Army reservist who warned Maine killer would ‘explode’ before shootings to testify

A U.S. Army reservist who gave the clearest warning before the deadliest mass shooting in Maine is expected to answer questions Thursday from the commission investigating the tragedy.

Six weeks before Robert Card killed 18 people at a bar and bowling alley in Lewiston, his best friend and fellow reservist Sean Hodgson texted his supervisors, telling them to change the password on the door to his training facility. Army Reserve and arm themselves if Card showed up. above.

“I think he’s going to break out and do a mass shooting,” Hodgson wrote on September 15.

ROBERT CARD, MAINE MASS SHOOTING SUSPECT, HAD TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURIES, SHOWS NEW SCAN

That message came months after family members warned police that Card had become paranoid and said they were concerned about his access to guns. Authorities’ failure to remove guns from Card’s possession in the weeks before the shooting has become the subject of a months-long investigation in the state, which also passed new gun safety laws since the tragedy.

Card was also hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital for two weeks in July, and the military prohibited him from carrying weapons while on duty. But other than briefly surveilling the booking center and visiting Card’s home, authorities refused to confront him. He was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound two days after the shooting.

In an interim report released last month, the independent commission launched by Gov. Jane Mills concluded that the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office had probable cause under Maine’s “yellow flag” law to detain Card and confiscate his guns. She also criticized police for not following up with Hodgson about his warning text.

On Thursday, the commission plans to hear from the state director of victim witness services. Hodgson told The Associated Press that he will be questioned Thursday morning.

In an exclusive series of interviews in January, Hodgson told the AP that he met Card in the Army Reserves in 2006 and that they became close friends after they both divorced their spouses around the same time. They lived together for about a month in 2022, and when Card was hospitalized in New York in July, Hodgson flew him back to Maine.

Increasingly concerned about his friend’s mental health, Hodgson warned authorities after an incident in which Card began “going crazy” after a night of gaming, hitting the steering wheel and nearly crashing several times. After ignoring his pleas for him to stop, Card punched him in the face, Hodgson said.

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“It was very difficult for me to denounce someone I love,” he said. “But when the hairs on the back of your neck start to stand up, you have to listen.”

Some officials downplayed Hodgson’s warning, suggesting he may have been drunk due to the late timing of his text message. Army Reserve Capt. Jeremy Reamer described him as “not the most credible of our soldiers” and said his message should be taken “with a grain of salt.”

Hodgson said he struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol addiction, but said he was not drinking that night and was awake because he works nights and was waiting for his boss to call.