Maine suspect denied entry by gun shop leading up to mass shooting

A man suspected of carrying out a series of fatal shootings in Maine was previously denied a firearm accessory by a local gun store owner, who said the man had admitted to being committed to a mental health facility. The suspect, Robert Card, was discovered dead on Friday, bringing an end to a 48-hour manhunt. Earlier in the week, Card had targeted a bar and a bowling alley in the city of Lewiston, resulting in the deaths of 18 individuals. Additional individuals were injured in the attacks. Card, a 40-year-old army reservist with a history of mental illness and a reputation for making violent threats, had visited a firearms store in Maine in August to pick up a silencer he had purchased online. However, when required to complete a form, he answered affirmatively to a question asking if he had ever been committed to a mental institution. Based on his responses, the store staff informed Card that he was ineligible to purchase the silencer. The store owner believes that the shooting would have been more devastating if Card had been allowed to buy the accessory since the noise of the gunfire would have been muffled. Card had been committed to a mental health facility for two weeks in July after displaying erratic behavior and making threats to carry out a mass shooting at a military base. Although he had undergone mental health evaluations, he had never been forcibly committed for treatment. The Maine National Guard had issued a statewide warning about Card after he made threats against his army base in Saco. Authorities attempted to contact Card in September but were unable to locate him. Card's history of mental illness, threats, and the effectiveness of Maine's gun laws have come under scrutiny. The state currently has a "yellow flag" law, which requires specific steps to be taken before a weapon can be removed from individuals deemed to pose a threat. However, critics argue that it is not as robust as a "red flag" law, implemented in other states, which allows courts to temporarily confiscate firearms from those deemed dangerous. The chair of the Maine Gun Safety Coalition described the state's gun laws as "woefully weak," stating that it was only a matter of time before an incident like this occurred. Police later discovered Card's body, which appeared to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, near a river around 10 miles away from Lewiston.