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.
What we know about the Maine mass shooting: A children’s party, an Army Reservist and 18 dead
Biden is bound for Maine to mourn with a community reeling from a shooting that left 18 people dead
New documents unveil Maine shooting suspect’s possible motive
Maine mass shooting puts spotlight on complex array of laws, series of massive failures
ICYMI: The timeline
- In May, family members contacted authorities, concerned about his mental health in combination with his possession of firearms.
- Months before the deadly attacks, Robert Card, a US Army reservist, was reportedly held in a mental facility for two weeks over the summer. He was taken by police in July for evaluation at the urging of concerned military officials. He was then released.
- In mid-September, a statewide awareness alert was issued after Card made threats against the base in Saco, Maine.
- Also in mid-September, authorities attempted to conduct a welfare check on Card after prompting from the National Guard after he “made threats to shoot up the Saco National Guard facility.”
Fast forward to Wednesday, 25 October...
- Minutes before 7pm on Wednesday night, shots were fired at Just-in-Time Recreation, a bowling alley on Mollison Way in Lewiston, Maine.
- At 7.08pm, multiple 911 calls reported an active shooter at Schemengees Bar and Grill on Lincoln Street, just four miles from the bowling alley.
- Just after 8pm, Maine State Police urged Lewiston residents to shelter in place. “Please stay inside your home with the doors locked. Law enforcement is currently investigating at multiple locations,” the department wrote.
- At 8.06pm, police released a photo of the shooter to the media, and an hour and a half later, the Lewiston Police Department received a call identifying the man in photos as Card. Among the first calls were from Card’s family members, officials revealed on Saturday morning.
- Two hours later, at 9.56pm, state police officers alerted that they had found a “vehicle of interest” in Lisbon at Pejepscot Boat Launch, prompting the shelter-in-place advisory to extend to Lisbon. The Lewiston Police posted a photo on Wednesday night of a white Subaru station wagon. That vehicle was registered to Card, police said. A long gun was found in the vehicle.
- By Friday evening, police had found Card’s body — in a box trailer in Maine Recycling Corporation’s overflow lot. Authorities believe he took his own life. It’s not entirely clear how Card wound up at the recycling facility, but it is believed that he walked from the boat landing via a trail that linked the two locations.
Robert Card ‘punched’ his fellow officer less than a month before shooting
In mid-September, an official at the Maine National Guard requested that the sheriff’s office conduct a wellness check on Card after he punched one of his fellow officers, prompting concern that he would “snap and commit a mass shooting.”
Card and one of his friends, a fellow soldier, were apparently driving home from a casino when Card “started talking about people calling him a pedophile again.”
Card said he owned firearms and was going “to shoot up” the drill centre at the base in Saco, among other places, the report states. The soldier also relayed that Card said he was going to “get them,” which was interpreted as the people who had him committed to a mental health facility.
Card apparently also blamed the soldiers, stating the reason he was unable to buy guns — following this two-week stay — was “because of the commitment.” The soldier then “told him to knock it off because he was going to get into trouble talking about shooting up places and people,” Card punched him.
This interaction prompted the Maine National Guard to request a welfare check.
President Biden addresses Lewiston
Speaking in Lewiston on Friday afternoon, Mr Biden began by saying, “Jill and I have done too many of these,” alluding to the horrific number of gun violence incidents across the country.
To the people of Maine, we “want to make sure you know you’re not alone,” Mr Biden said. “No pain is the same but we know what it’s like to lose a piece of our soul in the depths of the loss that’s so profound–some of us have been there.”
“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 president then urged the passage of gun safety legislation: “This is about commonsense, reasonable, responsible measures to protect our children, our families, our communities because regardless of our politics, this is about protecting our freedom to go to a bowling alley, a restaurant, a school, a church without being shot and killed.”
Remembering the victims: Steven Vozzella
Steven Vozzella, 45, was also part of the gathering of deaf people playing cornohole at Schemengees bar that night.
His brother Nick Vozzella confirmed to ABC News that he was killed in the shooting. A tribute was paid to Mr Vozella was paid by the National Association of Letter Carriers, which said it was “heartbroken” by the news of his death.
A statement from NALC President Brian L Renfroe’s read: “Brother Vozzella was only 45 years old. He had much more life to live before it was stolen from him in an all-too-common senseless act of gun violence. Stephen was out enjoying a game of cornhole with friends on Wednesday evening.
“On behalf of NALC, I send my deepest sympathies to Brother Vozzella’s family, friends and colleagues. We mourn the loss of Stephen and all the innocent victims of this tragedy. Our hearts are with Stephen’s loved ones, all of those affected and the entire town of Lewiston.
