LEWISTON, Maine — Two senators from Maine requested the U.S. Military inspector common on Monday to offer a full accounting of interactions with a reservist earlier than he killed 18 folks and injured 13 others within the deadliest taking pictures within the state’s historical past.
U.S. Sens. Susan Collins, a Republican, and Angus King, an unbiased, advised Lt. Gen. Donna W. Martin in a letter that it is vital to know “what occurred, or did not happen” on the federal stage, together with the Military, earlier than Robert Card opened hearth at a bowling alley and bar in Lewiston.
Fellow troopers expressed issues about Card’s psychological well being earlier than the Oct. 25 shootings. Considered one of them despatched a textual content message in September saying, “I consider he’s going to snap and do a mass taking pictures,” in accordance with regulation enforcement.
The senators view their federal request as working in tandem with an unbiased fee that Democratic Gov. Janet Mills is convening to discover the info associated to the taking pictures, together with the police response.
“As we proceed to grieve the useless lack of life that day, we should work to totally perceive what occurred — and what may have been completed in a different way that may have prevented this tragedy — on the native, state, and federal ranges,” the senators wrote.
The senators posed a number of questions together with below what circumstances the Military experiences personnel to the Nationwide Immediate Prison Background Test System, and when the Military seeks to invoke state legal guidelines to briefly take away firearms from a soldier’s possession.
An Military spokesperson confirmed that the letter was acquired and that the inspector common will “work in direction of getting a response.” The spokesperson had no additional remark.
Considerations over Card’s psychological well being throughout army coaching led to a 14-day hospitalization on the 4 Winds Psychiatric Hospital in Katonah, New York, final summer time. The concerns continued after Card returned dwelling to Maine.
A deputy visited Card’s Bowdoin dwelling twice, as soon as with a further deputy for backup, to carry out a wellness examine in September however Card by no means got here to the door, officers mentioned. What occurred after that’s unclear. The sheriff’s workplace canceled its statewide alert in search of assist finding Card per week earlier than the killings.
