A U.S. Army mental health expert told Lewiston shooting commission members Thursday that reservists in charge of Robert Card did not have to follow the same protocol for follow-up care as those who supervise active-duty military personnel.
But Col. Mark Ochoa, a doctor stationed at Fort Liberty in North Carolina (formerly Fort Bragg) involved in the Army’s psychological health program, also acknowledged under questioning that Card’s commanders ultimately had the responsibility for ensuring he was being treated properly.
“We are there to help commanders the best we can,” he said. “I don’t like to think they are on their own.”
Card, who shot and killed 18 people at two shooting locations in Lewiston on Oct. 25, 2003, had been struggling with his mental health for many months. In July, he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital in New York at the urging of his supervisors, but he was discharged after two weeks and his own supervisor, Capt. Jeremey Reamer, acknowledged to commission members in April that not enough was done to ensure Card was getting follow-up care.
Ochoa was the only participant in Thursday’s commission meeting, the latest in a series of public sessions with the goal of investigating the deadliest shooting in state history.
Prior commission meetings have featured testimony from police officers involved in investigating Card’s behavior before the shooting, fellow members of Card’s Saco-based Army Reserve unit, family…
