top of page

Welcome to Crime and Justice News

Two Dozen Cops Knew Of Maine Shooter's Threats, Weapon Access

Crime and Justice News

Maxx Hathaway of Lewiston, Maine, planned to out for dinner with his wife after received his diploma in the mail on October 25, 2023. The family had no way of knowing that a gunman would target the same restaurant and a nearby bowling alley that evening. Robert Card, 40, stormed into the restaurant, firing 36 rounds from a .308 Ruger SFAR rifle, killing 10 people, including Maxx. Scripps News spent a year investigating why no one was able to stop the shooter before the attack. Card, an Army reservist, had been hearing voices and became increasingly aggressive in months ahead of the shooting. He had been treated at two New York hospitals, including a psychiatric facility.


Scripps News found more than two dozen law enforcement officers in Maine and New York combined knew of his threats and access to weapons prior to the shooting, but no one was able use legal tools to remove Card’s firearms. “I do know that the ripple effect for my family has been significantly hard,” said Kelsay Hathaway, Maxx’s sister. “Because nobody wanted to step out of that uncomfortable zone to say, ‘I feel like that this guy is very mentally unstable, and he’s going to do something, we need to do something about it,’ this is the repercussion.” A commission that investigated the shooting said the course of events might have changed if law enforcement officers and Card’s military colleagues had taken additional actions. The commission said the military ignored recommendations from mental health providers to stay involved with Card’s mental health treatment and make sure weapons were removed from his home. The state investigation also pointed a finger at the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office. It found that sheriff's deputy Aaron Skolfield could have followed through with the state’s yellow flag law, a civil process that allows an officer to temporarily remove a threatening person’s firearms. Before the shooting, the law had been utilized 81 times since it was enacted in July 2020, but in the months after the shooting, Maine law enforcement officers used it in 390 cases.


31 views

Recent Posts

See All

Comentarios


A daily report co-sponsored by Arizona State University, Criminal Justice Journalists, and the National Criminal Justice Association

bottom of page