Maine mass shooting to be investigated by independent commission

An independent commission will examine remaining month’s mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, that left 18 folks useless and 13 others wounded, the state’s governor and lawyer normal introduced Thursday.

Gov. Janet Mills and Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey mentioned in a joint remark that the seven-member commission may have the authority to probe all sides of the shooting, together with how the alleged gunman, 40-year-old Robert Card, a U.S. Army reservist, controlled to perform the assault in spite of showing obvious indicators that his psychological well being used to be on a drastic decline main up to the Oct. 25 shooting.

The commission — made up of criminal, investigative and psychological well being professionals — will “determine the facts of the October 25th shootings in Lewiston, including the months preceding the shootings and the police response to them,” in accordance to the governor’s administrative center.

“All that we ask is that you follow the facts, wherever they may lead, and that you do so in an independent and objective manner, biased by no one and guided only by the pursuit of truth,” Mills and Frey wrote of their letter to the independent commission. “As we have said, the complete facts and circumstances — including any failures or omissions — must be brought to light and known by all. The families of the victims, those who were injured, and the people of Maine and the nation deserve nothing less.”

The mass shooting spread out in two places: a bowling alley the place a kids’s league used to be going down and an area bar and grill. The suspected gunman used to be discovered useless from an obvious self-inflicted gunshot wound after a large manhunt.

“Maine is on what will be a long and difficult road to healing. As we have said, a cornerstone of our ability to heal as a people and as a state is to know the truth — in this case, the full and unvarnished facts of what happened on October 25, the months that led up to it, and the law enforcement response to it,” the letter from Mills and Frey to the commission states.

The participants appointed to the commission come with Daniel Wathen, former leader justice of the Maine Supreme Court, who will function the investigative panel’s chair.

“I am deeply honored and humbled by the responsibility that Governor Mills and Attorney General Aaron Frey have bestowed on me and the other members of the Independent Commission,” Wathen mentioned in a remark. “It is the most important inquiry for truth that I have ever received.”

Other participants appointed to the commission are Dr. Debra Baeder, the previous leader forensic psychologist for the State Forensic Service in Maine; George “Toby” Dilworth, former assistant U.S. lawyer for the District of Maine; and Ellen Gorman, a former affiliate justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.

Also appointed to the commission are Dr. Anthony Ng, a psychiatrist and clinical director of neighborhood services and products for the Northern Light Acadia Hospital in Bangor, Maine; Geoffrey Rushlau, a former district court docket pass judgement on who served as a prosecuting lawyer in Maine for 37 years; and Paula Silsby, a former U.S. lawyer for the District of Maine.

The independent commission will be funded throughout the Office of the Attorney General and feature the “full scope of needed resources,” together with further investigatory powers to be decided and asked by the commission, in accordance to the governor’s administrative center.

“At this time of great sadness for the families of the victims, the citizens of Lewiston, and the entire state of Maine, determining the facts for all those impacted is paramount to our ability to move forward and heal,” the letter from Mills and Frey to the commission states.

In their letter, Mills and Frey particularly discussed Card’s declining psychological well being prior to the mass shooting.

“We must recognize that, from what we know thus far, on multiple occasions over the last ten months, concerns about Robert Card’s mental health and his behavior were brought to the attention of his Army Reservist Unit, as well as law enforcement agencies here in Maine and New York,” Mills and Frey mentioned of their letter. “This raises crucial questions about actions taken and what more could have been done to prevent this tragedy from occurring.”

Months forward of the Lewiston rampage, Card had displayed obvious indicators that his psychological well being used to be on a downward spiral — indicators which his instant members of the family knew about and have been involved by, and explicitly warned regulation enforcement that one thing wanted to be executed, in accordance to paperwork bought by ABC News by means of information requests.

As a long way again as January, Card’s psychological well being had already began to decline, his circle of relatives mentioned. By May, it used to be getting even worse, and members of the family have been involved for his well-being, and that he had get admission to to firearms.

Despite some follow-up between native police and the Army Reserve referring to Card’s obvious paranoia, verbalized threats to shoot folks and recurrent competitive habits in fresh months, the paperwork don’t point out that Card used to be ever taken into protecting custody or judged mentally incompetent by a clinical skilled, which is needed to cause Maine’s yellow flag regulation.

On May 3, Card’s ex-wife and their teenage son went to the administrative center of the Topsham School Resource Officer with issues about Robert Card, in accordance to an incident record from the responding officer, Sagadahoc County Deputy Chad Carleton.

In all caps on the most sensible of that record, a realize to patrol advises to “USE CAUTION IF RESPONDING” to Card’s place of dwelling due to his “PARANOID BEHAVIOR” and that he has “10-15 FIREARMS” in his space and/or truck.

After talking with the circle of relatives, Carleton reached out to Card’s Army Reserve battalion in Saco — who in flip knowledgeable him “there has recently been considerable concern for Robert,” in accordance to the incident record.

Carleton used to be informed that Card “had been accusing other soldiers of calling him a sex offender which seems to coincide with some of the behavior [Card’s son] has witnessed,” he writes, however that the overall extent of the problem won’t were identified.

In July, whilst on a lager run with fellow infantrymen of his Army Reserve unit, Card accused them of calling him a pedophile or even wondering the scale of his manhood, then were given right into a bodily war of words, the letter from Card’s Army Reserve unit to the sheriff’s administrative center says, in accordance to the incident record. An electronic mail from a member of Card’s Army Reserve unit to the sheriff’s administrative center says that incident led to Card being evaluated by an Army psychologist, who decided he wanted additional remedy.

According to the e-mail, Card used to be taken to Four Winds Psychiatric Hospital in Katonah, New York, for remedy and analysis in mid-July and used to be launched after 14 days.

In September, the Army Reserve asked a well being and welfare take a look at for Card, after a reserve soldier expressed fear that Card used to be going to devote a mass shooting, in accordance to paperwork from the sheriff’s administrative center.

Authorities issued an alert referred to as a “File 6,” caution regulation enforcement companies around the state that Card used to be affected by psychotic episodes and used to be “known to be armed and dangerous.”

A sheriff’s administrative center record says deputies showed Card’s brother used to be in a position to get his weapons and that he and his father would ensure that Card didn’t have get admission to to any firearms.

Documents bought by ABC News display deputies canceled the File 6 alert for Card on Oct. 18, one week prior to Card would in the long run open hearth on males, ladies and youngsters at two other places in Lewiston.