Survivors of Maine mass shooting and victims' relatives sue US
government alleging negligence
[September 03, 2025]
By PATRICK WHITTLE and HOLLY RAMER
Survivors of Maine’s deadliest mass shooting and relatives of victims
are suing the federal government, alleging that the U.S. Army could and
should have stopped one of its reservists from carrying out what they
call “one of the most preventable mass tragedies in American history.”
Eighteen people were killed in October 2023 when Robert Card opened fire
at a bowling alley and a bar and grill. An independent commission
appointed by Maine’s governor later concluded that there were numerous
opportunities for intervention by both Army officials and civilian law
enforcement as Card's mental health deteriorated. He was found dead by
suicide two days after the shootings.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court on behalf of more than 100 survivors
and victims' family members, accuses the U.S. government of negligence,
saying its conduct “directly and proximately caused the mass shooting.”
It alleges that Army officials and others “failed to act reasonably,
broke the promises they made to Card's family and their community,
violated mandatory polices, procedures and disregarded directives and
orders.”
“By March 2023, the United States and its personnel knew Card was
paranoid, delusional, violent, and lacked impulse control. The Army knew
he had access to firearms. The Army promised to remove his guns but did
not fulfill that promise,” the lawsuit states. “Worse, through its acts
and omissions, the Army withheld information and actively misled local
law enforcement, thereby preventing others from intervening and
separating Card from his weapons.”
Attorneys plan to provide more details Wednesday at a news conference in
Lewiston, not far from where the shootings took place.
The attorneys began the process of suing the government a little less
than a year ago when they filed notices of claim, saying the Army did
not act despite being aware of Card’s mental health decline. Card’s
mental health spiral led to his hospitalization and left him paranoid,
delusional and expressing homicidal ideations, the claim said. He even
produced a “hit list” of those he wanted to attack, attorneys have said.
[to top of second column]
|
Law enforcement officers are staged in a school parking lot as a
manhunt continues in the aftermath of a mass shooting in Lewiston,
Maine, Oct. 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, file)
Family members and fellow reservists said Card had exhibited
delusional and paranoid behavior months before the shootings. He was
hospitalized by the Army during training in July 2023 in New York,
where his unit was training West Point cadets, but Army Reserve
officials have acknowledged that no one made sure Card was taking
his medication or complying with his follow-up care at home in
Bowdoin, Maine.
The starkest warning came in a September text from a fellow
reservist: “I believe he’s going to snap and do a mass shooting.”
“From the start, the Army disregarded its mandatory policies and
procedures, and regulations when dealing with Card,” the lawsuit
states. “Despite the serious issues Card presented at the company or
battalion level, they were not reported up the chain of command to
senior military officials with the knowledge, experience, and
resources to address them. Instead, low-ranking, part-time personnel
mis-managed the risks, resulting in disastrous consequences.”
Army officials conducted their own investigation after the shootings
that Lt. Gen. Jody Daniels, then the chief of the Army Reserve, said
found “a series of failures by unit leadership.” Three Army Reserve
leaders were disciplined for dereliction of duty, according to the
report. When the governor's commission released its final report
last August, the Army issued a statement saying it was “committed to
reviewing the findings and implementing sound changes to prevent
tragedies like this from recurring.”
The Lewiston shootings led to new guns laws in Maine, a state with a
long tradition of hunting and gun ownership. The laws prompted legal
action on the part of gun rights advocates in the state and remain a
contentious topic nearly two years after the shootings.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
