A federal judge in Maine heard arguments Thursday on a motion to dismiss a lawsuit against the U.S. government brought by more than 100 survivors and family members of those killed in the Lewiston mass shooting in October of 2023.
U.S. Army Reservist Robert Card killed 18 people and injured 13 others in shootings at two businesses: a bowling alley and a bar. Card was later found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The lawsuit alleges the U.S. Army knew Card suffered from deteriorating mental health and had threatened a mass shooting, but failed to provide adequate treatment and monitoring and take away his firearms.
In court Thursday, U.S. Attorney Brandon Capece argued that the Army’s decisions about Card were judgment calls and therefore the federal government can’t be held liable.
“There’s no mandatory policy language that has been identified that specifically controls how Card’s chain of command should have acted,” Capece said.
But Jamal Alsaffar, an attorney for survivors and victims’ families, disputed that argument. He said the Department of Defense’s inspector general concluded that the Army failed to follow mandatory policies in response to Card’s threats.
“The DOD IG also said that the failure — the failure to follow these mandatory obligations increased the risk of violent incidences like the one on October 25th, 2023,” Alsaffar said.
Alsaffar said families and survivors deserve to know to what extent the Army was negligent in its handling of Card.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.