Victims' family members and survivors of the October 2023 mass shooting in Lewiston that killed 18 people are filing a negligence lawsuit on Wednesday against the United States government for what they call "one of the most preventable mass tragedies in America."
In their 119-page complaint being filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act, 100 plaintiffs are seeking accountability from the Army, the Department of Defense and Keller Army Hospital for allegedly violating their own "policies, regulations and orders" intended to protect the public from soldiers with mental illness.
Specifically, they say all three institutions ignored the warning signs posed by Army Reserve Sgt. Robert Card in the months before the tragedy, including after he stated that he planned to carry out a mass shooting.
The families first notified the federal government of their intent to sue in October of last year. But after months of inaction and no response they are making it official by filing their claim in federal court in Maine. They are represented by four law firms: Berman & Simmons, Gideon Asen, National Trial Law and Koskoff, Koskoff and Bieder. Several of the firms have won similar lawsuits against the federal government in the past.
According to the complaint, the Army has recognized "for decades" that military service carries profound mental health risks for those who serve and for the communities they return to. It highlights more than half a dozen mass shootings including the Sutherland Springs, Texas, church shooting in 2017 that killed 26 people and the Thousand Oaks Bar Shooting in California in 2018 that killed 12 people. Each shooting was carried out by current and former military personnel, many of whom experienced mental health breakdowns, the complaint says.
In response to the pattern of violence, the Army developed mandatory protocols and regulations designed to identify soldiers at risk before they could harm themselves or others. And, according to the complaint, unlike active-duty soldiers who have command oversight and support, the Army understood that reserve soldiers and National Guard members with mental illness posed unique risks.
In addition, the plaintiffs allege that the Army knew from extensive research that soldiers who are exposed to repeated blast explosions can suffer traumatic brain injuries that "can manifest as paranoia, aggression and violent ideation." Lewiston shooter Card was a grenade range instructor who "was exposed to thousands of low-level blasts" according to the Concussion Legacy Foundation and doctors who analyzed his brain after he was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Friends and family members say Card's mental health deteriorated rapidly in 2022 and 2023. And by March of 2023, the complaint alleges that the United States and its personnel knew Card was "paranoid, delusional, violent and lacked impulse control." It goes on to say that the Army also knew that Card had access to firearms, and "withheld information and actively misled local law enforcement, thereby preventing others from intervening and separating Card from his guns."
Attorneys and family members have scheduled a news conference at noon Wednesday to discuss the complaint that seeks recovery for wrongful deaths, physical injuries and emotional turmoil that they say should have been prevented.
This story will be updated.
