Army lieutenant colonel says Lewiston shooter had ‘low threat’ profile upon leaving hospital

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A lieutenant colonel with the Army Reserves told an investigatory panel on Monday that a reservist who committed the deadliest mass shooting in Maine history had a low threat profile when he left a psychiatric hospital prior to the killings.

Lt. Col. Ryan Vazquez also testified that there were limitations on forcing the gunman, reservist Robert Card, to adhere to a mental treatment plan while in civilian life. Further, he said there was no mechanism for the Army Reserves to seize Card’s civilian weapons or to store them under normal circumstances.

Vazquez, a battalion commander who oversees more than 200 reservists, testified in front of a state commission investigating the Lewiston shootings to answer questions about what Army officials knew about Card prior to the Oct. 25 shooting that killed 18 people at a bowling alley and a bar and grill.

Fellow Army reservists have said they witnessed the decline of Card’s mental health to the point that he was hospitalized for two weeks during training last summer. One reservist, Sean Hodgson, told superiors Sept. 15: “I believe he’s going to snap and do a mass shooting.”

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