- Army reservists testified Thursday about Robert Card’s mental decline and the warnings he issued a month before the shooting in Lewiston, Maine.
- Sean Hodgson sent a text message to reserve unit leaders advising them to change their gate passcodes and arm themselves if the card appeared.
- Mr Hodgson also expressed concern about Mr Card’s escalating paranoia and violent behavior.
An Army reservist and friend of the gunman responsible for one of Maine’s deadliest mass shootings testified Thursday about his friend’s mental breakdown, speaking publicly for the first time about the warning he issued a month before the tragedy. explained.
Six weeks before the shooting that killed 18 people and injured 13 others, Sean Hodgson sent a text message to reserve leaders to change the passcode on the gate at an Army Reserve training facility, and told Robert I told them to arm themselves when the cards appeared.
Mr Hodgson told the committee investigating the shooting on Thursday that he had issued a warning to his superiors after Mr Card’s paranoid and violent behavior escalated, culminating in Mr Card punching him in the face. he said.
Maine mass shooting: Lewiston police were alerted to Robert Card weeks before massacre
“I said, ‘Just to be clear, I love you. I’ll always be there for you. I’m not going to give up on you.'” He had that blank look on his face, it was a death stare, so he drove off,” Hodgson said of when his friend left him at the gas station.
U.S. Army Reservist Sean Hodgson wipes away tears during a hearing for an independent commission investigating law enforcement’s response to the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, on April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bucati)
The attack occurred six months ago, on Oct. 25, when Card opened fire at a bowling alley and bar in Lewiston. Card had a delusional belief that people were talking about him behind his back. Two days later, the 40-year-old reservist was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Mr Hodgson told his superiors on September 15: “I believe he is going to open fire and cause a mass shooting.”
But Hodgson wasn’t the only one worried about the Cards. Several other reservists witnessed his deterioration during training last summer. As a result, Card was hospitalized for two weeks in July, but a few months later his relatives alerted police that Card was becoming paranoid and worried about getting a gun.
Maine Sheriff’s Office to discuss contact with gunman before Lewiston shooting
Authorities’ failure to remove Card’s weapon in the weeks before the shooting has been the subject of a months-long investigation in the state, which has also passed new gun safety laws since the tragedy. .
In an interim report released last month, an independent commission launched by Gov. Janet Mills said the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office should detain Card and seize his gun under Maine’s “yellow flag” law. It was concluded that there were valid reasons. He also criticized the police for failing to follow up on Mr Hodgson’s warning. The final report is expected to be released this summer.
On Thursday, Mr Hodgson said Mr Card had threatened multiple members of his force with violence and had threatened to commit a mass shooting due to his escalating threats and paranoia. And he was able to get a gun.
“His demeanor was very threatening. It was escalating. Looking at the whole situation and the events leading up to that moment, I was pretty sure he was going to do harm. ” he said.
Another reservist, Darryl Reed, was a “normal guy” who was a successful stock trader and loved hunting and the outdoors, but he became increasingly paranoid, believing others were calling him a pedophile. He testified that he witnessed Card’s mental and physical decline firsthand.
Mr. Card also purchased a thermal scope with a laser rangefinder for $10,000 and demonstrated how it could be used to detect animals, including at night, Mr. Reed said.
He added that fellow reservists began to worry that the cards could be a danger to their colleagues. Several people testified that they were surprised when Card was discharged from a psychiatric hospital just two weeks later.
In a series of exclusive interviews in January, Mr. Hodgson told The Associated Press that he met Mr. Card in the Army Reserve in 2006 and became close friends after they 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.
Mr Hodgson became increasingly worried about his friend’s mental state and alerted authorities after Mr Card began to “flip out” after a night of gambling, banging on the steering wheel and nearly colliding with him multiple times. After he ignored his pleas to pull over, Card punched him in the face, Mr Hodgson said.
“It took me so long to report my loved one,” he said. “But when the hairs on the back of your neck start standing up, you have to listen.”
Some officials downplayed Mr Hodgson’s warnings and suggested he was drunk because of the slow time the email was sent. Army Reserve Capt. Jeremy Riemer, the commander of the reserve unit, described him as “not the most trustworthy of our nation’s soldiers” and said his message should be taken “with a grain of salt.” Ta.
Mr Hodgson, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and alcoholism, said he had not been drinking that night and had been awake waiting for a call from his boss as he worked a night shift. “Every day I grieve for the many lives that were lost for no reason and the lives that are still being affected,” he told The Associated Press earlier this month.
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Carla Cookson, director of victim services for the Maine Attorney General’s Office, also testified Thursday, tearfully describing the daunting task of responding to the enormity of the tragedy with a “patchwork of resources.”
On Thursday night, the Maine Resiliency Center, which helps those affected by the killings, held its first memorial event in six months, drawing hundreds of people to a Lewiston park.
The names of the 18 people who died were read out at the beginning of the ceremony, and 18 empty chairs were placed, each with a candle and a blue heart in memory of the victims.
The governor also acknowledged the anniversary. “Our hearts are still healing and the road to recovery is long, but we will continue to walk together,” Mills said in a statement.
