A series of text messages and a letter sent from a US army reserve representative sounded the alarm about the suspected Maine gunman’s mental health and fears that he would commit a mass shooting, according to newly released documents.
Robert Card, 40, was known to have mental health problems, authorities have confirmed since last week’s shootings.
But newly released text messages and a letter obtained by the Boston Globe show the concern that other army reserve members had about Card’s behavior and his ability to carry out mass violence.
Card is accused of killing 18 people and injuring at least a dozen more in two mass shootings last week at a bowling alley and bar in Lewiston, southern Maine. He was later found deceased with a self-inflicted gunshot wound after a days-long manhunt to find the suspected shooter.
In one text message sent in the early morning in September, an army reserve member identified as “Hodgson” pleaded with an army reserve training supervisor, Kelvin L Mote, to change the password for where weapons were stored at an army reserve training center in Saco, Maine.
Hodgson also asked Mote to be armed in case Card appeared at the drill center.
“I believe he’s going to snap and do a mass shooting,” Hodgson wrote.
“I love [him] to death but I do not know how to help him and he refuses to get help or to continue help,” Hodgson wrote, referring to Card.
Hodgson’s messages along with the letter written by Mote show the depth of Card’s paranoia and declining mental health state.
Card began hearing voices last spring, with the problem only getting worse, Mote wrote.
During one incident on 15 July, Card accused a group of army reserve members of calling him a pedophile and other insults, shoving a member of the group in a convenience store parking lot.
The group returned to a local motel, where Card locked himself in a room and refused to come out. After the incident, Card was forced to undergo inpatient treatment at a psychiatric hospital in upstate New York.
But Mote noted that Card was still behaving erratically while hospitalized. During one four-hour visit, Card did not say a word to Mote.
“He just stared through me,” Mote wrote.
In a separate incident in September, Card punched Hodgson while a group was driving back from a local casino.
Card had, once again, accused people of calling him a pedophile and said he was going to “shoot up the drill center at Saco and other places”.
When Hodgson told Card to “knock it off”, Card punched him.
“Hodgson is concerned that Card is going to snap and commit a mass shooting,” Mote wrote.
Mote forwarded Hodgson’s concerns about Card to the Saco police department, and urged them to be cautious of Card given his experience with firearms.
“I would rather err on the side of caution with regards to Card since he is a capable marksman and, if he should set his mind to carry out the threats made to Hodgson, he would be able to do it,” Mote wrote.
In a statement to the Guardian, Addie L Leonhardt, chief of public information for the US army reserve, said US army reserve medical staff attempted to reach Card.
“The US Army Reserve Surgeon Office and US Army Reserve medical management made multiple attempts to contact Card,” Leonhardt said.
“Due to the ongoing investigation we cannot provide further details,” she said.
The Guardian contacted a representative of the Saco police department and Mote, but did not hear back.
Five months before the Lewiston shooting, Card’s family also alerted the Sagadahoc county sheriff’s office about Card’s mental health and his access to firearms.
After receiving word from Card’s family, the Sagadahoc county sheriff’s office reached out to Card’s army reserve unit, which told them that they would speak to Card and get him medical attention.
