Mass Murderer Robert Card Has Authorities In Full CYA Mode

Well before his body was discovered, mass shooter/murderer Robert Card had raised a lot of questions. Why he did what he did and his access to the assault weapon he wielded with such deadly accuracy were such obvious questions even Ted Baxter from the Mary Tyler Moore show would know to ask them. With the level of carnage making it difficult to identify many victims and therefore notify their relatives, and Card being at-large causing the community to be largely locked down not much digging into these questions took place. I do recall the issue that always comes up in these situations, that of “were there warning signs” did get raised, but again I note that type of thing was brushed aside. With a massive manhunt in a hard to search area underway the priority was keeping the public safe and informed about the threat.

Card as you know was found dead by his own hand, which means families who lost loved ones can have funerals. It also means that questions that were asked but pushed to the background are no longer in the background. Quite a few people have a LOT of explaining to do as this article from CNN illustrates.  The headline alone is chilling as it states weeks before the killing spree police were contacted with concern Dale “is going to snap and commit a mass shooting.” I’ll get to some of the history but let’s start with noting that on Sept. 16:

Officers from the Sagadahoc County and Kennebec County Sheriff’s Offices responded and tried to contact the man on September 16, less than six weeks before Wednesday’s massacres in a bowling alley and a bar, documents say, according to a law enforcement source.

A Sgt. from Sagadahoc Country called for but didn’t receive backup but tried unsuccessfully to to talk to Dale. At this point it’s unclear if no one answered or Dale simply refused to answer the door. What’s more disturbing, at least to me is that the LE Sgt. later (again, I think the details on this point are murky too) received information from the Maine National Guard and the shooter’s family including that when he answers the door he does so with a handgun he holds out of view from the person outside. It will be interesting to see this particular detail get nailed down, by which I mean when did the LE guy get it. He did after all call for (but not get) backup which suggests to me he might not have tried all that hard to talk to Dale. Then, according to CNN:

The responding officer learned later in a letter from the National Guard that a fellow guardsman “is concerned that [the reservist] is going to snap and commit a mass shooting,” according to the report filed in connection with the wellness check.

And the police/sheriff officers STILL didn’t try to talk to this guy? What the hell?

I said earlier there’s a timeline on this guy’s mental health history that should have been taken more seriously. You may have seen reports that due to his behavior at a National Guard training exercise in New York state the shooter wound up being hospitalized for two weeks for evaluation and treatment. And AFTER that there continued to be notices to LE that he was a danger to others. I’m sure you’re aware many states have “red flag” laws that allow LE to take away, at least temporarily someone’s weapons. Maine is different, and since it’s law require “more hoops” is called a “Yellow Flag” law. First they have to have reason to take someone into custody (they did in this case) and have them evaluated by a medical/mental health professional. From there, if deemed necessary they can then go to a judge for an order to temporarily remove firearms. None of this was done and the case was closed on Oct. 1.

You know what happened a few weeks later.

CNN started raising questions about what information all law enforcement in the state had about threats and the mental health condition of the shooter on Thursday. But when CNN asked State Public Safety Commissioner Mike Sauschuck about it, he replied: “I won’t answer.”

He continued: “Based on what I’ve seen, we’re going to continue to work through that.”

You’re damned right they should. And news outlets should press, HARD for answers. In the meantime, as the headline suggests there is ass-covering and buck-passing taking place. The state police spokesperson said they are the lead agency when it comes to the homicide and manhunt part of things:

“The Department of Public Safety (DPS) nor the Maine State Police requested a teletype on Robert Card prior to October 26. It should also be noted that no bulletins or assistance was requested from MSP’s Maine information and analysis center. DPS has no regulatory authority over law-enforcement agencies in Maine,” she said, declining to give any elaboration.

CNN was told to to ask questions about “before” to Sagadahoc County Sheriff Joel Merry. I’ll bet you can guess what happened when they tried. Yep, the woman who answered the door at his home said he didn’t want to speak – that he was “done.”

All those people dead and others wounded, because even when someone had been hospitalized for mental health problems for two weeks this summer, and after returning home to Maine continued to make threats which were reported to authorities wasn’t properly investigated. Whether in the name of gun owner’s “rights” or because local LE didn’t want to chance taking on a former soldier turned National Guardsman (and firearms instructor I should add) we don’t know.

However, the families of those who were murdered by this man who never should have been allowed to have that assault weapon he was clearly so proficient in using, and the victims who were wounded deserve answers. So do all the residents of Lewiston, Maine. And the county and surrounding counties which lived in terror until Card’s dead body was found. There are hard questions to be asked and to which straight, unambiguous answers should be demanded.

Will it happen? I’m not so sure. Maine is a decent sized state geographically but has a small population and few cities. People there like limited government although as we know they send both Democrats and Republicans to DC. But like so many small-town/rural enclaves people grow up with guns and with hunting. Some of the questions, which will include addressing that “Yellow Flag” law are going to make the average person in Maine uncomfortable. What I fear is that authorities, both in LE and county and state government are going to try and hide behind that.

Mass murders committed by shooters with their GUNS are tragic. The even greater tragedy is that no matter how awful, the one thing we can safely bet on is that meaningful gun reform, including and especially making possession of weapons of war, guns that were designed specifically NOT for hunting wild game but for killing other human beings illegal. Banning assault weapons (again), even semi-automatic versions won’t end the problem of gun violence or murderous mass-shootings. However, it would be a big step in the right direction.