Army Reserve officers disciplined after reservist killed 18 people last October in Maine

Flowers and other mementos are part of a roadside memorial for those who died in a mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, last year. The report cited failures in the reserve unit’s leadership, communication failures and delays between an Army hospital and a civilian psychiatric hospital where Card was treated in New York, and procedural failures that included an inadequate review of Card’s medical records before his case was closed by the Army Reserve Psychological Health Program. The report faulted the Army Reserve Psychological Health Program for failing to fully review Card’s medical charts before dismissing the case because of Card’s refusal to cooperate. An Army nurse practitioner who evaluated Card in New York recommended that Card’s weapons should be removed, but Army officers mistakenly thought they had no options for his personal weapons and relied on Card’s family to handle it, the report said. Back in Maine, Card’s behavior continued to deteriorate, and a reservist who said he was Card’s best friend reported in September to his superiors: “I believe he’s going to snap and do a mass shooting.” That prompted a Maine deputy to attempt to check on Card at his home in Bowdoin, but the deputy declined to initiate proceedings to remove Card’s guns under the state’s yellow flag law, saying he didn’t have legal authority to initiate the process when Card refused to answer the door to his home.