BATH, Maine — One of the law enforcement officers who tried to make contact with the Lewiston shooter one month before the tragedy said Friday the Army lacked urgency in their concerns about Robert Card.
Sagadahoc County Sheriff's Deputy Sgt. Aaron Skolfield said Card's fellow Army reservists did not inform them about the warnings that Card was threatening a mass shooting until more than 24 hours after those soldiers heard of the red flags.
Card's friend and fellow reservist, Staff Sgt. Sean Hodgson, texted his superior officers, Cpl. Kelvin Mote and Capt. Jeremy Reamer, who both work full time as police officers, that he was worried Card was going to "snap and do a mass shooting." Mote and Reamer testified they received those messages about 36 hours prior to contacting the Sagadahoc County Sheriff's Office to perform a welfare check on Card, who lived in Bowdoin.
Mote works for the City of Ellsworth Police Department. His co-worker, Detective Corey Bagley, called Sagadahoc County dispatch on Sept. 15, 2023, to report Mote's concerns. It is unclear if Bagley is also a member of the same Army Reserve unit. Bagley's message was intended for Deputy Chad Carleton, who was not working that day. Dispatch asked Sgt. Aaron Skolfield to contact Bagley, which he did.
Skolfield went to multiple addresses registered to Card, looking for him. He found him at one residence, but could not make face-to-face contact with Card. Skolfield called Captain Reamer to explain the situation.
"So obviously, we're very concerned over this. I don't want to be an alarmist or anything, but I've got documentation that said to me they're worried about him doing a mass shooting," Skolfield said on Sept. 15 to Reamer.
A preliminary report by the independent commission looking into the shootings said Skolfield abdicated his responsibility as a police officer, by not only failing to take Card into custody that day but also relying on Card's family to take his guns away from him.
At that time, no one had filed any criminal charges against Card, so police had no warrant. Deputies also tried to talk to Card in person, but he never answered the door. Those two factors meant that officers could not take him into protective custody, a loophole in Maine's Yellow Flag Law.
"There was no legal mechanism for me to do that at that time," Skolfield said in an interview with NEWS CENTER Maine on Friday. "These Army officials who I know are both police officers, I should be able to trust their word that they know this guy and they're making some accurate recommendations based on the law enforcement experience."
Skolfield said the response from the Army reserve officers changed his impression of the severity of the situation, which included talking to Bagley on the phone.
"I did not want to counter what the Army was telling me. I was working off information that they gave me. I didn't believe they were wrong. I trusted them. Again, they're cops," he said. "They're telling me that one guy exaggerates. Turns out Hodgson was spot on. We all know that now. But at the time, I can only work with the information that I have in front of me."
Reamer also told Skolfield during the Sept. 15 phone call that Hodgson's word should be "taken with a grain of salt," calling his credibility into question.
"That wasn't communicated to me that [Card] has to be brought in. It was downplayed the other direction," Skolfield said.
Skolfield intends to run for Sagadahoc County Sheriff against his boss, current Sheriff Joel Merry.
The commission intends to release its final report this summer.
NEWS CENTER Maine received an email from the Office of the Chief of Public Affairs with the following statement:
"The Army Reserve is currently conducting a thorough investigation into the death of SFC Card and the unit’s actions preceding the events of October 25. Along with the administrative investigation, the Secretary of the Army directed the Army Inspector General to conduct an independent investigation, both of which are currently ongoing. More details will become available once the investigations are complete."