Nearly two years after a member of the U.S. Army Reserve killed 18 people in Lewiston, Maine, survivors and victims’ families are suing the federal government.
“The Army repeatedly broke its promise to protect the community that it pledges to defend and must be held responsible,” said attorney Travis Brennan of Berman & Simmons, one of the attorneys representing 100 survivors and family members of victims.
In October 2023, the shooter, who was hearing voices and in mental decline, opened fire at two establishments — a bowling alley and a bar/restaurant — before he eventually killed himself.
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“The evidence we have gathered since the shooting is disturbing. The facts show that despite every possible warning raised by Card’s behavior, the Army failed at every turn. The Army needs to answer for this. Without accountability what hope can we have of preventing this kind of tragedy from repeating itself?” said Brennan.
In the months prior to the shooting, the killer’s behavior had become increasingly concerning to people who knew him, and he had been treated for psychiatric issues at two hospitals, including Keller Army Community Hospital and a private facility called Four Winds Hospital.
A Scripps News investigation found more than two dozen law enforcement officers — including some of the shooter’s military superiors — were aware of his access to firearms and his violent threats ahead of the shooting, but no one followed through with actions to remove the shooter’s guns from his possession using extreme risk protection order laws.
An independent commission investigating the shooting found members of the shooter’s military unit “failed to undertake necessary steps to reduce the threat he posed to the public.”
In a lengthy report, the commission said the shooter's commanding officers were “well aware of his auditory hallucinations, increasingly aggressive behavior, collection of guns, and ominous comments about his intentions. Despite their knowledge, they ignored the strong recommendations of [the shooter’s] Army mental health providers to stay engaged with his care and ‘mak[e] sure that steps are taken to remove weapons’ from his home.”
A separate military investigation also found “multiple failures” ahead of the shooting, including communication breakdowns.
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“If the Army does not accept accountability here, where it knew its soldier had severe mental illness, had access to weapons and was warned in advance that he planned to commit a mass shooting, then it’s hard to imagine the Army ever accepting accountability without being forced to do so in court,” said Benjamin Gideon, an attorney representing the case.
The lawsuit, being filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act, claims the shooting was “one of the most preventable mass tragedies in American history — a mass shooting that could and should have been stopped by the United States Army months before [the shooter] terrorized Maine on October 25, 2023.”
Lt. Col. Ruth Castro, spokesperson for the Army, told Scripps News Wednesday morning, “As a matter of policy, we do not comment on pending litigation.”
Previously, the military has indicated the shooter “was not on duty nor under the direct control of the U.S. Army,” at the time of the shooting. The military’s overview of its own investigation into the shooting indicated the shooter “was a civilian who also happened to be in the U.S. Army Reserve.”
The previous military investigation recommended “updates to standard operating procedures, retraining, and new policies to better handle the complexities of behavior health care for our USAR soldiers.” The report also said, “The Army remains committed to working with stakeholders to improve key areas of concern.”
