The commission charged with reporting facts relevant to the Lewiston shooting fulfilled its sobering task. Honorable duty. Media complaints that the panel did not specify those responsible were in error. Former Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court Dan Wathen explained: “Those responsibilities properly rest with elected and appointed officials. We really want the report to speak to itself.”

The Robert Card shooting that led to the massacre of 18 Mainers and wounded 13 more had a major missing piece; that there was an open door for Card to obtain his release from voluntary custody at Four Winds Hospital in New York. Failure of Four Winds to hold a commitment hearing took place! Thus, the three conditions for his release: let go of guns; regular medication use; and accepting a co-resident, never happened. It was fact that he stopped his medication the day of his hospital release.

Card departed Four Winds Hospital Aug. 3, 2023. His two Lewiston shootings happened Oct. 25, 2023; during that 53-day period, Card accelerated troubled behavior. On Aug. 5, he tried to buy a gun-silencer; on Aug. 15, he advised a nurse he was not taking medication and would not go to follow-up treatment; on Sept. 15, he assaulted officer Hodgson, said he had guns and was going to shoot up the Saco AR facility; on Sept. 16, and other times, Sagadahoc Sgt. Skolfield knocked on Card’s door, and though his car was there, he didn’t answer; on Oct. 22, at 00:16, a note generated on his cell phone, read: “I had enough and I’m trained to hurt people.”

Words of Danielle Jasper, a survivor and victim of the brutal killings: “When there is someone who is a danger to themselves or to the community, do the uncomfortable task and protect us.”

Thank you, Danielle.

John Benoit

Manchester