Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect that the Army says Robert Card was not trained as a firearms instructor and did not serve in that capacity for the Army.
The “armed and dangerous” Army reservist accused of killing 18 people in two mass shootings in Maine had previously exhibited highly disturbing behavior on the job, a former co-worker said, supporting claims by the man’s family that he had been suffering from “acute” mental health issues.
Cops across the state were frantically searching for 40-year-old Robert R. Card, of Bowdoin, on Thursday after he allegedly opened fire at a bowling alley and then a bar in Lewiston on Wednesday evening.
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“When I saw it was him, I was not surprised,” Jeremy Bowen, who was Card’s driver-helper at Maine Recycling, told The Daily Beast on Thursday.
Card, who has been enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve since December 2002, was most recently a petroleum supply specialist who had no combat deployments, a spokesperson for the force said.
According to WMTW, Card’s current rank is sergeant first class. Army spokesman Bryce Dubee told the station that, contrary to early reports, the Army “did not train SFC Card as a firearms instructor, nor did he serve in that capacity for the Army.”
According to Clifford Steeves, who served alongside Card in the early 2000s, was one of the best shooters in their unit.
He was “very comfortable in the woods,” Steeves told CNN, adding that he never witnessed any concerning behavior from Card, who he described as a “very nice guy—very quiet.”
His awards include the Army Achievement Medal, two Army Reserve Component Achievement Medals, the Humanitarian Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal and an Army Service Ribbon, according to The Messenger’s national security and military reporter Jim LaPorta, who characterized those awards as fairly standard, unremarkable achievements for a reservist.
In an interview with The Daily Beast, Card’s sister-in-law Katie Card described him as “quiet... loving, hardworking, and kind” but said he’d had an “acute episode of mental health” in recent months.
He had recently began wearing powerful hearing aids to combat hearing loss. Since then, Card said her brother-in-law had been insisting to his family that he could hear people bashing him—including at Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley and Schemengees Bar and Grill, where he’s accused of gunning down 18 people.
“He truly believed he was hearing people say things,” she said. “This all just happened within the last few months.”
She confirmed information that reportedly circulated in a law enforcement bulletin on Wednesday night in which Card was described as having recently reported mental health issues, including allegedly “hearing voices and threats to shoot up the National Guard Base in Saco, ME.”
According to the Saco Police Department, that threat occurred just last month. “We did receive some information this past September that he had potentially made some kind of veiled threats toward the reserve center here in Saco,” Saco Police Chief Jack Clements told WMTW Thursday.
Clements said the warning came from a sheriff’s department in another county and that Saco Police deployed extra patrols of the government building in response. He added that Card “never showed up down there.” The law enforcement agency reportedly did not receive any information to corroborate Card’s alleged threats.
The law enforcement bulletin also said Card was reported to have been committed to a mental health facility for two weeks during the summer and subsequently released.
He had, in fact, been referred to the facility on July 16 after “behaving erratically” while in training at the United States Military Academy, a spokesperson for the New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs told The Daily Beast.
“Out of concern for his safety, the unit requested that law enforcement be contacted,” the spokesperson said. “New York State Police responded and transported Card to Keller Army Community Hospital at the United States Military Academy for medical evaluation.”
Bowen, who worked with Card at the recycling plant roughly a year ago, said he at first seemed “pretty down-to-earth.” But after Bowen was assigned to assist another driver, he began hearing from colleagues who had serious concerns about Card.
“A lot of the other helpers he was working with were starting to say he was acting violently and oddly,” Bowen told The Daily Beast. “I heard about [the shootings] on the news, and like I said, I really wasn’t surprised.”
CNN reported that Card had recently lost his job at the plant.
Card appears to have maintained a low profile on social media, but his now-deleted Twitter account shows him engaging with news about recent shootings. After a mass shooting at a school in Nashville in March, Card liked a tweet arguing against a ban on “assault weapons.” He also liked a tweet by Donald Trump Jr., suggesting that “rather than talking about guns we should be talking about lunatics pushing their gender affirming bullshit on our kids.”
Card tweeted critically about the exchange of Black WNBA player Brittney Griner, who had been imprisoned in Russia, for a Russian arms dealer. “Mass murderer for a wnba player great job keep up the good work,” Card wrote.
Liam Kent, a man who says he grew up around half a mile from Card and his family, told NBC News that they lived in “basically a compound.”
“The family and Robert, they’re all gun fanatics,” Kent said. “For all intents and purposes, they are very much associated with right-wing militias. It’s known in the town to stay away from them and not approach them.”
Kent also said he “very vividly” remembered going to a store in Bowdoin when he was a child and saw Card at a nearby weigh station with a dead deer. “He was covered in blood with a gun on his back with a giant grin on his face,” Kent said. He added that he knew people who had been injured in Wednesday night’s attacks but did not want to identify them publicly.
Chad Burke, an Air Force veteran and a member of the horseshoe club that Card belonged to, told The Daily Beast that Card was the main topic of conversation in the club’s group chat on Thursday. Burke said Card and his son played together at the Lisbon Left Hand Club Horseshoe League but that he didn’t know too much more about either of them. What he does know, he said, is that local residents are on edge about the shootings.
“Everybody just thinks this is way abnormal in general for us here in Maine,” Burke said.
The shootings began at around 6:15 p.m. at the Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley in Lewiston. Witnesses say a children’s bowling league was taking place at the time, and that kids were injured in the attack. A shooting was then reported around four miles away at the Schemengees Bar & Grille.
A white Subaru Outback owned by Card was found abandoned at a boat dock in Lisbon, Maine, shortly afterward. Card owns at least one jet ski and a boat, according to USA Today.
CBS Boston reported Thursday morning that Card has ties to Massachusetts and said police throughout New England are “on alert.”
The University of Maine confirmed to NBC News that Card studied engineering there between 2001 and 2004. The outlet added that Maine court records show that someone with the same name and birthdate as Card was charged with speeding in 2001 and 2002, but no other criminal records were listed online.
