Lewiston, Maine, mass shootings

Maine’s shortage of public defenders allowed a man with a violent criminal history to be released on bail three days before he went to his former girlfriend’s Auburn home, where another man was killed before an hourslong standoff with police in which shots were exchanged, two houses burned to the ground and the assailant was eventually ...

A lieutenant colonel with the Army Reserves told an investigatory panel on Monday that a reservist who committed the deadliest mass shooting in Maine history had a low threat profile when he left a psychiatric hospital prior to the killings. Lt. Col. Ryan Vazquez also testified that there were limitations on forcing the gunman, reservist Robert Car...

An Army health expert told a panel investigating a mass shooting by a reservist who was experiencing a psychiatric breakdown that there are limitations in health care coverage for reservists compared to full-time soldiers. There are no Army hospitals in New England, and reservists generally don’t qualify for care through Veterans Administration hos...

Ben Dyer hasn’t decided how he’ll vote in one of the nation’s most closely watched congressional elections this year, but he knows guns will be on his mind when he casts his ballot. And he’s pretty sure he won’t be the only one. Dyer, a 47-year-old father of two, was shot five times at Schemengees Bar & Grille in.....

Officers arrived at the two shooting scenes in Lewiston last October not knowing if the gunman was still there, and with living and dead victims on the floors. One officer described desperate survivors screaming for help as he searched for the shooter.

A sheriff is rebutting an allegation that some of his officers arrived at a mass shooting scene reeking of alcohol, saying in a statement that all officers were on duty or had just attended training before Lewiston police requested their assistance. Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin Joyce said in a statement Wednesday that he “wholeheartedly” d...

Maine’s top police leader addressed the chaos caused by officers arriving without assignments after the state’s deadliest mass shooting, saying Friday that he was glad so many officers were eager to help, even though it was difficult to manage at times.

A bulletin about the deadliest mass shooting in Maine history that was sent to police agencies had been leaked on social media early on, complicating an already difficult search for the shooter, the state’s top law enforcement official said Friday. Police are not trying to find the leaker, State Police Col. William Ross said, calling it a “ne...

An independent commission investigating the deadliest shooting in Maine history plans to take up accusations in a report that contended self-dispatching police officers created “chaos” during the search for the gunman.

Family members of an Army reservist who killed 18 people in Maine gave an emotional apology on Thursday and said Army officials and law enforcement frustrated their efforts to get him mental health care before the deadly rampage.

Family members of U.S. Army reservist Robert Card — Lewiston, Maine, mass shooter — are expected to testify before the commission investigating the shooting, according to NBC affiliate News Center Maine. The commission will hear from Card’s family and an official from the Army Reserves’ Psychological Health Program Thursday, reports New...

It’s a dilemma no business owner should have to face: whether to reopen after a mass shooting. The answer didn’t come easily to Justin and Samantha Juray. But when they did decide to reopen their Maine bowling alley, they didn’t hold back. When patrons return Friday, six months after the gunman opened fire, they will see inspiring...

Fellow U.S. Army reservists who witnessed the mental and physical decline of a colleague who would commit Maine’s deadliest mass shooting told a commission investigating the killings Thursday that they tried to intervene before the tragedy. Six weeks before Robert Card killed 18 people at a bar and bowling alley in Lewiston, his best friend and fel...