The Maine gunman was found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside a semi-trailer at a recycling facility where he once worked days after killing 18 people and injuring 13 others, authorities said Saturday.
At a press conference on Saturday morning, Maine Public Safety Commissioner Michael Sauschuck said Robert Card’s body was found around 7:45 p.m. Friday, as CrimeOnline previously reported. He was located at the Maine Recycling Corporation in the city of Lisbon, about 10 miles southeast of Lewiston where the shootings occurred.
Two unspecified firearms were near Card’s body, while a long gun was found in a vehicle linked to him.
Card, 40, at one point had an employment relationship with the business, but Sauschuck said he did not have details about when Card had worked there. However, citing a law enforcement source, CNN reported that Card had been fired from the recycling center recently.
Police had searched the facility twice previously but had not examined a nearby property containing trailers that authorities did not realize belonged to the business.
Card was the prime suspect in Wednesday’s mass shootings at two sites in Lewiston: the bowling alley Just-in-Time Recreation and Schemengees Bar & Grille.
At least three people were still in critical condition as of Saturday.
Sauschuck provided new information about the investigation into the shootings. Asked why Card may have targeted the bowling alley and bar, Sauschuck said he has seen information indicating that Card may have been paranoid and deluded by conspiracy theories.
“I think clearly there’s a mental health component to this,” Sauschuck said. “What I’ve read and what I’ve seen is that the individual felt like people were talking about him. It may even appear there were some voices in play here. And we don’t believe any of that is accurate. I think that led him specifically back to those two specific locations.”
Thus far, the investigation has not revealed any instances when Card was committed for mental health treatment forcibly. However, Card was a member of the Army Reserves and had undergone a psychiatric evaluation earlier this summer after he reported hearing voices and was having thoughts about attacking a military installation, according to NBC News.
Still, Sauschuck cautioned that most people with mental illness are not a threat to themselves or the public. “The vast majority of people with a mental health diagnosis will never hurt anybody,” Sauschuck said.
An ATF representative said it appeared Card had purchased all three guns legally, some “very recently,” others years ago. Card is believed to have purchased the gun used in the mass shooting days before the psychatric evaluation, according to CNN.
Sauschuck also said a “paper-style note” to a loved one was found indicating that Card did not expect to be alive.
“I wouldn’t describe it as an explicit suicide note, but the tone and tenor was that the individual was not going to be around,” Sauschuck said.
Saschuck added that Card’s family has been “incredibly cooperative” and that his family members were among the first to identify him to police after images of the shooter were released to the public.
A candlelight vigil in the community is scheduled for Saturday night.
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[Featured image: Robert Card/Lewiston Police Department]
