Maine cops are accused of 'abdication of responsibility' in bombshell report finding they had cause to arrest mass shooter Robert Card and seize his weapons before the Army reservist slaughtered 18 at bowling alley

Police in Maine have been accused of abdicating their responsibility in a damaging report that found they had cause to arrest Lewiston shooter Robert Card before he murdered eighteen people. 

The panel found that the Sagadahoc County Sheriff's Office failed to take action under the state's so-called Yellow Flag law that may have prevented the shooting.  

While Card was ruled to be 'solely responsible', authorities missed 'several opportunities that, if taken, may have changed the course of events'.

Card, a reservist, killed 18 people and wounded 13 at a bowling alley and a bar in Lewiston in October of last year leading to the largest manhunt in state history.

The independent commission has been reviewing the events that led up to Card going on his shooting spree, as well as the subsequent response.  

The panel found that the Sagadahoc County Sheriff's Office failed to take action under the so-called Yellow Flag law that may have prevented the shooting. Robert Card is seen here 

The independent commission has been reviewing the events that led up to Card going on his spree, as well as the subsequent response 

A make-shift memorial lines Main Street, Friday, Nov. 3, 2023, Lewiston, Maine

In the report, Sgt. Aaron Skolfield, who responded to a report five weeks before the shooting that Card was suffering from a mental health crisis, was criticized. 

Skolfield, of the Sagadahoc County Sheriff's Office, should have realized he had probable cause to start a so-called 'yellow flag' process in the case of Card.

That allows a judge to temporarily remove somebody´s guns during a psychiatric health crisis.

When Skolfield went on leave, no one was assigned to follow up or to initiate Yellow Flag proceedings.

This was despite the office having 'sufficient probable cause' to place Card into protective custody and confiscate his weapons, it said.

In effect, the sheriff's office shifted the onus for removing Card's firearms to his family, 'an abdication of law enforcement's responsibility,' the panel found.

In testimony before the commission in January, sheriff's officials defended their response to warning signs about Card's mental health.

They said that their options were limited given that Card had not committed any crime. 

Card killed 18 people in the massacre (pictured), in what has become the deadliest mass shooting of 2023 

On October 25, 2023, Robert Card walked into a bowling alley and later a bar in Lewiston Maine and shot dead 18 people before turning the gun on himself

'I couldn't get him to the door. I can´t make him open the door,' Skolfield said of his visit to Card's home for a welfare check in September. 'If I had kicked in the door, that would've been a violation of the law.' 

Leroy Walker, whose son Joseph was killed in the shootings, said the commission´s finding that the yellow flag law could have been implemented but wasn't reflected what victims´ families have known all along.

'The commission said it straight out - that they could have done it, should have done it,' said Walker, an Auburn City Council member. 

'What something like this really does is it brings up everything. It just breaks the heart all over again.'

Commission Chair Daniel Wathen said their work wasn't finished and that the interim report was intended to provide policymakers and law enforcement with key information they had learned.

'Nothing we do can ever change what happened on 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.

The body of Card, 40, was found at a recycling facility in Lisbon two days after the attacks, after he died by suicide. 

Just months earlier on July 16, police were called and Card was ordered to go to an Army facility to be hospitalized after fellow soldiers grew worried about him. 

Bodycam footage at the time provides a chilling glimpse of Card after he had been involved in an altercation and locked himself in his motel room, alarming reservists. 

He can be heard telling state police: 'They're scared 'cause I'm gonna friggin' do something. Because I am capable.'

In police body cam recorded on July 16, Card is ordered to go to an Army facility to be hospitalized after fellow soldiers grew worried about him

The footage provides a chilling glimpse of Card after he had been involved in an altercation and locked himself in his motel room, alarming reservists

One officer can be heard probing the remark, asking Card, 'What do you mean by that?'

Card, who appears agitated, starkly replies, 'Nothing,' before he is informed he would be taken to an army hospital to speak with a counselor. 

He can also be heard telling police in the footage that people were talking behind his back for about six months, starting rumors that he was gay and a pedophile. 

In the video, Card's fellow reservists, whose names were redacted, expressed concern that he had lost weight and was all 'skin and bones.' 

They also said his behavior had changed markedly over six months, with a man who identified himself as Card's first sergeant telling the officers 'our concern is that he's either going to hurt himself or someone else.'

One of the reservists also described Card as a 'gun nut' who spent $14,000 on a scope. 

The reservist added: 'I don't know what he's capable of. I'm not insinuating anything. But I'm just saying he does have a ton of guns.'

Card was driven to Keller Army Hospital for evaluation by fellow reservists and ended up spending two weeks at a psychiatric hospital. 

Initial investigations have already found missed chances and red flags involving Card were rife, with reports revealing colleagues and family members repeatedly raised alarm about threats he'd made in the months before the shooting. 

The Ruger .308-caliber assault rifle used in the killings in Lewiston was legally purchased by Card on July 6, less than two weeks before his actions led to his two-week hospitalization, Maine state police said. 

Law enforcement officers stand near armored and tactical vehicles, center, near a property on Meadow Road, in Bowdoin, Maine, following a mass shooting, Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023

Law enforcement officers carry rifles outside Central Maine Medical Center during an active shooter situation, in Lewiston, Maine, Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023

More than 350 law enforcement officers from the state, county and local levels across Maine and neighboring states were assisting in the search for Card within 24 hours 

He was hospitalized after suffering several psychotic episodes, and told superiors he had been hearing voices and threatened the base where he was stationed.

In May of last year, police were alerted that Card had become paranoid and they were concerned about his access to guns.

In August, he was then barred from handling any weapons when he was on duty and declared that he was nondeployable by the Army.

Then in September, reservists were so concerned that he was about to kill that they told each other to 'change the passcode' to the entrance gate of their base in Saco.

One text by a Sergeant Hudson reads, 'Change the passcode to the unit gate and be armed if Sergeant First Class Card does arrive. Please. I believe he's messed up in the head.

'And threaten the unit other and other places. I love [him] to death but I do not know how to help him and he refuses to get help. 

These text messages sent by an Army Reservist Sergeant to his supervisor in September reveal the extent to which there were concerns about Robert Card

'I'm afraid he's going to f**k up his life from hearing things he thinks he's heard. Dropped him off he was concerned his weapons were still in the car...He still has all his weapons.'

In another, he said: 'I think he's going to snap and do a mass shooting.'

In Maine, a warning that Card might 'shoot up' the Saco armory where his reserve unit was based prompted a Sagadahoc County deputy to try to meet with Card at his home in Bowdoin. 

Ultimately, Card was never confronted, and the shooting rampage he went on became the deadliest mass shooting in Maine's history. 

In December, a 93-page independent report found that Maine sheriff's office response to concerns about Card's declining mental health was 'reasonable.'