
Daniel Wathen, the chairman of the commission that produced the report, said its work was not finished and that the initial report was intended to provide politicians and law enforcement with key information.
“
Nothing we do can change what happened that terrible day
, but knowing the facts can help provide the answers that the victims, their families, and the people of Maine need and deserve,” Wathen said in a statement.
Ben Gideon, an attorney representing the victims, said he felt the report focused largely on the actions of the sheriff's office, and ignored the broader issue of gun access in the state by people potentially dangerous.
“I agree with the committee's findings, and I think it's a legitimate point that the Sagadahoc Sheriff's Office could have done more to intervene,” he said.
“I was a little disappointed that the committee didn't take a broader view of the problems that started in May.”
He also said he
hoped the report would make the attacker's medical history available to victims and the public
, something that did not happen.
Led by a former Maine Supreme Court chief justice, the commission also included a former federal prosecutor and a former state chief forensic psychologist.
It was created by Democratic Governor Janet Mills and Attorney General Aaron Frey.
The commission has held seven sessions since November, in which it has heard from law enforcement, survivors and families of the victims and members of the Army Reserve, in addition to studying whether anything could have been done to prevent the tragedy and what changes should be made. to be made.
The commission plans to schedule more meetings.
Kevin Kelley, a spokesman for the commission, said the final report was expected this summer.
Mills explained that the panel's work is of “utmost importance to the people of Maine.”
He stressed that he would “carefully review” the report.
Card, who was found dead by suicide after a two-day search, was well known to law enforcement.
His family and colleagues in the Army Reserve had warned about his behavior, his deteriorating mental health, and that he could commit an act of violence.
In May, his relatives warned police that Card had become paranoid and expressed concern that he had access to weapons.
In July, Card was hospitalized in a psychiatric unit for two weeks after shoving a fellow reservist and locking himself in a motel room.
In August, the Army prohibited him from handling weapons while he was on duty and ruled that he could not be deployed on missions.
In September, a fellow Army Reserve officer sent a text message to an Army supervisor about his growing concern about Card, in which he said, “I think
he's going to snap and commit a mass shooting.” ”
.
Law enforcement officials told commission members that Maine's yellow flag law makes it difficult to remove guns from potentially dangerous people.
“I can't make him open the door,” Skolfield said of visiting Card's home for a wellness check in September.
“If he had kicked in the door, it would have been a violation of the law.”
In later testimony, those involved in the search for Card after the shooting acknowledged that there were missed opportunities to capture him, during an event that forced a community lockdown and terrified residents.
Some of the most emotional testimonies came from family members who tearfully described scenes of blood, chaos and panic followed by unfathomable loss.
Rachael Sloat, fiancee of Peton Berwer Ross, one of the shooting victims, told the commission that
her heart breaks every time her 2-year-old daughter asks about her father
.
“[The girl asked] Where is she?
I want every politician, every member of law enforcement, every registered voter in the country to hear that question: Where is she?
“We have failed my girl.”