This story will be updated.
BATH, Maine — A woman whose husband and son were killed in last year’s mass shooting in Lewiston is seeking access to shooter Robert Card II’s estate in an early move that further foreshadows lawsuits likely to come from victims and survivors.
Portland attorneys Travis Brennan and Ben Gideon are representing Cynthia Young of Winthrop as the petitioner in Card’s probate case. She filed for access to the state over the summer, and the issue is set for a hearing in Bath on Tuesday. Young’s 44-year-old husband, Bill, and 14-year-old son, Aaron, died in the Oct. 25 shooting while bowling at Just-In-Time Recreation.
Young’s move is not about money but access to Card’s medical, military, mental health, phone and other records. They are “important to help those who have been affected by this tragedy to evaluate potential legal claims,” according to a court filing.
It was a quiet but notable step as the first action taken in court by a family member of a Lewiston shooting victim nearly a year after Card killed 18 people at a bar and bowling alley. The families are expected to bring major lawsuits that could target the Army Reserve and police agencies that dealt with Card in the weeks before the shooting.
Card, a 40-year-old Army reservist from Bowdoin who was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in nearby Lisbon two days after the mass shooting, did not leave a will. His son is his sole heir, according to court records.
Although Young is the sole petitioner in the estate case, Brennan and Gideon are also representing more than 90 clients affected by the shooting. A July filing said the son did not object to the appointment of Young as a “special administrator” to obtain information.
John Lightbody, a Portland lawyer listed in court records as representing Card’s estate, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
