An altar to honor the victims of the Lewiston mass shooting was erected for an Oct. 29 vigil at the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Lewiston. (Emma Davis/Maine Morning Star)
Victims of the Lewiston shooting announced Tuesday that they plan to sue the Department of Defense, U.S. Army and an army hospital for negligence in failing to respond to warning signs and an explicit threat to commit a mass shooting.
Four law firms jointly representing 100 clients, survivors and family members of the 18 killed last October sent a legal notice detailing this intent to the federal government, however no lawsuits have been filed so far.
The federal government has six months to evaluate the claims in this notice, known as a Standard Form 95. If the U.S. denies or fails to act on the claims in this time period, the claimants can file lawsuits in federal court.
“The U.S. should have sufficient information through the Army’s own internal investigation to
evaluate our claims promptly. However, if the U.S. chooses to run out the clock by sitting on our claims without acting, we will file our action six months and one day from today,” said Benjamin Gideon, one of the attorneys representing the victims.
The claims in the notice reiterate many of the findings of state and army investigations to date, which concluded multi-agency failures related to the handling of Robert Card II’s deteriorating mental health in the months before he killed 18 people and injured 13 others in Lewiston on Oct. 25, 2023.
“There is pain, trauma and regrets that will never go away,” said Cynthia Young, whose husband William and fourteen-year-old son Aaron died. “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 notice includes allegations that the Army failed to act when it became aware of Card’s deteriorating mental health and erratic behavior. It also alleges that despite determining Card’s mental health posed a serious threat to others, Keller Army Community Hospital in West Point, New York released Card without a plan for treatment. While Card was released under the condition that he couldn’t have access to firearms, the notice also claims the hospital and Army did not remove Card’s firearms, including the AR-10 assault rifle he used to carry out the mass shooting.
The notice focuses on accusations against federal agencies, but also speaks to how those agencies left local law enforcement with incomplete information.
Following Card’s release from the hospital and return to Maine, the Army and hospital failed to
notify local Maine law enforcement to inform them of Card’s history or that his doctors had directed for his weapons to be confiscated, according to the notice. The claimants also allege that the Army downplayed a threat Card made in September 2023 to commit a mass shooting and discouraged local law enforcement from taking decisive action.
“Today marks the first step toward ensuring accountability and justice for the families and victims of the worst mass shooting in Maine history,” said Gideon.
In addition to two Maine-based firms — Gideon Asen and Berman & Simmons — the Lewiston shooting victims are backed by two out-of-state firms that have reached settlements for victims of other mass shootings.
Koskoff, a Connecticut-based firm, previously represented victims of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. The firm secured $73 million after suing Remington, the maker of the AR-15 rifle used by the shooter.
National Trial Law, a Texas-based firm, represented survivors of a 2017 shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs and reached a $230 million settlement with the U.S. Air Force for failing to report the shooter’s history of violence into the FBI database.
“In the year since the mass shooting, there have been several investigations and many facts have come to light that show that the Army could have—and should have—acted,” said Travis Brennan, an attorney with Berman & Simmons. “Although we expect to learn more through the civil case, it is now abundantly clear that there were many opportunities to intervene that would have prevented tragic events of October 25.”
The notice sent to the federal government does not include allegations about the failings of local law enforcement. Such failings have been detailed by the state commission that investigated the shooting, notably that the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office had sufficient probable cause to both take Card into protective custody under Maine’s yellow flag law and start a petition to confiscate his firearms.
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