The Independent Commission tasked by Maine Gov. Janet Mills with investigating the facts and circumstances surrounding the Oct. 25, 2023 Lewiston shootings has released an Initial Interim Report covering the missed opportunities by law enforcement to follow Maine’s “Yellow Flag” law procedure.
Since November 2023, the Independent Commission has conducted seven public meetings, featuring testimony from the Maine State Police, U.S. Army officials, family members of victims, and the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office.
[RELATED: Lewiston Shooter Robert Card’s Army Reserve Unit Was Filled with Cops…]
Friday’s 30-page report is focused primarily on given an account of the actions of local law enforcement and by the Army Reserve prior to the Oct. 25 shooting.
Robert Card Jr., who killed 18 people and injured more than a dozen others before dying by suicide at age 40, was a longtime U.S. Army Reservist, and his deteriorating mental health condition was made known to his fellow soldiers and to law enforcement months before the shootings.
According to the Independent Commission, there were “several opportunities that, if taken, may have changed the course of events.”
For example, the Commission found that the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) had “sufficient probable cause” to take Card into protective custody and remove his firearms under Maine’s Yellow Flag law, and that SCSO had “probable cause to believe that Mr. Card posed a likely hood of serious harm.”
Sgt. Aaron Skolfield of SCSO, the Commission states, should have realized that he had cause to initiate the Yellow Flag process with Card due to a report that “Mr. Card was suffering from some sort of mental health crisis, had recently assaulted a friend, had threatened to shoot up the Saco Armory and harm others, and was in possession of numerous firearms.”
[RELATED: Cases Less Severe Than Robert Card Triggered Maine’s Yellow Flag Law Firearm Restrictions… ]
The report found that Sgt. Skolfield only made “limited attempts to accomplish a ‘face-to-face’ meeting” with Card, failed to consult the agency’s records concerning a previous complaint about Card, failed to contact the individual who was assaulted by Card and heard his threat, and failed to follow up on leads to determine how to contact Card.
Following those failures, the Commission continues, Skolfield’s supervisors at the SCSO failed to assign another deputy to take further action and to initiate the Yellow Flag process.
[RELATED: New Video of Lewiston Shooter Confronted by Police Three Months Before Shooting…]
“The Commission unanimously finds that, under the circumstances known to Sgt. Skolfield on September 17, 2023, the decision to turn over the responsibility for removing Mr. Card’s firearms to Mr. Card’s family was an abdication of law enforcement’s responsibility,” the report reads.
“This decision shifted what is and was a law enforcement responsibility onto civilians who have neither the legal authority to begin the Yellow Flag process nor any legal authority to seize weapons,” the Commission stated. “Even after delegating that responsibility to Mr. Card’s family, the SCSO failed to follow up to ensure that the firearms had been removed from Mr. Card’s custody and safely secured.”
These statements directly contradict the findings of the SCSO’s own third-party review of their conduct, released in December, which claimed that SCSO’s responses to Card were “reasonable under the totality of the circumstances,” and argued that Skolfield did not have sufficient cause to take Card into protective custody.
Chairman of the Independent Commission and former Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court Daniel Wathen said Friday that the Commission has been “impressed by the courage and resilience of those who were impacted by this crime and who have bravely shared their personal stories.”
“Each member of this Commission remains humbled by the charge that has been placed before us,” Wathen said. “Nothing we do can ever change what happened on that terrible day, but knowing the facts can help provide the answers that the victims, their families, and the people of Maine need and deserve.”
“By no means is our work complete. This interim report is meant to provide policymakers and law enforcement with key information we have learned as they contemplate their response to these shootings.” he continued. “At the same time, we hope this will provide the people of Maine with information they deserve about the events leading up to October 25, 2023.”
The full Initial Interim Report of the Independent Commission can be found here.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="26687 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=26687">11 Comments
The Independent Commission, who’s previous experience was keeping track of the paper clips, tasked by Maine Gov. Janet Mills ….
Monday Morning Quarterbacks tasked to find the predetermined findings. Hindsight is 20/20. Easy to take weeks to “examen” decisions that had to be made RIGHT NOW.
@$$ holes.
I advise everyone to read the interim report. What stood out to me was that the Army did a mandatory mental evaluation and admittance plus requiring follow-up appointments. The Army did not pass that along to SCSO. I find it stunning that the Commission then does not hold the Army responsible as they had Card admitted and evaluated knowing that he was in a state of mental decline and just let him go and DID NOT pass that on to SCSO. Action should have been taken then and was not.
Maybe this is just another setup to go after guns? So the people whom we have entrusted to protect us seem to incapable of doing so until after the fact. And yet democrats want to disarm people who have not committed any crimes. Something is wrong here. When seconds count, law enforcement is minutes away, if you are lucky.
We never had mass shootings when Paul LePage was our Governor. We never had ILLEGAL immigrants flooding our streets committing crimes either. The best thing Maine could ever do is get rid of “governor” Millstone !!
they all made mistakes and did not follow through…. because of there failure to do their jobs people were killed and some injured..
So it was not the guns falt it was a people problem. A gun will not fire unles some one pulls the tregger. Guns are very safe.
Also not mentioned was the fact that the bowling alley was a GUN-FREE ZONE. More mass shooting happen at gun free zones than any other place.
Reality is the army, sheriff and troopers all screwed up before, during and after this horrific, but avoidable shooting. Will they learn from it? No, because that would mean facing the reality of their poor decision making. They all have to live with their decisions and face their community everyday. May the lord show mercy on their souls, I can not.
The bunglers who mishandled this situation, and there are many, will never face any adverse consequences. Instead, law-abiding citizens will face more encroachment of their rights.
SO…just how “independent” is this Commission? Who’s on it, & how much are they getting paid, what do they do w/ their lives when they’re not “investigating” this incident (how does the Gov. just happen to know them), & how much is the public paying for this propaganda team for chipping-away-at-the-2nd-Amendment?
First and foremost if the army didn’t pass information on, how did the Sheriff’s department know anything was wrong? The army did pass on information, the sheriff’s department is the failure, the Sheriff Merry bungled this, but, he’s a democrat up for re-election so the majority of leftists picked by Jay-nut Mills won’t put the blame on him! Even though he’s the guy in charge and responsible for the miss handling of the situation. If he wanted the deputies to do the right thing he could have made the command decision, he didn’t he blew it off! Bottom line the guy in command is responsible for the failure to due diligence, he could have ordered the deputies to sit on Cards home until they made contact, he didn’t and 18 people died! Time for Sheriff Merry to take responsibility for his failure to make sure things were mishandled by his lack of attention!