The Independent Commission tasked by Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) with investigating the facts and circumstances surrounding the Oct. 25, 2023 Lewiston shooting has announced that it will hold two public meetings to hear testimony from U.S. Army personnel, police, victims, and the Maine Medical Examiner’s Office.
On Thursday, April 4, at 9 a.m., the Commission is scheduled to hear from some members of the U.S. Army Reserve, and expects to take testimony from the Director of the Department of Justice’s Victim Witness Services Unit for the District of Maine.
The Maine State Police are also expected to offer testimony Thursday concerning communications during the shootings and the subsequent search — a manhunt for the shooter, Robert R. Card, Jr., that lasted for nearly 48 hours.
The search effort has drawn broad scrutiny for failing to quickly locate the deceased Card’s body in a trailer close to where he abandoned his car just minutes after the shooting took place.
Additionally, a second public meeting has also been scheduled for Thursday, April 11, at which the Commission intends to take more testimony from members of the U.S. Army Reserves, from victims, and from members of the Maine Medical Examiner’s Office who were involved in investigating the shootings.
Both meetings will be held at the Farber Forum, located inside the University of Maine’s Jewett Auditorium, at 46 University Drive in Augusta.
The Commission noted that due to the possibility of a severe snow storm predicted for Wednesday night, if the University of Maine at Augusta campus is closed for the storm, this week’s meeting will be postponed.
The two upcoming meetings will be the eighth and ninth public meetings held by the Commission, and the first to come after the Commission released their Interim Report detailing their findings since they began their work in November.
As set forth in their report, the Commission found that law enforcement had “sufficient probable cause” to remove Lewiston shooter Robert Card’s firearms weeks before the shooting under Maine’s current “Yellow Flag” law.
“Robert Card Jr. is solely responsible for his own conduct, and he may have committed a mass shooting even if the guns he possessed in September 2023 were removed from his house. Nevertheless, there were several opportunities that, if taken, may have changed the course of events,” the report states.
[RELATED: Cases Less Severe Than Robert Card Triggered Maine’s Yellow Flag Law Firearm Restrictions… ]
“The Commission unanimously finds that, under the circumstances known to Sgt. [Aaron] Skolfield [of the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office] 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 Commission’s report states.
“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 report reads. “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.”
In a recent press conference, Maine Republican lawmakers pointed the findings of the Commission’s Interim Report to argue that the proper enforcement of current state law is sufficient, pushing back on additional gun control measures proposed by Democratic Gov. Janet Mills and legislative Democrats.
Why must the “investigation continue”? Card was the shooter, he was unbalanced, the people who knew that dropped the ball. There is a lot of funds being expended to come to that conclusion. Lets let the families grieve and get on with their lives. All this “investigation” seems to be heading only in the direction of disciplining legal firearm owners, manufacturers and dealers.