An Army reservist who knew Robert Card, the gunman who carried out the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, last fall, gave testimony on Thursday about the mental problems he observed in his friend in the weeks leading up to the tragic attack.
During his testimony, Sean Hodgson recounted alerting leaders of his unit about the gunman’s erratic and violent behavior. However, his warnings were not heeded.
Sean Hodgson texted leaders of his reserve unit six weeks before the shooting that left 18 people dead and 13 wounded, telling them to change the passcode to the gate at their Army Reserve training facility and arm themselves if Robert Card showed up.
Hodgson told a panel investigating the mass shooting on Thursday that he issued the warning to superiors after Card’s delusional and violent behavior spiraled and ended with Card punching him in the face.
“I said ‘Just so you know, I love you. I’ll always be there for you. I won’t give up on you.’ He had that blank stare on his face. It was a dead stare and he drove away,” Hodgson recounted as his friend left him at a gas station.
While speaking to the panel, he explained how he told his superiors in September that he believed the shooter was “going to snap and do a mass shooting.” Hodgson was among several individuals who raised concerns about Card’s behavior.
But it wasn’t just Hodgson who was worried about Card. Several other reservists witnessed his deterioration during training last summer. That led to a two-week hospitalization in July for Card, months after relatives warned police he had grown paranoid and that they were concerned about his access to guns.
The failure of authorities to remove Card’s weapons 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.
In an interim report released last month, an independent commission launched by Gov. Janet 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. A final report is expected this summer.
Hodgson and others were worried about a potential mass shooting because Card had threatened violence on several occasions. The reservist characterized Card’s behavior as “very threatening” and that “it was escalating.” He became “pretty convinced he was going to cause harm.”
Daryl Reed, another reservist, told the panel that Card’s mental state had deteriorated to the point that he believed people were talking about him behind his back, falsely accusing him of pedophilia. He and other reservists became even more worried after Card was released from psychiatric care after only two weeks.
Unfortunately, despite the myriad warnings, the superiors did not appear to take the matter seriously and even brushed off Hodgson’s statements.
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, the commanding officer of the reserve unit, 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. “I grieve every day for the many lives that are lost for no reason and those that are still affected today,” he told the AP earlier this month.
In the aftermath of the shooting, calls for gun control were abundant. An independent commission essentially found that more gun control restrictions would not have stopped Card from carrying out the mass shooting. Indeed, it was clear that the state’s yellow flag laws did nothing to stop him. Still, Maine’s legislature passed a trio of gun control laws after public pressure.
