‘Several opportunities’ to prevent Maine mass shooting were missed, commission finds

An independent commission tasked with reviewing the shooting rampage in Lewiston, Maine, last year found the local sheriff’s office and leaders of the gunman’s Army Reserve Unit failed to take actions that might have “changed the course of events.”

An independent commission tasked with reviewing the shooting rampage in Lewiston, Maine, last October found the local sheriff’s office and leaders of the gunman’s Army Reserve Unit failed to take actions that might have prevented the shooting. While Robert Card was “solely responsible” for the shootings – which left 18 people dead and 13 others wounded across two scenes – the commission’s final report found the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office had probable cause to use Maine’s yellow flag law to begin the process of securing the gunman’s firearms in September 2023, the month prior to the shooting, but did not. Additionally, the commission determined the leaders of Card’s Army Reserve Unit ignored recommendations by Card’s mental health providers to ensure weapons were removed from his home. The commanding officers also did not share with the sheriff’s office the totality of information about Card’s troubling behavior, which might have prompted them to change their approach, the report says. “Although he might still have committed a mass shooting even if someone had managed to remove Card’s firearms before October 25, 2023,” the report says, “there were several opportunities that, if taken, might have changed the course of events.” CNN has reached out to the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office for comment. The independent commission’s report comes on the heels of a separate review by the US Army released in July that said a series of failures and breakdowns in communication among Card’s military chain of command, civilian law enforcement and medical providers preceded the shooting. While noting Card’s commanders had “limited jurisdiction” over him – reservists are on duty an average of 40 days a year – three people in the gunman’s chain of command were punished, officials said.