Bangor Daily News
Maine news, sports, politics, election results, and obituaries
Family members of the main suspect in Wednesday night’s mass shooting in Lewiston, Robert Card, are urging him to turn himself in.
In a text message to the Bangor Daily News, Katie Card, Robert’s sister-in-law, said she and her husband, Ryan, have been sitting with law enforcement all afternoon. Her family’s thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families of the mass shooting that left 18 people dead and another 13 wounded, she said.
“At the moment we are working extensively with law enforcement,” she said. “Our hearts break for these families, they’re all in our prayers. If Rob is listening, we love him and we can help, but he needs to turn himself in.”
Card, 40, of Bowdoin was first named as a “person of interest” late Wednesday night by Maine law enforcement. Michael Sauschuck, commissioner of the Maine Department of Public Safety, identified Card as a “suspect” in a Thursday press conference.
Card recently reported mental health issues including hearing voices and threatening to “shoot up” a military facility in Saco, according to a police bulletin. He was committed to a mental health facility for two weeks in the summer, it added.
Saco is home to the Lt. Col. Charles L Butler Army Reserve Center, which houses the 3 Battalion, 304 Regiment and the 94 Military Police Company Detachment 1, according to the U.S. Army Reserves.
Card was a student at the University of Maine in Orono from 2001 to 2004 and studied engineering technology but did not graduate, according to Meredith Whitfield, UMaine’s chief marketing and communications officer.
Card is currently a sergeant first class and is a petroleum supply specialist in the Army Reserve, Bryce S. Dubee, a spokesperson for the U.S. Army, confirmed. He enlisted in December 2002.
Card was never deployed but has been awarded the Army Achievement Medal, Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal, the Humanitarian Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal and Army Service Ribbon, according to the Department of Defense.
More than 350 police are investigating the Wednesday mass shootings in Lewiston, and still searching for Card.
Sawyer Loftus is an investigative reporter at the Bangor Daily News. A graduate of the University of Vermont, Sawyer grew up in Vermont where he worked for Vermont Public Radio, The Burlington Free Press… More by Sawyer Loftus

source