AUGUSTA, Maine — Robert Card II’s brother repeatedly told police to search trailers at a Lisbon recycling center shortly after the Lewiston mass shooting, a family member said Thursday, but officers would not follow that advice until about 48 hours later.
Card’s brother-in-law, James Herling, shared that while testifying Thursday morning to the commission investigating the Oct. 25 rampage that was Maine’s deadliest mass shooting on record. Card’s sister, Nicole Herling, his ex-wife, Cara Lamb, and his sister-in-law, Katie Card, spoke as well.
Family members previously met privately with the commission. Thursday was the first time they publicly testified, with emotional comments covering everything from contacting police after the shooting to struggling for months to get help for the man they called “Robbie.”
Police found Card’s Subaru at a Lisbon boat launch a few hours after he killed 18 people and injured 13 at a bowling alley and bar. James Herling said Ryan Card, who did not speak Thursday, told officers to search the trailers on the property of the Maine Recycling Corp., where his brother previously worked. A trail near the boat launch ran toward the trailers.
“He had a gut feeling, and he knew where his brother was,” James Herling said of Ryan Card during emotional testimony, adding the search could “have ended much sooner” if police heeded the advice.
But as local police previously told the commission, officers did not check all of the trailers until Oct. 27, when they found Card inside one of them dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The two-day manhunt largely shut down the region for 48 hours.
Family and military peers had previously warned police about Card’s declining mental health, paranoia, threats to “shoot up” places and access to weapons on several occasions in the months before the 40-year-old Army reservist from Bowdoin carried out the shooting.
Police found the Ruger SFAR rifle Card used in the shooting in his car at the boat launch, and they found a handgun and semi-automatic rifle by his body.
While also criticizing law enforcement communication and members of the media for descending on family properties trying to contact them after the shooting, the Herlings apologized to the families of the victims and said their names are on a wall inside their home.
“Our family will never forget your names,” James Herling said while sobbing.
Experts who examined portions of Card’s brain said in March they found “significant evidence of trauma,” and Card spent part of his 20-plus years in the Army Reserve as a grenade instructor. The shooting and questions from Maine’s congressional delegation have led to scrutiny of the Pentagon’s current guidelines for blast exposures. Military leaders said they will begin in June to do a cognitive assessment of every soldier beginning basic training.
Nicole Herling advocated Thursday for federal legislation that tackles blast exposure for soldiers during training. She said reached someone at the 988 suicide hotline but failed for months to reach Army Reserve officials about her brother as he accused others of calling him a pedophile.
Nicole Herling added Walter Reed National Military Medical Center is also reviewing her brother’s records for insight on brain injuries. Lamb, Card’s ex-wife, recalled how a Sagadahoc County sheriff’s deputy met her and her teenage son at Mt. Ararat High School on May 3 after her son had shared concerns about Card’s mental health and behavior.
The response from authorities over the coming months was effectively “our hands are kind of tied,” Lamb said.
Card legally purchased each weapon months before the shooting. He bought the Ruger SFAR at a gun shop in the town of Poland on July 6. Later that month, Card’s Army Reserve peers took him to a New York hospital due to his erratic behavior, and he would spend about two weeks in psychiatric care before getting released and going back to Maine.
Hospital staff recommended to Card’s commander, Jeremy Reamer, that he ensure Card would attend follow-up appointments and lose access to his weapons, but Reamer admitted to the commission in April he did not follow those requests and relied on Card’s family to get the guns.
In September, Card’s best friend and fellow reservist, Sean Hodgson, warned superiors that Card was going to “snap and do a mass shooting” after Card punched Hodgson and mentioned he would shoot up the Army Reserve center in Saco. But higher-ups reportedly downplayed the warnings and only asked the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office to conduct welfare checks.
When deputies went to Card’s residence, they knocked and left after he did not answer the door, though they could hear him moving around inside. Deputy Aaron Skolfield issued a “File 6” to law enforcement around Maine to locate an “armed and dangerous” Card, but it was canceled a week before the Oct. 25 shooting after no one had found Card.
Katie Card said Thursday that Skolfield called in September to ask if the guns had been removed and say he wanted assurance that would happen before leaving for time off. She told Skolfield the guns had not been removed. Katie Card’s husband, Ryan, did not attend Thursday, and she noted he is a disabled Army Ranger who has struggled since the shooting.
The commission released a preliminary report in March that said Skolfield had probable cause to take Card into protective custody in September and initiate Maine’s “yellow flag” process to potentially remove his access to weapons.
In a 20-page rebuttal drafted by his attorney, Skolfield said he “did not have any tools available to force the face-to-face interaction” with Card and pointed to Army Reserve failures. Commission chair Daniel Wathen said the panel received that letter and will consider it before releasing a final report by this summer.
