World Courant
A tissue pattern from the mind of a gunman who killed 18 individuals and injured 13 others in Maine has been despatched to a lab in Massachusetts to be examined for indicators of damage or trauma associated to his service within the Military Reserves, officers mentioned Monday.
The state’s chief medical expert desires to know if a mind damage stemming from 40-year-old Robert Card’s navy service might have contributed to uncommon conduct he exhibited main as much as the Oct. 25 shootings at a bowling alley and at a bar in Lewiston.
A spokesperson for the medical expert’s workplace characterised the additional step as a matter of thoroughness “as a result of mixed historical past of navy expertise and actions.”
TEXTS, LETTERS FROM MAINE MASSACRE SUSPECT’S ARMY COLLEAGUES WARNED HE THREATENED ‘SHOOTING UP PLACES’
“In an occasion similar to this, individuals are left with extra questions than solutions. It’s our perception that if we are able to conduct testing (in-house or outsourced) that will make clear a few of these solutions, we now have a duty to do this,” Lindsey Chasteen, workplace administrator, wrote in an e mail.
Legislation enforcement officers keep their presence at Schemengees Bar and Grille within the aftermath of a mass taking pictures in Lewiston, Maine, on Oct. 27, 2023. A tissue pattern from the mind of the gunman who killed 18 individuals and injured 13 others in Lewiston has been despatched to a lab in Massachusetts to be examined for indicators of damage or trauma associated to his service within the Military Reserves, officers mentioned on Dec. 11, 2023. (AP Picture/Matt Rourke, file)
The gunman’s physique was discovered two days after the shootings in a close-by city. The medical expert already concluded that Card died by suicide.
The tissue samples, first reported by The New York Instances, have been despatched to a laboratory at Boston College that makes a speciality of issues related to mind trauma, together with continual traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, which has plagued {many professional} soccer gamers. A spokesperson mentioned the CTE Heart can’t remark with out the household’s permission. Two relations did not instantly reply to a request for remark from The Related Press.
The considerations encompass Card’s publicity to repeated blasts whereas coaching U.S. Navy Academy cadets about weapons, anti-tank weapon and grenades at West Level, New York.
MAINE SHOOTER THOUGHT LOCAL BUSINESSES ATTACKED IN SHOOTING WERE SPREADING ‘PEDOPHILE’ RUMORS ABOUT HIM: DOCS
Relations reported that Card had sunk into paranoid and delusional conduct that preceded him being hospitalized for 2 weeks final summer season throughout coaching with fellow reservists at West Level. Amongst different issues, Card thought others have been accusing him of being a pedophile.
His fellow troopers have been involved sufficient that his entry to weapons was restricted when he left the hospital. At the least one of many reservists particularly expressed considerations of a mass taking pictures.
New York and Maine each have legal guidelines that may result in removing of weapons for somebody who’s experiencing a psychological well being disaster, however these legal guidelines weren’t invoked to take his weapons.
Legislation enforcement officers in Maine have been warned about considerations from Card’s fellow reservists. However Card did not reply the door at his Bowdoin house when deputies tried to examine on his well-being a number of weeks earlier than the shootings.
