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.”
CBS News obtained a copy of the 119-page lawsuit, which alleges there were numerous signs and documented examples over the years of Card’s worsening mental illness, in addition to tangible incidents that should have flagged him to the Army as an individual potentially capable of harming others.
“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.
Spokespeople for the Department of Defense and the Army said they would not comment on pending litigation. A request for comment was emailed to the Keller Army Community Hospital.
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. Before his discharge, the Army’s medical providers determined that Card “posed a significant risk of violence” and conditioned his release from the hospital “on the removal of his personal weapons from his home,” according to the lawsuit, which also says the medical personnel “recommended restricting his access to military weapons and ammunition.”
Attorneys have said that Card even produced a “hit list” of those he wanted to attack as his health deteriorated.
“The Army knew that while in the hospital, Card admitted to homicidal ideation and to preparing a ‘hit list’ of people he intended to kill,” the lawsuit says. “Card stated that his targets were those he perceived had wronged him, including those he had bowled and played cornhole with at the bowling alley and bar he later attacked on October 25, 2023.”
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 2023 text from a fellow reservist: “I believe he’s going to snap and do a mass shooting.” At the time, just one month before the Lewiston massacre, Card had threatened to “shoot up” the Army Reserve center, located in Saco, Maine, according to the lawsuit, which claims Army Captain Jeremy Reamer “dismissed these warnings” and, rather than taking swift action, called the reservist who sent the text “not the most credible of our Soldiers.”
“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.
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