A sister of a woman killed in the Lewiston mass shooting is suing the United States of America.
Bobbi Nichols, the sister of Tricia Asselin, filed a lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court of Maine in Portland. The U.S. and its agencies caused the mass shooting through negligence, according to the lawsuit brought under the Federal Tort Claims Act.
Asselin was one of the 18 people killed by Robert Card II during a mass shooting at Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley and Schemengees Bar and Grille on Oct. 25, 2023.
Card injured 13 others and at least 20 more were injured in the mayhem that ensued in both places as bystanders rushed to escape.
“This case arises from one of the most preventable mass tragedies in American history — a mass shooting that could and should have been stopped by the United States Army months before Robert Card terrorized Maine on October 25, 2023,” the lawsuit said.
A tort claim allows people to sue the U.S. for injury or death caused by the acts of federal employees. Card spent 20 years in the Army Reserve.
This is the first lawsuit brought by an individual family member against the U.S. after the shooting. A group of 100 families and survivors filed a lawsuit in September against the Army, Department of Defense and a military hospital. It also called the attack “one of the most preventable mass tragedies in American history.” Nichols is not a member of that lawsuit.
Nichols, who witnessed the shooting, wants a bench trial and for a judge to tell the United States to pay an unspecified amount for her pain and suffering; past and future medical expenses; future life care expenses; compensation for her loss of earnings; and permanent impairment.
She had previously filed a written claim and the lawsuit was filed more than six months after that, as required by law. The United States failed to take action.
When the shooting started, Nichols dropped to the floor to avoid being shot and was trampled by fleeing people, the lawsuit said. She watched Card fatally shoot her sister.
As she laid on the floor in shock, another shooting victim collapsed on top of Nichols and bled out on her, according to the lawsuit. She managed to flee the building but “the horrors she suffered and endured left her battered and traumatized.”Nichols has worked with multiple psychologists but is still “frequently consumed with and overwhelmed by grief, depression, and anxiety, which leave her weak and prevents her ability to function normally,” the lawsuit said. It adds she is often unable to get out of bed and is usually unable to sleep, feel safe, leave her home, maintain relationships and live a normal life.
The lawsuit has two pages outlining the warning signs the Army missed or ignored in the years and months leading up to the mass shooting, including an Army psychiatrist recommending Card’s access to military weapons be restricted.
Card threatened to “shoot up” the Army Reserve center a month before the shooting, and a fellow soldier said Card would “snap and do a mass shooting.”
The shooting happened because “Army personnel convinced local law enforcement, staged outside Card’s home ready to remove his weapons, that there was no need and that Card was not a danger,” the lawsuit said.
The Army did not act on the “warnings and repeated opportunities” and Card carried out his threats, the lawsuit said.
On Oct. 23, 2025, Card “began systematically executing innocent people,” including Asselin, while Nichols watched “mere feet” away,” the lawsuit said.
“Their deaths and injuries of many others were avoidable and preventable,” the lawsuit said.
Army reserve soldiers have a “unique risk” because they do not have the same daily command and oversight as active-duty soldiers, the lawsuit said.
The Army also knows that repeated blast explosions can cause “traumatic brain injuries
that can manifest as paranoia, aggression, and violent ideation,” the lawsuit said.
Card spent several years as a grenade instructor, and family said he was hard of hearing since 2015. An analysis of Card’s brain tissue found evidence of traumatic brain injury.
Mandatory policies and procedures were disregarded by the Army when it dealt with Card, the lawsuit said. Serious issues were not reported up the chain of command, instead “low-ranking, part-time personnel mismanaged the risks, resulting in disastrous consequences.”
The Army knew about Card’s “paranoid delusions, auditory hallucinations, grossly disorganized behavior … social and occupational dysfunction, aggressions, rage, and violence” more than six months before the shooting, the lawsuit said.
The Army should have followed its mandatory regulations to evaluate Card because of his history of exposure to blast explosions, the lawsuit said. Card may have been exposed to 10,000 blast events throughout his career.
In July, Card was released from Four Winds Hospital in Katonah, New York, after more than two weeks of mental health treatment.
He needed ongoing care but the Army did not investigate the cause of Card’s mental illness, the lawsuit said. Card likely would have been found to be a danger to himself or others, which would have made him ineligible to buy or possess guns.
A Defense Department report found the Army and Navy frequently failed to follow their own policies in Card’s case.
“In the case of Card, the Army’s acts and omissions caused the shooting on October 25, 2023,” the lawsuit said.
