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A final report from the Independent Commission to Investigate the Facts of the Tragedy in Lewiston highlighted numerous areas where law enforcement, military leaders and elected officials should take steps to improve communication and coordination to prevent future tragedies like the mass shooting that left 18 dead and 13 injured in Lewiston last fall.
Those failures, particularly to share information, must be addressed now. Some may require legislative action. Others require changes in department policies and attitudes, and can be made immediately.
It is worth noting that many of the steps documented by the commission, which did not offer recommendations, go beyond just trying to prevent another mass shooting, which itself is a worthy, if illusive, goal. Rather they could help ensure that people like Robert Card II, whose mental health was declining, get the help they need. This could help improve their lives and those of their families, their coworkers and their communities.
For example, ensuring that the military shares mental health information with law enforcement and civilian medical personnel could improve the care of military personnel and strengthen their families. A law that allows family members to petition to have guns temporarily removed from a loved one who they view as dangerous may prevent a suicide.
In its final report, released on Tuesday, the seven-member commission highlighted numerous failures by Card’s Army Reserve unit and its leaders, and pointed to missteps by the Sagadahoc Sheriff’s Department.
Last July, Card was hospitalized in New York, where his unit was training, after fellow reservists became concerned about his erratic behavior and repeated claims of people calling him a pedophile.
An evaluation that found Card had “inconsistent coping skills, poor emotional controls, and narcissism,” according to the state panel’s report. A doctor there suggested removing weapons from Card’s home as part of a discharge plan.
The doctor told the panel that Card’s commanding officer Capt. Jeremy Reamer ignored his recommendations and did not complete a counseling form that would have required Card to maintain regular contact with a case management team. Nor did he keep Card engaged with the unit’s activities, which the doctor had also recommended. Reamer also failed to contact the sheriff’s office to arrange the removal of weapons and did not follow up with Card, according to the report.
If the Army Reserve had shared more information about Card’s mental health with local law enforcement, it may have influenced police to be more assertive, the panel concluded.
Maine’s congressional delegation, particularly U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, has pushed for better prevention strategies and information sharing by military officials in cases such as Card’s. New Pentagon policies on blast injuries, such as Card is believed to have suffered, are an important start.
The commission report should also lead to changes in Maine’s extreme risk protection order law, also known as a yellow flag law. With the information it had, the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office had sufficient probable cause to use Maine’s yellow flag law to take Card into custody and to begin the process of taking his guns, the report said. It did not do so, although an office visited Card’s Bowdoin home but left when Card did not answer the door.
The report noted several law enforcement officials told the commission that Maine’s yellow flag law is “cumbersome, inefficient and unduly restrictive.” This assessment should lead lawmakers to make it a priority to review and strengthen Maine’s extreme protection order law when they convene next year.
The commission, which interviewed dozens of people (some of whom had to be subpoenaed to testify) and reviewed thousands of documents, deserves our thanks for its quick and thorough work to help a grieving state better understand the state’s worst mass shooting. Its findings should prompt immediate changes in policies and practices to better protect our communities and citizens from gun violence, while also ensuring that Mainers with behavioral health needs get the help they deserve.
