AUGUSTA, Maine — The commanding officer of an Army reservist answerable for the deadliest capturing in Maine historical past acknowledged to an unbiased fee on Thursday that he didn’t take motion when the reservist skipped counselor periods, and did not try and confirm that the shooter’s household took away his weapons.
Capt. Jeremy Reamer mentioned he understood that the shooter, Robert Card, was affected by a psychiatric breakdown throughout coaching final summer time however mentioned he was restricted within the degree of oversight he may present after Card returned dwelling and was now not actively taking part in drills along with his Army Reserve unit.
Underneath questioning, Reamer mentioned he was conscious that Card was not going to mandated counseling periods and acknowledged that an e mail downside prevented him from seeing a July message pertaining to Card’s well being till after the Oct. 25 shootings.
However Reamer defended his determination to depend on a subordinate, an Army reservist who was Card’s finest pal, to function a go-between with Card’s household. The reservist, Sean Hodgson, informed Reamer that he reached out to Card’s household in Bowdoin and that members of the family agreed to remove his weapons after he was hospitalized. Reamer mentioned he thought these actions have been satisfactory, and insisted that as an Army Reserve officer, he had no jurisdiction over Card’s private weapons.
“My understanding was that an settlement was made and the household agreed to take away the weapons from the house,” Reamer informed Commissioner Toby Dilworth, who expressed skepticism about leaving such an vital job for the household to deal with. “I simply know that the household agreed to take away the firearms,” Reamer mentioned.
Reamer, who gave up management of the Maine-based unit after what he described as a routine change of command in February, was referred to as again to testify after his earlier testimony was reduce brief due to time constraints.
Commissioners used the break to evaluate medical information, textual content exchanges, emails and name logs earlier than peppering Reamer with extra questions over a number of hours Thursday on the College of Maine at Augusta. At one level, Reamer advised that extra aggressive actions and oversight would have been attainable if Card had been a full-time soldier as a substitute of a reservist.
Others testifying Thursday included a number of survivors who spoke of the horror of the capturing and the difficulties they encountered afterward. Some witnesses mentioned a scarcity of translators fluent in American Signal Language hampered communications with deaf survivors and deaf members of the family of victims.
Dr. Mark Flomenbaum, the state’s retired chief health worker, mentioned it was troublesome to establish the gunman’s time of loss of life. However Flomenbaum, who testified by way of Zoom, stood by his earlier evaluation that Card died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound that probably occurred 12 to 18 hours earlier than his physique was discovered.
Flomenbaum’s conclusions advised that Card was alive and presumably on the run throughout a lot of the two-day search, the largest in state historical past. Card’s physique was discovered at the back of a tractor-trailer on a former employer’s property.
Appointed by Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, the unbiased fee is figuring out information across the capturing that claimed 18 lives at a bowling alley and at a bar and grill, each in Lewiston.
In its interim report launched final month, the fee concluded that the Sagadahoc County sheriff’s workplace had possible trigger beneath Maine’s “yellow flag” regulation to take Card into custody and seize his weapons as a result of he was experiencing a psychiatric disaster and was a hazard to others.
Maine lawmakers are at the moment debating whether or not the regulation, which requires police to provoke the method, needs to be supplemented with a “crimson flag” regulation, which might enable members of the family or others to immediately petition a decide to take away weapons from somebody in a psychiatric disaster. It’s certainly one of a number of psychological well being and gun management measures being thought of by the Maine Legislature in response to October’s mass capturing.
The fee’s work is way from full, Chairman Dan Wathen mentioned final month.
“Nothing we do can ever change what occurred on that horrible day, however understanding the information might help present the solutions that the victims, their households and the folks of Maine want and deserve,” he mentioned.
Story Continues
© Copyright 2024 Related Press. All rights reserved. This materials will not be revealed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
