Mass shooting in Lewiston Maine on October 25 in 2023: Shooter was well known to law enforcement

Maine law enforcement knew shooter posed a threat but were concerned about confronting him, video shows.  Echo report published in The Boston Globe by Nick Stoico.

Law enforcement officers in Maine were aware that Robert Card had access to guns and posed a potential threat but were concerned that approaching him at home would trigger a violent reaction, according to newly released recordings taken just weeks before Card carried out a mass shooting in Lewiston.

Memorial in the parking lot of Sparetime Recreation(rear), one of two locations in Lewiston, Maine's mass shooting. (John Tlumacki/Globe staff)

In one video, first obtained by the Portland Press Herald, a discussion between Sagahadoc County Sheriff’s Sergeant Aaron Skolfield and Army Reserve Captain Jeremy Reamer illustrates the fear law enforcement felt about confronting Card, as Skolfield suggested that attempting to seize Card’s guns under Maine’s “yellow flag” law could lead to an escalation.

“We don’t wanna throw a stick of dynamite into a pool of gas either and make things worse,” Skolfield said in the call.

L'Heureux photo

The law enforcement checks were initially set off by an incident in July at an Army Reserve training camp in New York, in which Card got into a fight with three other reservists and made veiled threats of violence to others. Card was sent to a psychiatric facility for two weeks, but in September the Army Reserve contacted the sheriff’s department in Maine when one of his fellow reservists worried he was “going to snap and commit a mass shooting.” The fellow reservist said Card had told him he had guns and was going to “shoot up the drill center in Saco and other places.”

A little more than one month later, Card, 40, opened fire on the night of October 25, at a Lewiston bar and a bowling alley, killing 18 people and injuring 13 others. Card was later found dead in nearby Lisbon of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The September 16, call happened shortly after Skolfield had attempted to speak with Card at his Bowdoin home, but Card did not answer the door.


A second video released to the Press Herald showed Skolfield visiting Card’s father’s home later that morning.

The phone call between Skolfield and Reamer, Card’s Army Reserve supervisor, and the visit with Robert Card Sr. were previously documented in an outside report released last week that examined law enforcement’s response to concerns raised by Card’s family and others about his erratic behavior and cache of weapons. The 97-page report from Michael A. Cunniff, a Portland attorney chosen to conduct the review, found the deputies acted appropriately “under the totality of the circumstances.”

According to the report, Skolfield suspected Card was inside his home even though no one answered. He said Card’s vehicle was parked in the driveway, he saw the curtains move in a window that faced the road, and he thought he heard someone moving around inside.

Skolfield then spoke with Reamer to follow up on the wellbeing check. Reamer asked if the sheriff’s department could document the visit to confirm that Card was “alive and breathing.” 

Reamer also voiced concern about the safety of law enforcement officers if they made further attempts to ensure Card did not pose a threat.

“I’m a cop myself. ... Obviously, I don’t want you guys to get hurt or do anything that would push you guys in a compromising position and have to make a decision,” Reamer said, according to the video and a transcript.

“That’s our goal,” Skolfield responded. “I was hoping he was gonna come out. ... I’m sure he saw the cruiser out in the yard.”

Reamer said the Card family had taken responsibility for removing the guns, and Skolfield said he would confirm that with Card’s brother, Ryan. Skolfield referred to the Cards as a “big family in this area,” and said he didn’t want the police visits to their homes to be publicized and would keep information off the police radio.

Skolfield then went to the home of Card’s father, Robert Card Sr., also in Bowdoin. Robert Card Sr. answered the door and their conversation was recorded on the cruiser’s dashcam.

“I understand that Ryan has his weapons, and I just want to make sure that’s the case,” Skolfield says. “Are you familiar with that at all?”

Skolfield told Robert Card Sr. that it was his understanding that Robert Card’s weapons were now in the possession of his brother, Ryan, but the father said he hadn’t spoken with Ryan in a few days. Skolfield said he’d try again later.

“I just wanted to make sure Robert doesn’t do anything foolish at all,” Skolfield said in the video.

Skolfield then went to Ryan Card’s home, but he wasn’t there, according to the outside report from last week. He spoke with Ryan Card on the phone the next day, according to the outside report, and Ryan Card told Skolfield he would “work with” his brother to ensure that he does not have any firearms except for those in the family gun safe at the Card farm.

The release of the videos comes as the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s department continues to face questions about whether it should have done more to remove Card’s weapons, given the concerns of his family and others who reported that his mental health was deteriorating.

Sagadahoc County Sheriff Joel Merry did not immediately respond to a message from the Globe seeking comment Friday night.

In November, Maine Governor Janet Mills convened a task force to conduct a separate independent review of the circumstances that led to the mass shooting and whether law enforcement responded properly to the warnings that Card posed a substantial threat of violence. That panel’s review is ongoing.

Documents obtained by the Globe in late October showed that Card’s wife and teenage son reported to a sheriff’s deputy in May that he was paranoid and hearing voices and had recently picked up 10 to 15 guns that were stored at his brother’s home.

The outside report released last week said Sagadahoc County Sheriff Deputy Chad Carleton spoke with Card’s relatives and the Army Reserve and was told they would seek professional mental health treatment for Card. The report said Cuniff found that “there were insufficient grounds to take Mr. Card into protective custody” and deferring to others to monitor his wellbeing “was objectively reasonable.”

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.