One hundred survivors and family members of the victims of Maine’s deadliest mass shooting last October are threatening to pursue negligence claims against the U.S. Army for failing to stop the reservist responsible for the tragedy, their lawyers announced Tuesday.
The claimants submitted notices of intent to the Department of Defense, the Army, and Keller Army Community Hospital in West Point, N.Y., alleging each military entity failed to respond to the warning signs exhibited by Robert Card, 40, who posed a danger to himself and others. The Army is accused of failing to follow its own regulations and actively discouraging the police from acting on concerns about Card’s access to firearms.
Suffering from mental illness, the gunman killed 18 people and wounded 13 others at a bowling alley and a bar-and-grill restaurant in Lewiston, Maine, on October 25 last year. Police found his body two days later and ruled his death a suicide.
“It is difficult to conceive of a case in which Army personnel could have more warning signs and opportunities to intervene to prevent a service member from committing a mass shooting than what happened in the case of Army Reservist Robert Card,” the legal notices state.
Four law firms represent the 100 individuals. Two of those firms successfully sued the Defense Department after an Air Force service member in 2017 killed 26 people at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
The U.S. government has six months to investigate and evaluate the claims. If it denies the claims or declines to act, federal lawsuits can proceed in court.
“If the U.S. chooses to run out the clock by sitting on our claims without acting, we will file our action six months and one day from today,” Maine attorney Benjamin Gideon said in a statement. “We are committed to moving forward and ensuring accountability and justice for our clients.”
The claims stem from recent reports that detailed how military officials, law enforcement, and hospital staff mishandled the events leading up to the shooting.
An internal Army investigation from July found that Card’s unit did not follow certain procedures after he shoved another reservist in July 2023. Card was hospitalized in a civilian hospital’s psychiatric unit as a result of the incident. His reported symptoms at the time included psychosis and homicidal thoughts, and according to the military report, he created a “hit list.”
The Army then prohibited Card from accessing weapons while on duty, though he still privately possessed firearms.
In August, a separate report conducted by a Maine commission concluded that the local sheriff’s office could have enforced Maine’s “yellow flag” law by seizing Card’s weapons and taken him into protective custody before the attack. Army leadership was also at fault for failing to follow up on Card’s mental-health treatment.
Despite treating him at Keller Army Community Hospital, medical staff did not file a SAFE Act notice because a psychiatric nurse practitioner thought the New York law only applied to state residents, according to the commission’s report. Under the gun law, mental-health professionals are required to report patients if they are expected to seriously harm themselves or others.
Moreover, Army officials did not share concerning texts with the sheriff’s office in their attempt to downplay the threat that Card posed. One text showed a fellow reservist warning commanding officers in September 2023, “I believe he is going to snap and do a mass shooting.” Card reportedly heard voices in his head and displayed erratic behavior.
Card’s exposure to hand-grenade blasts were also under scrutiny, as those were believed to be the reason for his deteriorating mental status. Earlier this year, a medical scan found that Card underwent traumatic brain injury likely caused by the low-level blasts.
Card’s motives for the shooting remain unclear. Cynthia Young, whose husband and 14-year-old son were killed at the Lewiston bowling alley, recently won access to Card’s mental-health records to find answers for why the shooting occurred.
“There is pain, trauma, and regrets that will never go away,” Young said in a statement on Tuesday. “As terrible as the shooting was, it’s even more tragic that there were many opportunities to prevent this and they were not taken.”