A hundred people closely affected by the Lewiston mass shooting intend to sue several federal agencies if they don’t investigate claims that they failed to prevent an Army reservist from killing 18 of their friends and loved ones last year in Maine’s deadliest mass shooting.

The survivors and victims’ family members sent notices of intent this week to the Department of Defense, the Army and Keller Army Community Hospital in New York. It kicks off a six-month clock for the U.S. government to investigate claims that those agencies knew Sgt. Robert Card was a threat, but still allowed him to be in the community with severe, untreated mental illness and unfettered access to firearms – including the AR-10 he used in shootings at Schemengees Bar & Grille and Just-In-Time Recreation on Oct. 25, 2023.

“There is pain, trauma, and regrets that will never go away,” Cynthia Young said in a statement provided by her lawyers. Young lost her husband, William, and her 14-year-old son, Aaron, at the bowling alley. “As terrible as the shooting was, it’s even more tragic that there were many opportunities to prevent this and they were not taken.”

The group also alleges that the Army failed to follow its own laws and regulations for addressing reservists who pose a risk to themselves and others, and they actively discouraged police from acting on concerns that Card intended to carry out a mass shooting.

Should the government refute these claims, or fail to investigate them, the families plan to sue.

“Today marks the first step toward ensuring accountability and justice for the families and victims of the worst mass shooting in Maine history,” Maine attorney Benjamin Gideon said in a written statement. “The U.S. should have sufficient information through the Army’s own internal investigation to evaluate our claims promptly. However, if the U.S. chooses to run out the clock by sitting on our claims without acting, we will file our action six months and one day from today.”

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The team of lawyers and three of their clients are scheduled to speak at the Franco Center Tuesday afternoon.

The highly anticipated legal step is supported by a team of four attorneys, including two national firms who successfully sued the Defense department after a mass shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

The government was ordered to pay $230 million in damages after a judge found the that Air Force and the Department of Defense were negligent in failing to put the gunman, a member of the Air Force who had been hospitalized for mental illness and had made threats against his unit, onto the FBI’s list of people prohibited from purchasing or possessing guns – a chain of events that closely mirrors the Card case.

NEGLECTING, DOWNPLAYING THREATS

In the Lewiston case, their claims rely heavily on sworn testimony that Army officials and others gave to a state commission investigating the shooting. A summary of those claims sent to the federal agencies outlines three key moments in which they say that the Army failed to intervene:

• There was the spring of 2023, when Card’s friends and family told law enforcement and his Army superiors about their shared concerns of his erratic behavior and access to firearms.

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Card’s sister Nicole Herling had called the Army unit in Saco at least five times in mid-2023 and called a VA crisis line, but was advised that her concerns could harm Card’s Army career, according to the summary and Herling’s testimony in front of the commission.

• Then in August 2023, when Card was released from a mental health hospital following his erratic behavior and threats at his unit’s annual training in New York, Army officials and those who treated him at Keller failed to take meaningful steps to secure his personal firearms (even though they acknowledged that they should and there were laws available for them to do so, including New York’s SAFE Act and their red flag laws.)

• And finally, in September 2023, when Card’s friend reported the reservist had threatened to carry out a mass shooting at their Army base in Saco and other places, lawyers say the Army withheld information from local law enforcement officials and discouraged them from responding.

That includes not sharing concerned texts with the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office and suggesting that their involvement could “escalate” the situation, according to the summary. Army officials, in their testimony to the commission, have disputed that they downplayed the situation.

The Army “acted to protect themselves by restricting Card’s access to firearms and firearm drills on base and permitting him to skip battle assemblies in September and October,” the summary states.

Yet when the sheriff’s office reached out, Army officials “downplayed their level of concern, withheld critical information and actively discouraged the (Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office) from acting.”

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HISTORY OF VIOLENCE

The lawyers point to obvious signs that Card was in crisis and posed a serious risk to others. He was delusional, believing people were “talking about him” and “calling him a pedophile.”

“This critical question of why, after twenty ‘unremarkable’ years of service, Card’s mental health abruptly and dramatically declined, remained unanswered – and largely uninvestigated – by the Army,” the summary states.

The attorneys suggest the military should have known what to look for, given its experience with other members who have carried out mass shootings. They referenced tragedies at Fort Hood in 2009 and 2014, and cited an analysis of mass shootings from 1966 to 2023 that found a quarter of the cases studied involved a former or current military member.

“The military trains soldiers to kill using military-style weapons to maximize casualties,” the summary states. “Data has long shown that service members with mental illness present a significantly higher risk of violence to themselves or others.”

They also raised questions about whether the Department of Defense should have paid more attention to Card’s exposure to blasts, which even at lower-level forces can cause brain injuries that alter mental status, according to the summary.

Card had been training West Point cadets in explosives for nearly a decade before something changed in him. Yet even when Card was admitted to an Army hospital, the Army failed to conduct a “Line of Duty investigation” to assess whether his behavior was tied to his military work, according to the Army’s internal investigation released in July.

The Department of Defense announced in August that it is implementing a new policy to protect military personnel from blast exposure after an analysis of Card’s brain showed he had sustained a brain injury. The new policy includes baseline brain screenings, protective equipment and educating military personnel on symptoms and risks of blast exposure.