Mr Renfroe added: “Any life lost to gun violence is one too many. The members of NALC and all Americans deserve to feel safe while on the job, spending time with their families and friends, and in their everyday lives.
“The epidemic of gun violence in this country must end. It is time for lawmakers to take action to protect Americans from the horrific incidents of gun violence that continue to traumatize communities and cause tragic loss of life across the country.”
The NALC is a union representing city delivery letter carriers employed by the US Postal Service.
A glimpse into a potential motive
On Tuesday, Maine State Police and the Maine Department of Public Safety released a trove of affidavits, search warrants and other documents in the case, including harrowing witness accounts from suspect Robert Card’s son and brother as well as survivors of the massacre.
The documents reveal that witnesses told law enforcement officials that, in the run-up to the 25 October attacks, the US Army reservist believed that people at the Schemengees Bar & Grille and Just-In-Time bowling alley were spreading conspiracies online that he was a paedophile.
He also believed that the bar manager – one of the victims he killed in the shooting rampage – had once called him “gay”, witnesses said.
And he had also met his ex-girlfriend at the bar – an ex-girlfriend who had not long broken up with him.
Altogether, the new details reveal the 40-year-old’s ties to the bar and bowling alley, offering a glimpse into why he may have chosen to target the two locations in what marks Maine’s first major mass shooting.
Read the full story...
New documents unveil Maine shooting suspect’s possible motive
Unsealed documents reveal the suspect believed people were spreading ‘conspiracies’ about him at the bowling alley and bar – and that he had met his ex-girlfriend at the bar
Missed warning signed revealed: Card’s desire to buy a gun silencer was stymied
Three months before he allegedly fatally shot 18 people, Card was denied the ability to buy a gun silencer, the store owner told ABC News.
“He came in and filled out the form, he checked off a box that incriminated himself saying that he was in an institution,” said Rick LaChapelle, the owner of Coastal Defense Firearms. “Our staff was fantastic, let him finish filling out the form, and said, ‘I’m sorry, Mr. Card, we cannot give you this… at this point in time, we cannot release this silencer to you because of the answers that you’ve given us.”
The outlet obtained the form Card filled out. When presented with the question, “Have you ever been adjudicated as a mental defective or have you ever been committed to a mental institution,” Card marked an X, indicating the affirmative.
Mr LaChapelle continued, “We did what we were supposed to do and hopefully saved a lot of lives by…just following the proper procedures.”
Why was Robert Card allowed to own firearms?
The information about why, despite the glaring sequence of warning signs that should have prevented him from being able to possess a gun, he was still able to own over a dozen firearms, remains cloudy.
Authorities previously said that his guns appeared to have been “legally purchased.”
This tragedy has brought renewed criticism over Maine’s current gun laws.
While many other states have implemented red flag laws, which allow loved ones or law enforcement to petition to a court for an order that would temporarily restrict the individual’s access to guns if the person poses a risk to himself or others, Maine has not.
Instead, the state has yellow flag laws, which require a family member to report the individual to law enforcement, who would then be taken into protective custody. Then, the individual has to be evaluated by a mental health professional, who determines whether this person poses a risk.
These laws are “very specific about an individual that’s in protective custody from law enforcement to begin with” in combination with whether law enforcement has “probable cause to believe” that the individual could be in possession “of a dangerous weapon,” Public Safety Commissioner Michael Sauschuck said.
So, he continued, “if we meet those criteria then you can take an individual in for a yellow flag assessment, a weapons restriction order assessment, and at that time your criteria change from the likelihood of serious harm the likelihood of foreseeable harm.”
Mr Sauschuck clarified last week that there had been no record that Card had been “forcibly committed for treatment,” although that detail is now under heightened scrutiny after more about his 14-day stint at a mental health facility has come out.
Jonathan Crisp, a former Army lawyer, previously told The Associated Press that when soldiers are committed involuntarily to mental health facilities, it is a “reportable” event under Army regulations, setting off a network of alerts and subsequent restrictions.
As it is supposed to work, he explained, an official notes the incident in a military database which alerts the FBI, so the agency can enter the name into a background list of people prevented from buying weapons.
“If they took him and he didn’t want to go and he refused to be admitted, it’s a slam dunk,” Mr Crisp said. “This should have been reported.”
The question of why it wasn’t remains as the investigation into the atrocity — and the events that led up to it — is ongoing.
Lawmakers urge new House Speaker Mike Johnson for passage of gun safety legislation
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.
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