Current:Home > MarketsArmy reservist who warned about Maine killer before shootings to testify before investigators -Momentum Wealth Path
Army reservist who warned about Maine killer before shootings to testify before investigators
View
Date:2025-04-15 09:30:07
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! (996)
Related
- The FTC says 'gamified' online job scams by WhatsApp and text on the rise. What to know.
- Police chief in Massachusetts charged with insider trading will resign
- Why Fans Think Travis Kelce Gave a Subtle Nod to Taylor Swift Ahead of NFL Game
- Public to weigh in on whether wild horses that roam Theodore Roosevelt National Park should stay
- Bodycam footage shows high
- Capitol rioter who trained for a ‘firefight’ with paintball gets over four years in prison
- Third person arrested in connection with toddler's suspected overdose death at New York City day care
- Messi Mania has grabbed hold in Major League Soccer, but will it be a long-lasting boost?
- Former Syrian official arrested in California who oversaw prison charged with torture
- There's a good chance you're not planning for retirement correctly. Here's why.
Ranking
- SFO's new sensory room helps neurodivergent travelers fight flying jitters
- A history of government shutdowns: The 14 times funding has lapsed since 1980
- Prosecutor says theory that 2 slain Indiana teens died in ritual sacrifice is made for social media
- Protest signs, food pantry information, letters to Congress: Federal employee unions mobilize on brink of shutdown
- Former longtime South Carolina congressman John Spratt dies at 82
- 100 Jewish leaders call out Elon Musk for antisemitism on X, formerly Twitter: We have watched in horror
- Canada’s government calls on House speaker to resign over inviting a man who fought for a Nazi unit
- Florida to seek death penalty against man accused of murdering Lyft driver
Recommendation
IRS recovers $4.7 billion in back taxes and braces for cuts with Trump and GOP in power
Sophia Loren, 89-year-old Hollywood icon, recovering from surgery after fall at her Geneva home
Absentee ballots are late in 1 Mississippi county after a candidate is replaced because of illness
Government shutdown could jeopardize U.S credit rating, Moody's warns
Global Warming Set the Stage for Los Angeles Fires
Five children break into Maine school causing up to $30,000 in damages: police
Less-redacted report on Maryland church abuse still redacts names of church leaders
'People Collide' is a 'Freaky Friday'-type exploration of the self and persona