Examination shows Maine mass shooter had traumatic brain injury

AUGUSTA, Maine — An Army reservist responsible for the worst gun massacre in Maine’s history had evidence of traumatic brain injuries before he shot and killed 18 people last year, according to a brain tissue analysis that was requested by the state’s chief medical examiner.

The revelations about Robert Card’s brain injuries became public just as a special commission investigating the killings held a public hearing with Card’s former Army colleagues on Thursday.

Card, a 40-year-old Army reservist, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after a two-day search. He had showed signs of mental health decline before the massacre; now, evidence shows that Card suffered from traumatic brain injuries, according to an analysis by Boston University researchers.

During Thursday’s commission hearing, 1st Sgt. Kelvin Mote, who is also a police officer, said he had removed someone’s weapon under Maine’s yellow flag law just eight days before Card came to his attention.

Mote testified that he believed he could have legally removed Card’s weapon, too. But he said he never mentioned that to sheriff’s deputies who had been asked by the Army to perform a welfare check. Under the law, the welfare check had to take place before any weapons could be seized.

“They’re still going to have to do their own faceto-face to make sure they have probable cause,” Mote said.

The Maine Office of the Chief Medical Examiner’s office refused to comment on the results, which were released by Card’s family Wednesday.

The analysis showed degeneration in the nerve fibers that allow for communication between different areas of the brain, inflammation and small blood vessel injury, according to Dr. Ann McKee of Boston University’s Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center.