The man identified as a suspect in a mass shooting in Lewiston Wednesday night is a trained firearms instructor for the Army Reserves, a Maine police bulletin reported.
Robert Card, 40, of Bowdoin, was first named as a “person of interest” late Wednesday night by Maine law enforcement. Michael Sauschuck, commissioner of the Maine Department of Public Safety, identified Card as a “suspect” in a Thursday press conference.
Eighteen people are dead and 13 injured after the shootings at the Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley, previously known as Sparetime Recreation, and at Schemengees Bar & Grille, Gov. Janet Mills said during a Thursday morning news conference.
Card recently reported mental health issues including hearing voices and threatening to “shoot up” a military facility in Saco, according to the bulletin. He was committed to a mental health facility for two weeks in the summer, it added.
Saco is home to the Lt. Col. Charles L Butler Army Reserve Center, which houses the 3 Battalion, 304 Regiment and the 94 Military Police Company Detachment 1, according to the U.S. Army Reserves.
Card was a student at the University of Maine in Orono from 2001 to 2004 and studied engineering technology but did not graduate, according to Meredith Whitfield, UMaine’s chief marketing and communications officer.
Card is currently a Sgt. 1st Class and is a Petroleum Supply Specialist in the Army Reserve, Bryce S. Dubee, a spokesperson for the U.S. Army, confirmed. He enlisted in December 2002.
Card was never deployed but has been awarded the Army Achievement Medal, Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal, the Humanitarian Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal and Army Service Ribbon, according to the DOD.
Card’s only publicly available criminal record was found guilty in 2007 of operating under the influence.
