A close friend of Maine shooter Robert Card texted his boss six weeks before the attack saying he was worried his former roommate was going to “shoot up and cause a mass shooting.” , the authorities failed to heed his warning in time.
“I wasn't in his head. I don't know exactly what happened. But I know I was right,” Sean Hodgson said as Card became increasingly angry. , described his decision to send a message to his superiors in the Army Reserve saying he was becoming paranoid.
“I believe he is going to go on a rampage and commit a mass shooting,” Hodgson said on Sept. 15, 40 days before Card shot and killed 18 people at a Lewiston bowling alley and bar before taking his own life. I wrote this.
“I don't believe in coincidence. I know it's Robert Card,” he reportedly told his sergeant when news of the massacre broke.
Mr Hodgson, 43, lamented the authorities' lack of response to the risks posed by the cards: “I did my job and went above and beyond many times and literally explained it to them for them.”
“I don't know how clearly I understood it.”
In his original message, Hodgson implored officials to change the gate passcode to the Army Reserve Training Facility and to arm themselves if the card appeared.
“Please, I think he's crazy,” Hodgson wrote of Card, who had been his best friend since they met in 2006.
At the time of Mr Hodgson's plea, Mr Card's mental breakdown was already well documented. In May, his relatives warned authorities that he was paranoid and were concerned about his access to firearms.
Two months later, the father-of-one shoved another reservist, locked him in a motel room and spent two weeks in a psychiatric ward.
In August, the Army banned Card from handling weapons while on duty and disqualified him from deployment.
Still, authorities ignored Hodgson's warnings and did not confront Card.
“I understand he did something horrible. I don't agree with it. But I loved him and I would never wish this on anyone,” Hodgson said. . Mr Hodgson is now contesting an independent report which described his complaints as “excessive” and “alarming”.
“Speculation, for which all details are not known at this time, could affect the outcome of the investigation. Additional details may emerge once the investigation is complete,” an Army Reserve spokesperson said. Lt. Col. Addie Leonhart spoke about the Army's ongoing investigation into the tragedy.
Sheriff Joel Merry of Sagadahoc County, where Card lived, declined to answer questions about whether Mr. Hodgson's warnings were properly followed.
Mr Hodgson described witnessing Card's decline from the “sensible nature” of their friendship to rambling paranoia in the last months of his life.
Hodgson explained that when he moved to Maine in 2022, he lived with Card for about a month.
When Card was hospitalized in New York in July, Hodgson drove him home.
At that point, Hodgson explained, Card was ranting about people around him who appeared to be accusing him of being a pedophile.
Mr Hodgson argued that some of the concerns were valid. Robert Card is the name of a sex offender on another state's list, and his father pulled his daughter away when Card greeted her at a bowling alley in Lewiston.
Then in September, Hodgson recalled, after spending a night at an Oxford casino, the cards started “flipping”.
Mr Hodgson said his old friend slammed the steering wheel and nearly crashed into him several times.
When he begged him to pull over, Card punched him in the face.
“We were having a nice night and he suddenly lost his temper,” he said.
Hodgson said that when he finally got out of the car, he told Card: “'I love you and I'll always be there for you no matter what.'”
Two days later, he texted his reserve supervisor.
“It took me so long to report my loved one. But when the hairs on the back of your neck start standing up, you have to listen,” he said of his decision.
Army officials did little follow-up to determine whether Mr. Card had threatened specific people, but Mr. Hodgson said he was surprised they did not seek further assistance in confronting Mr. Card.
“I could have told them when he was at work, when he was home, how many hours he was working,” he says.
A video released last month by the Sagadahoc County Sheriff's Office shows authorities briefly staked out the Army Reserve Center and Card's home, but fearing “dynamite being thrown into a gas pit,” Card was not able to escape. He said he didn't come close. .
In the video, officials also dismiss Mr. Hodgson as “not the most trustworthy of our soldiers” and even suggest he may have been drunk when he called his friend.
Mr Hodgson, who also faces two criminal charges, including an alleged assault on a woman in 2022, admitted he suffers from PTSD and alcoholism, but was sober when he texted about the card. I declared that it was.
“That was the hardest thing I ever had to do, report him to the commander, and I did that. And for them to discredit me? They I’m angry because all I had to do was listen,” he said.
Stephanie Sherman, an attorney who represented several Uvalde shooting survivors' families, said authorities should confront Mr. Card in a state of Maine that allows judges to remove personal firearms during psychiatric emergencies. He agreed that he should have had enough information to invoke the yellow flag law.
“It was like balancing the safety of the public against the reputation of this family. And that shouldn't be a factor,” she said, explaining how Sheriff Sagadahoc acted. It pointed out. Aaron Schofield called the Cards “a big community family” in a release video.
Tammy Asselin, a survivor of the Lewiston shooting, was also troubled by the footage.
“As I listened to the exchange between the military and the sheriff, I heard the giggles in their voices and it was heartbreaking, because if that day, I didn't know where my daughter was, I would have been there. I don't think they would have chuckled if they had been in that position. [when Card opened fire],” she said.
On the day of the shooting, Hodgson recalled telling authorities that his old friend was likely on his way to Maine Recycling.
Card had previously worked at the site and there was a boat launch nearby.
His body was found two days later in a trailer on the property, after the entire area was put on lockdown as police sped up the search efforts.
Nearly three months after the shooting, Mr Hodgson said he was furious that Mr Card had “taken the easy way out” and would not face consequences for his actions.
He is also struggling to accept that his friend of nearly 20 years could burst into a crowded bowling alley and bar and kill 18 people.
“I don't know how to express to people how much I loved him, how much I cared about him. And how much I hate what he did,” Hodgson said. I confessed.
with post wire
