An Army Reserve commander testifying Monday before the special commission defended how his unit responded to concerns about the deteriorating mental health of the man carried out last fall's mass shooting in Lewiston.
But he also said Reserve leaders have limited authority once their soldiers are back in civilian life. Meanwhile, some members of the independent commission investigating Maine's worst mass shooting expressed frustration that they haven't received more information from the Army as the military conducts its own internal review.
"The investigation is still open and we therefore have never been provided with documents of interviews of any of the reservists in his unit that I am aware of," said Geoffrey Rushlau, a former judge and district attorney. "So this has been somewhat of a hindrance of our work even though the Army was doing its investigation within days of the events."
Lt. Col. Ryan Vazquez took over command of the 3rd Battalion's 304th Infantry Regiment less than five months before Robert Card killed 18 and wounded 13 at two businesses in Lewiston. Card had been a reservist for roughly 20 years and Vasquez described him as "an important person in our unit (with) a lot of talents and skills" before the shootings.
Asked by former U.S. Attorney Paula Silsby whether he believed his unit had done "everything that could have been done" with respect to Card, Vasquez responded, "Yes, and some."
As an example, Vazquez pointed to the much-discussed July training mission to New York when Card falsely accused multiple people of calling him a pedophile, tried to fight a friend and then locked himself in his room. He said that because so many officers in the 304th work in law enforcement, they recognized Card was having a potential mental health breakdown and ordered him to undergo an evaluation at a military hospital.
"I don't know a lot of average Reserve units that would have handled that better than we did considering we had the people we had there at that time," Vasquez said. "A lot of these reserve units, they're not all police. You could have folks that maybe are a stay-at-home dad or a stay-at-home mother, they don't have the type of experience that my guys have."
But when Card was released from a private psychiatric hospital two weeks later, his Reserve unit leaders were supposed to make sure he was sticking to a mental health treatment plan. They were also supposed to work to ensure that Card — who was described as a highly skilled marksman — would no longer have access to his weapons at home.
Neither of those things happened, however. And repeatedly during his testimony on Monday, Vazquez said there was only so much that he, as a Reserve commander, can do when his volunteer members return to civilian life. For instance, he said it would be nearly "impossible" for him to store Card's weapons at the Reserve headquarters in Saco and his officers had no legal authority to attempt to seize his personal weapons.
"If they're not compliant with their (mental health) treatment, I don't have a lot tools in my toolbox legally to do anything," he said.
Questions have swirled about why more wasn't done to limit his access to guns, especially after a friend and fellow reservist told his unit's leaders that he was worried Card might commit a mass shooting. Card's family members also sought to get help from the Sagadahoc County Sheriff's Office and from Reserve leaders as his paranoia and erratic behavior worsened.
Monday's hearing was also the latest example of the finger-pointing among law enforcement and Army Reserve officials over who can and should have done more to potentially avert the Oct. 25 shootings.
In it's interim report, the commission strongly criticized a Sagadahoc County Sheriff's deputy for not trying harder to find Card and for failing to use Maine's yellow-flag law to temporarily seize his guns. But commission members also asked Vazquez whether other Reserve officers had downplayed the seriousness of the threat by questioning the reliability of the friend who warned Card might snap.
One officer, Captain Jeremy Reamer, reportedly told deputy following up on the threats that they should be taken with a "grain of salt" and that the Reserve only wanted the sheriff's office to conduct a welfare check on Card.
"I don't know anyone that downplayed the threat that he posed," Vasquez said in response to one question. "Anyone who would say that would probably have something very similar to the police that went and knocked on his door, didn't get an answer and then left."
Vasquez is one of more than a half dozen Reserve members who have testified to the independent commission. The panel is expected to produce a final report this summer or fall.
