Maine police hesitant to confront threat posed by Lewiston mass shooter Robert Card, new video shows
Law enforcement officers in Maine were hesitant to confront gunman Robert Card in the lead-up to the mass shooting in which he killed 18 people, according to newly-publicized video.
The footage obtained by the Portland Press Herald and released Friday shows a conversation between Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Sgt. Aaron Skolfield and Army Reserve Capt. Jeremy Reamer. Card was a member of Reamer’s Army Reserve unit.
The men discussed whether Card posed a threat.
Skolfield expressed worries of confronting the former Army reservist. “We don’t want to throw a stick of dynamite on a pool of gas,” he said.
Card, 40, who later carried out the deadliest shooting in Maine history on Oct. 25, first exhibited erratic behavior during Military training.
Police were alerted after he threatened to “shoot up” an Army reserve center in southern Maine, and were informed that Card still had access to firearms.
The sheriff’s department decided to send officers to Card’s residence for what they described as a “welfare check.”
Reamer warned Skolfield that his department was headed for trouble in pursing the matter.
“The only thing I would ask is if you could just document it,” Reamer said. “Obviously, I don’t want you guys to get hurt or do anything that would put you guys in a compromising position,” he added.
Nobody answered when police visited Card’s home twice in September, according to a 93-page independent review released last week of the law enforcement’s handling of the case.
In his recorded discussion with Reamer, Skolfield noted that the Cards were “a big family in this area,” and emphasized the need to avoid publicizing the police visit to their home.
Skolfield assured Reamer that he would contact Card’s brother to verify if family members had already secured Card’s firearms. But efforts to contact Card’s family failed as well.
Card killed 18 people and wounded 13 others. Two days after the shootings, he was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot.
Cops could have done more, said Stephanie Sherman, a lawyer who represented several families of survivors in the 2022 mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
“They quickly could have gotten an order to confiscate the guns, and even possibly put the person in custody. Not criminal custody, but some kind of psychiatric hold,” Sherman said.
Sherman stated that the videos published Friday show police taking a disturbingly casual approach to the threat Card posed.
With News Wire Services
