Current:Home > MarketsArmy reservist who warned about Maine killer before shootings to testify before investigators -前500条预览:
Army reservist who warned about Maine killer before shootings to testify before investigators
View
Date:2025-04-14 09:03:28
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — A U.S. Army reservist who sounded the clearest warning ahead of Maine’s deadliest mass shooting is answering questions Thursday from the commission investigating the tragedy.
Six weeks before Robert Card killed 18 people at a bar and bowling alley in Lewiston, his best friend and fellow reservist Sean Hodgson texted their supervisors, telling them to change the passcode to the gate at their Army Reserve training facility and arm themselves if Card showed up. The Lewiston killings happened Oct. 25 - exactly six months prior to Thursday’s hearing.
“I believe he’s going to snap and do a mass shooting,” Hodgson wrote on Sept. 15.
That message came months after relatives had warned police that Card had grown paranoid and said they were concerned about his access to guns. The failure of authorities to remove guns from Card’s possession in the weeks before the shooting has become the subject of a monthslong investigation in the state, which also has passed new gun safety laws since the tragedy.
Card also was hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital for two weeks in July, and the Army barred him from having weapons while on duty. But aside from briefly staking out the reserve center and visiting Card’s home, authorities declined to confront him. He was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound two days after the shootings.
In an interim report released last month, the independent commission launched by Gov. Jane Mills concluded that the Sagadahoc County sheriff’s office had probable cause under Maine’s “yellow flag” law to take Card into custody and seize his guns. It also criticized police for not following up with Hodgson about his warning text.
On Thursday, the commission also heard from the state’s director of victim witnesses services, and more Army personnel were expected to testify. Cara Cookson, director of victim services for the Maine Office of the Attorney General, described through tears the daunting task of responding to the enormity of the tragedy with a “patchwork of resources.” She said the effort to serve victims and family members was aided by “compassionate, professional and comprehensive” assistance from FBI victim services.
“Within ten or 15 minutes of first learning about the incident, it was clear we were facing a mass violence event that far exceeded the scope of any homicide case,” Cookson said. “We had never experienced that many.”
In an exclusive series of interviews in January, Hodgson told The AP he met Card in the Army Reserve in 2006 and that they became close friends after both divorced their spouses around the same time. They lived together for about a month in 2022, and when Card was hospitalized in New York in July, Hodgson drove him back to Maine.
Growing increasingly worried about his friend’s mental health, Hodgson warned authorities after an incident in which Card started “flipping out” after a night of gambling, pounding the steering wheel and nearly crashing multiple times. After ignoring his pleas to pull over, Card punched him in the face, Hodgson said.
“It took me a lot to report somebody I love,” he said. “But when the hair starts standing up on the back of your neck, you have to listen.”
Some officials downplayed Hodgson’s warning, suggesting he might have been drunk because of the late hour of his text. Army Reserve Capt. Jeremy Reamer described him as “not the most credible of our soldiers” and said his message should be taken “with a grain of salt.”
Hodgson said he struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol addiction but said he wasn’t drinking that night and was awake because he works nights and was waiting for his boss to call.
Later Thursday, the Maine Resiliency Center, which provides support to people affected by the killings, planned to hold a six-month commemoration event at a park in Lewiston.
“Our hearts are still healing, and the road to healing is long, but we will continue to walk it together,” Mills said.
veryGood! (6637)
Related
- Could Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft reunite? Maybe in Pro Football Hall of Fame's 2026 class
- Bangladesh court sentences Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus to 6 months in jail for violating labor laws
- Rachel Lindsay's Pal Justin Sylvester Says She's in Survival Mode Amid Bryan Abasolo Divorce
- NATO to help buy 1,000 Patriot missiles to defend allies as Russia ramps up air assault on Ukraine
- Justice Department, Louisville reach deal after probe prompted by Breonna Taylor killing
- Russia and Ukraine exchange hundreds of prisoners of war in biggest release so far
- Host Pat McAfee Apologizes for Aaron Rodgers' “Serious On-Air Accusation About Jimmy Kimmel
- Ugandan police say gay rights activist in critical condition after knife attack
- Federal appeals court upholds $14.25 million fine against Exxon for pollution in Texas
- Georgia agency awards contract to raise Savannah bridge to accommodate bigger cargo ships
Ranking
- Military service academies see drop in reported sexual assaults after alarming surge
- Ex-celebrity lawyer Tom Girardi found competent to stand trial for alleged $15 million client thefts
- Young voters in Bangladesh dream of a future free from political chaos as the nation votes Sunday
- New PGA Tour season starts with renewed emphasis on charity with Lahaina in mind
- Justice Department, Louisville reach deal after probe prompted by Breonna Taylor killing
- Dua Lipa Shares New Photos Of Her Blonde Hair Transformation in Argylle
- What does 'lowkey' mean? The slang that helps you describe things subtly.
- Bangladesh court sentences Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus to 6 months in jail for violating labor laws
Recommendation
Senate begins final push to expand Social Security benefits for millions of people
Outgoing Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards touts accomplishments in farewell address
Two large offshore wind sites are sending power to the US grid for the first time
The Toad and the Geothermal Plant
EU countries double down on a halt to Syrian asylum claims but will not yet send people back
Vizio will pay $3M in settlement over refresh rates. Do you qualify for a payout?
Fans Think Taylor Swift’s Resurfaced 2009 Interview Proves Travis Kelce Is End Game
Those I bonds you bought when inflation soared? Here's why you may want to sell them.