Maine’s two senators are requesting the Army‘s inspector general investigate the deadly shooting there by a member of the Army Reserve two weeks ago that killed 18 people.
The lawmakers, Sens. Susan Collins, a Republican, and Angus King, an Independent, want to know whether the service followed policy and whether any reforms are necessary after the massacre in Lewiston, the latest mass shooting to grab the national spotlight.
The killer, Robert Card, was a sergeant first class in the Army Reserve. He was admitted to the Keller Army Community Hospital at West Point, New York, on July 15 after his erratic behavior sparked concerns in his unit during a training event. Before that, his family told authorities on several occasions going back to January about his deteriorating mental health.
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“Despite these warning signs, and others, there was no attempt to trigger the crisis intervention laws in New York (where Mr. Card was training and hospitalized) or Maine (where Mr. Card resided),” Collins and King wrote in a joint letter shared Monday on X.
Two days after he was at the West Point hospital, Card was transferred to Four Winds, a civilian mental health hospital not far from the base, according to a service spokesperson. There, he was no longer under the Army’s care.
Card returned to his home in Maine on Aug. 3. He did not report…