Maine lawmakers urge Army to update mental health policies

(The Center Square) — Maine's congressional delegation is calling on the U.S. Army to overhaul its policies and procedures in response to a damaging report detailing multiple failures to identify

Army reservist and Lewiston mass shooter Sgt. 1st Class Robert Card's mental health issues.

A newly released Army report outlines a series of failures and "multiple errors" by Card's unit leading up to the Oct. 25, 2023, shooting where he shot and killed 18 people in a bowling alley before turning the gun on himself two days later. Three officers in Card's reservist unit were disciplined for failing to follow proper procedures, according to the Army's report.

But the damaging findings are prompting bipartisan calls from members of Maine's congressional delegation for the Army to update its procedures to prevent future "tragedies" like the Lewiston shooting.

In a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Angus King, I-Maine, and Democratic Reps. Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden call on him to update the Army's Psychological Health Program and conduct an investigation to determine if the medical facility that treated the gunman provided adequate care.

"While we continue to press for change, we feel a sense of frustration because, truthfully, recommendations are nothing without action," they wrote. "This is life and death and, as we have seen over the past few years, delays can be costly."

The lawmakers said the Army’s mental health program "clearly had inadequate procedures" for following up with soldiers with mental illness but pointed to the Army on the report, the concluded missteps by members of his unit to follow those procedures.

"When Mr. Card failed to respond to follow-up inquiries, that should have been considered a warning sign that his mental health was deteriorating and that he was unlikely to be following the protocols he had been given," they wrote.

The Lewiston shooting was the worst in Maine's history and drew national attention to the largely rural state, which has the country's lowest crime rate but a long record of resisting firearm restrictions.

Card's family members had reportedly alerted the Army and local authorities that he was having mental health issues and was heavily armed. He had been placed in a psychiatric unit about three weeks before the shooting, family members said.

An independent commission created by Gov. Janet Mills concluded there were enough warning signs for local authorities to seize the gunman's weapons under the state's "yellow flag" law — which allows officers to take firearms belonging to anyone believed to be a threat to themselves or others — before the Oct. 25 rampage.

The Army report also faulted local law enforcement for not doing enough, who investigators said could have conducted "a more extensive welfare check" on Card before the attack and confiscated his firearms under state law.

"If Sagadahoc County Sheriff's Office had fully executed their health and welfare check on SFC Card in September 2023, then the mass shooting and suicide may have been avoided," Army investigators wrote in the report.

But members of the state's congressional delegation focused their criticism on the Army's policies and procedures — not missteps by local authorities — pointing out the report includes multiple recommendations for changes to better identify soldiers struggling with mental health issues.

"The tragedy destroyed families and sent ripple effects across not only the Lewiston community and the state of Maine, but across the entire nation as well," the delegation's letter said. "At this critical juncture, we must ensure that we take appropriate action in the wake of such tragedies in the hope that we can prevent them in the future."