Gunman suffered from traumatic brain injury prior to Maine mass shooting
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.
1st Sgt. 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 face-toface to make sure they have probable cause,” 1st Sgt. 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 ( CTE) Center.
Card had been an instructor at an Army hand grenade training range, where it is believed he was exposed to repeated low-level blasts. It is unknown if that caused Card’s brain injury and what role brain injury played in Card’s decline in mental health in the months before he opened fire at a bowling alley and bar in Lewiston on Oct. 25. Dr. McKee made no connection between the brain injury and Card’s violent actions.
“While I cannot say with certainty that these pathological findings underlie Mr. Card’s behavioral changes in the last 10 months of life, based on our previous work, brain injury likely played a role in his symptoms,” Dr. McKee said in the statement.
The brain tissue sample was sent to the lab last fall by Maine’s chief medical examiner. At that time, a Pentagon spokesperson said the Army was working to better understand the relationship between “blast overpressure” and brain health effects and had instituted several measures to reduce soldiers’ exposure, including limiting the number of personnel near blasts. An Army spokesperson didn’t respond to an email seeking comment.
In their first public comments since the shooting, Card’s family members also apologized for the attack, saying they are heartbroken for the victims, survivors and their loved ones.