100 people in the Lewiston community were affected by the most recent mass shooting and intend to sue multiple different federal agencies if they don’t investigate claims that they failed to prevent an Army Reservist from killing 18 people. The shooting occurred at a bowling alley in Lewiston, Maine. This is Maine’s deadliest shooting–ever. The agencies have 6 months to investigate this before they head to court.  The people that were affected will sue the Defense Department and Keller Army Community Hospital in West Point, New York. The survivors and victims’ family members claim the agencies knew the shooter, identified as “Robert Card’’, was a threat beforehand, but took no action to prevent the shooting.

Cynthia Young said to her lawyers, “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 victims claimed that the Army failed to follow its own laws and regulations for addressing reservists who pose a risk to themselves and others, and that they actively discouraged police from acting on concerns that Card intended to carry out a mass shooting. In spring of 2023, Card’s friends and family told law enforcement and his Army superiors about their concerns of his behavior and access to firearms , but they ended up taking no further action, which caused many argue caused this shooting to happen. 

Then, in August 2023, Sgt. Robert Card was released from a mental health hospital after he made threats during his annual unit training, Army Officials and those who treated him at the hospital, failed to take meaningful steps to secure his personal firearms. In September 2023, Card’s friend reported that the reservist planned to carry out a mass shooting at their army base in Saco. Lawyers say the army withheld information from local law enforcement and discouraged them from responding.