Maine shooting updates: Biden tells Lewiston ‘you are not alone’
President will meet with families and victims of the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, amid questions around whether Robert Card could have been stopped
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Your support makes all the difference.President Joe Biden headed to Lewiston today to meet with families and victims of the mass shooting.
The president and first lady spent time with first responders on the front lines of the response and met those who lost loved ones in the horrific attack. Speaking to the Maine community, Mr Biden said, we “want to make sure you know you’re not alone.”
“This tragedy opens a painful wound across the country,” he continued. “Too many Americans have lost loved ones or have survived the trauma of gun violence.”
The visit comes after Maine Governor Janet Mills launched a probe into the missed chances to stop the shooting, after it emerged that police were warned multiple times about the gunman’s concerning and threatening behaviour prior to the massacre.
Authorities said Robert Card’s “concerned” family had alerted the local sheriff about his mental health – and that they were concerned he had access to firearms – in May this year. The Maine National Guard asked local police in September to check on the US Army reservist amid concerns he would “snap and commit a mass shooting”, according to CNN.
Newly-released court documents also revealed that the gunman who killed 18 and wounded 13 believed locals were spreading conspiracies calling him a “paedophile” at the bowling alley and the bar where he opened fire.
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Maine mass shooting puts spotlight on complex array of laws, series of massive failures
Workplace concerns about Robert Card, revealed
NBC News reported that Card worked as a commercial driver at Maine Recycling Corporation from February 2022 to early June 2023. Coworkers detailed disturbing comments made by Card, underscoring his fixation on guns as well as what appears to be some paranoia.
One former coworker said that the shooting suspect displayed a “total mood shift” a year after he started working at the recycling plant.
“He irrationally snapped. We’d do good the whole day, but then would say that I touched him. He said I was sexually harassing him, calling him a pedophile,” the source said.
This former coworker recalled Card frequently speaking about guns and even disclosed that he wanted to buy a silencer.
Although this source never heard Card expressly make workplace gun violence threats, the ex-colleague thought to himself: “One day, he’s probably going to shoot someone up.” The source added, “He was bringing up guns heavily and aggressively. It was a very weird situation.”
Another former colleague, however, recalled that a supervisor had been alerted to alleged workplace gun violence threats made by Card. The source lamented that the complaint felt like “it was swept under the rug.”
WATCH: 10-year-old girl injured in Maine shooting asks heartbreaking question in TV interview
Teenager arrested for threatening ‘Lewiston Part 2’
A teenager has been arrested for threatening to carry out “Lewiston Part 2”.
Michael Bowden, 18, posted a photo of himself on Snapchat holding a rifle and ammunition in the parking lot of a Walmart where he used to work, according to WABI.
He captioned the post: “Lewiston Part 2.”
Mr Bowden was arrested at his home in Etna, Maine, and charged with domestic violence terrorising and aggravated reckless conduct.
He was released on $10,000 bond.
Police said that the suspect was fired from Walmart back in 2021 and had made multiple trips to the store’s parking lot in recent days.
House Democrats called out the new speaker Mike Johnson over his comments made in the wake of the shooting
More than 100 Democrats — led by House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force Chair Rep Mike Thompson — signed a letter to Mr Johnson, expressing their “deep concerns about your troubling comments following the devastating mass shooting” in Lewiston, Maine.
The shooting, which was the deadliest of 2023, claimed 18 lives and left 13 others wounded.
“At the end of the day, the problem is the human heart. It’s not guns. It’s not the weapons,” Mr Johnson said after the violence and then advocated for the Second Amendment in the next breath.
Democrats slammed this perspective, calling it “factually wrong” and said it “paints a dark view of America and its people.” The lawmakers argued, “Gun violence in America is not inevitable, it is simply tolerated by Republican leadership,” and called for the passage of gun legislation as an actionable way to prevent these attacks.
Read the full story...
Democrats invoke God as they blast Mike Johnson on ‘troubling’ gun control comments
Lawmakers argued that ‘gun violence in America is not inevitable, it is simply tolerated by Republican leadership’
The Bidens will touch down in Lewiston, Maine today
The president and first lady will meet with first responders and families of victims of the tragic shooting that left 18 dead and injured 13 others.
Mr Biden will deliver remarks this afternoon at 4.15pm.
Gun Violence Prevention Task Force Chair Mike Thompson and 116 other Democratic colleagues urged the new House Speaker to act on gun safety legislation
ICYMI: Card’s stint at a mental health facility
The next reported incident occurred on 15 July at West Point in New York.
On 15 July 2023, Card was staying at a motel near West Point with several other soldiers when they all went to a convenience store to get some beer, a sheriff’s county report said. That’s where Card accused three of his comrades of calling him a paedophile “and said he would take care of it.”
Card approached one of his long-term friends in the group, and is described as shoving him and telling the fellow soldier “to stop calling him a pedophile.” Card calmed down on the way back to the hotel, but echoed again that he would “take care of it.” When Card was “pressed about what he meant by that Card didn’t respond,” the report stated.
Card then locked himself in his motel room and didn’t respond when his comrades tried to engage with him. It wasn’t until the next day that other soldiers got a keycard to Card’s room, where he said that he “wanted people to stop talking about him.” When a soldier told him that no one was talking about him, he slammed the door in the soldier’s face, the report states.
The entire encounter prompted the officers to take him to a base hospital, where a psychologist determined he needed further treatment. He spent 14 days at Four Winds Psychiatric Hospital in New York, and then was released.
Gov Janet Mills announced the launch of an independent probe into the lead-up to the shooting after reporters demanded why the warning signs were missed
WATCH: Maine governor dismiss reporters’ questions about the ignored alarm bells
Remembering the victims: Ron Morin
Ron Morin’s family paid tribute to him in a Facebook post, writing: “Rest in Paradise, Ronnie. “This smile and your energy will forever be loved and missed.”
Morin’s relative Cecile Francoeur Martin told the Bangor Daily News that he was an “upbeat guy”.
“He was just always smiling, happy,” she said.
“Just one of those people that if you are having a bad day, he was going to make your day better just by his presence.”
Rosa Storer, a stylist at Taboo Hair Design in Lewiston where he had his hair cut for 25 years, called him “an upstanding man with a lot of joy in his heart”.
“He had the best jokes,” she added.
