AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine State Police have acquired two K-9s to help with manhunts and identified various areas of improvement since the Lewiston mass shooting, according to an internal review the agency released Friday.
State police leaders and personnel involved in the response to the Oct. 25, 2023, mass shooting and 48-hour manhunt for the gunman had already mentioned or alluded to much of the information included in the 322-page “after-action report” that looked at tactics, communication, victim services and other areas in the chaotic aftermath of Maine’s deadliest-ever rampage.
Read the full report
Robert Card II, a 40-year-old Army reservist from Bowdoin, used a semi-automatic rifle he had legally purchased a few months before his evening rampage to kill 18 and injure 13 at a Lewiston bowling alley and bar before fleeing the area. Family and peers had warned authorities for months about his declining mental health and access to guns.
The response featured more than 400 officers and 16 tactical teams from various states along with federal agencies. While the report released Friday highlighted several positives, Maine State Police also formalized its shortcomings and listed areas of improvement. Some of them had already been highlighted in testimony and media accounts of the manhunt.
For example, the agency said commanders should have required representatives from different teams to remain in the Lewiston command post area, as the flood of self-deploying officers “created an uncontrolled influx of resources” causing safety issues and duplication of efforts.
Card was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at a Maine Recycling Center property in Lisbon. Initial searches did not find Card, whose exact time of death inside a trailer was never confirmed. That highlighted a need for “real time mapping software,” the report said.
After finding Card’s vehicle by a Lisbon boat launch, state police leaders previously acknowledged they did not call in K-9 units despite the possibility that Card fled down a nearby trail. That decision was made primarily due to fears of Card ambushing officers, but the after-action report said the agency has since acquired two bloodhounds for that purpose.
Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat who formed the independent commission that heard from state police and others for several months before releasing a final report last month, was scheduled to discuss the commission’s report with reporters on Friday afternoon in Augusta. A New England state police compact will also conduct an independent review of the after-action report.
Families of the mass shooting victims shared frustration with the commission earlier this year as they described hours of waiting to learn their loved ones had died, with communication issues particularly acute for those who knew the several victims who were deaf. Survivors also criticized Sagadahoc County sheriff’s deputies and Card’s Army Reserve superiors for not more forcefully responding to reported concerns about him in the months before the shooting.
