Maine mass shooting report exposes failure in Army, law enforcement and hospital responses
Almost 10 months after an Army reservist's rampage, left a trail of deadly gun violence, an independent commission released its final report on the shooting.
Almost 10 months after an Army reservist's deadly rampage in Lewiston, Maine, an independent commission said Tuesday that local law enforcement and the U.S. military had missed "several opportunities" that, if taken, "might have changed the course of these tragic events."
While the independent commission's final report found that gunman Robert Card was solely responsible for his own conduct, other lapses played a role, including:
Maine Gov. Janet Mills launched the commission a month after the Oct. 25 shooting killed 18 people at a bowling alley and a bar.
The commission, made up of former state judicial and legal officials and medical experts, held more than a dozen hearings, gathering testimony from local law enforcement, military members, survivors of the shooting, families of those killed and the family of the gunman. The panel said it was tasked to "find the facts" so that law enforcement, military leaders and elected officials could reduce the risk of such a tragedy reoccurring.
"Had members of Card's Army Reserve unit presented a full and complete accounting of the facts, the Sheriff's Office might have acted more assertively in September," Commission Chairman Daniel Wathen said at a news conference Tuesday.
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