Courts and Crime

Lewiston shooting victims can access shooter's medical records

Maine Public | By Susan Sharon

Published October 1, 2024 at 5:45 PM EDT

BATH, ME – OCTOBER 1: David Paris, a Sagadahoc County probate judge, swears Cynthia Young at probate court in Bath on Tuesday, October 1, 2024. Paris approved the appointment of Young, who lost her husband and son in the Lewiston mass shooting last year, as a special administrator over Robert Card’s estate. (Staff photo by Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)

A Sagadahoc County probate judge has given the families of 18 Lewiston shooting victims a way to access mental health and other records of the man responsible for their loved ones' deaths last October. He's appointed a woman who lost her husband and teenage son as a special administrator of Robert Card's estate.

On October 25 Cynthia Young dropped off her husband Bill and her 14-year-old son, Aaron at the Just in Time Bowling Alley at 6 p.m. She never saw them again. She wants to know why they were killed, given the multiple warnings about Robert Card's declining mental health and access to firearms.

"I don't really have too much to add except that this is gonna be really beneficial toward the healing of all the families, the victims, the survivors and I'm really hopeful that we'll be able to move forward," Young said.

Young spoke briefly with reporters outside the Sagadahoc County Courthouse on Tuesday after her petition to serve as a special administrator of Card's estate was granted by a probate judge. Card's family did not object.

Even after investigations by the Army and an independent state commission, attorney Travis Brennan said questions remain about why Card was allowed to walk out of a psychiatric facility after 14 days.

BATH, ME – OCTOBER 1: Cynthia Young, left, stands next to one of her lawyers, Travis Brennan, after probate court in Bath on Tuesday, October 1, 2024. David Paris, a probate judge in Sagadahoc County, approved the appointment of Young, who lost her husband and son in the Lewiston mass shooting last year, as a special administrator over Robert Card’s estate. Young’s father-in-law, Bob Young, back center, attended the hearing with her. (Staff photo by Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)

"What we have not had access to up until today is Mr. Card's complete medical records during that critical hospitalization," Brennan said. "At the beginning of his stay, he was delusional, he was making threats, and he was shown to have very poor impulse control and access to firearms."

The records from Four Winds Hospital in New York are expected to reflect the decision making of Card's medical providers as well as what was communicated to Army personnel about his mental state and mental illness at the time he was released.

Card's personnel records could also shed light on his training during his 20-year-career in the Army Reserve and whether he was exposed to repeated blasts which could have affected his mental health.

For those who lost loved ones, Brennan says a full accounting is important to ensure that something like this never happens again.