Nine words Maine gunman Robert Card uttered in bakery days before mass shooting
Gunman Robert Card uttered nine chilling words to bakery workers days before he went on to shoot 18 innocent people in Lewiston, Maine.
The Army reservist opened fire at two separate locations before being found days dead later at the Maine Recycling Corporation having taken his own life. He was found dead in an unlocked trailer in the overflow car park of the recycling center. He was still wearing the same sweater he wore during the shooting.
Card left a note behind, that offered little insight into his motive behind the shooting but insinuated he was planning to take his own life. However, just six days before, the 40-year-old had visited the Country Kitchen Bakery Outlet in New Hampshire, where he threatened workers, telling them he would eventually "snap" before adding: "Maybe you will be the ones I snap on".
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An unnamed employee told officers that Card had been delivering to the bakery for the last six months, reports The Portland Press Herald. Police received 821 tips about the ongoing manhunt. Explaining the operational choices during the manhunt, a police spokesperson said: "We didn't know what he was going to do next. Or where he was going to do it."
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A CCTV image of Robert Card poised to shoot as he enters a building armed with a rifle (AP)Governor Janet Mills said in a news conference after he was caught: “Like many people I’m breathing a sigh of relief tonight knowing that Robert Card is no longer a threat to anyone." Card's mental health is under much scrutiny since the shooting. Mr Sauschuck said: "The individual felt people were talking about him. That he was hearing voices."
Card's family was cooperative with authorities looking for the shooter. Card's devastated sister-in-law, Katie O'Neill, told how his mental health spiraled in recent weeks. She told how they had tried to get help for her brother-in-law but failed as she revealed he may have targeted a bar and bowling alley on the chosen evening, knowing his friends may have been inside.
"I have known Rob my whole life," O'Neill said during the search for Card. "He is quiet but the most loving, hardworking, and kind person that I know. But in the past year, he had an acute episode of mental health, and it's been a struggle."
Maine Department of Public Safety Commissioner Mike Sauschuck said Card was found at 7.45pm near the Androscoggin River, about 8 miles (13 kilometers) southeast of where the second shooting occurred Wednesday evening.
A remembrance ceremony was held at the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in memory of those killed and injured when Robert Card opened fire (Getty Images)Governor Janet Mills and Attorney General Aaron Frey have now created an independent panel to investigate the shooting. "As we have said, the complete facts and circumstances - including any failures or omissions - must be brought to light and known by all," Mills and Frey said in a statement. "The families of the victims, those who were injured, and the people of Maine and the nation deserve nothing less", they added.
The deadliest shootings in Maine history stunned a state of 1.3 million people that has relatively little violent crime and had only 29 killings in all of 2022. In Lewiston, the 37,000 residents and those in surrounding communities were told to stay in their homes as hundreds of police officers, sheriff’s deputies, FBI agents and other law enforcement officials swarmed the area.
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