Army Reserve members told Lewiston commission they believed Card’s threats were credible

In July, Matthew Noyes traveled to West Point as part of his annual military commitment as a member of the U.S. Army Reserves. 

It was there that Noyes, who is also a deputy with the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Department, and other military members noticed their colleague Robert Card was making strange comments. The group was staying at a hotel converted from old military lodging and Card said the woman at the check-in recognized him and didn’t like him. The group found this strange, Noyes said, because the woman was pleasant when they interacted with her. Card made a similar comment about a woman working at a coffee shop in Connecticut he stopped at on his drive to New York, Noyes said. 

That same day, Card got into an altercation with one of the other group members, someone who Noyes said Card had a better rapport with. This behavior seemed bizarre, Noyes said, so they alerted military leadership since they didn’t think it was best for Card to continue with their mission at West Point because of the access to firearms and live ammunition.

At a meeting Thursday with the Independent Commission to Investigate the Facts of the Tragedy in Lewiston, Noyes shared these and other details about his previous interactions with Card, who on Oct. 25 killed 18 people and wounded 13 more in a mass shooting at Just-in-Time Recreation and Schemengees Bar & Grille in Lewiston. 

Back in New York, Reserve leadership, including 1st Sgt. Kelvin Mote, made contact with Card later that same July evening. Mote told the commission they determined Card didn’t have any weapons and decided to let him sleep.

The next day, New York State Police were called because Mote, who is also a police officer in Ellsworth, wanted them to do a wellness check on Card. During that encounter, police told Card that the other soldiers were concerned about him, Mote said. 

As Mote remembers, Card responded by saying they were afraid he was “going to do something.” But Mote was most struck by Card’s use of the phrase, “I am capable.”

“That was enough for me,” Mote said. “At that moment, I decided he was going to the hospital one way or another.”

Mote said he didn’t have the authority over Card to order him, so Army Reserve Capt. Jeremy Reamer had to, which is how Card ended up being taken to the hospital in New York.

“I felt really good about what we did,” Noyes said of bringing Card in, adding that his training in law enforcement helped him to recognize signs that Card was struggling with his mental health. 

After Card left the hospital, Mote continued to hear concerns about Card, including his threat to shoot up the base in Saco. By September, Card wasn’t answering Mote’s calls, either. Mote told the commission multiple times that he believed the threats were credible and felt Card was a threat to himself and others. 

Based on his training as a police officer and his knowledge of Card’s behavior, Mote felt there was probable cause to initiate Maine’s yellow flag process to take Card’s weapons from him. Mote even used the yellow flag process with another person last September. But he didn’t communicate this explicitly to the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Department when he asked them to do a wellness check on Card, because he said they would need to have their own determination and interaction with him. 

The testimony from Noyes and Mote came the day after Card’s family released an analysis of his brain tissue. The Boston University CTE Center found that Card had significant evidence of traumatic brain injuries, which likely played a role in his behavior changes, according to a news release from the Concussion Legacy Foundation. 

The family attributed this damage to his role as a “longtime instructor at an Army hand grenade training range, where it is believed he was exposed to thousands of low-level blasts.”

“While we cannot go back, we are releasing the findings of Robert’s brain study with the goal of supporting ongoing efforts to learn from this tragedy to ensure it never happens again,” the family said in the release, adding that they know it isn’t an excuse or complete explanation. 

Card’s family also said they hope to raise awareness for traumatic brain injuries among military service members. 

Miscommunication in manhunt

In addition to speaking about his experience with Card in the Army Reserves, Noyes also urged the commission to talk with more police officers who were on the ground to better understand the lack of communication he and other members of law enforcement experienced during the two-day manhunt.

On the day of the shooting, Noyes was home on his day off with his 6-year-old son. He was alerted to the events unfolding in Lewiston, so he put on his uniform and went to assist with the initial response. 

When it was broadcasted to law enforcement that Card was thought to be the shooter, Noyes went to the command post because he knew he had pertinent information. Noyes said he was asked to help identify Card’s car, since he had seen it at Army Reserve training, but said that he was surprised when a Maine State Police officer only questioned him for a few minutes despite his connection with Card.  

Noyes continued to help with the manhunt the next day, and was called to help the Lisbon Police Department search the Maine Recycling Center. When Noyes noticed the trailers on the spillover lot, he said he asked if they had been searched and was told they had. One day later, Card’s body was found in one of them. 

This was just one example of the communication failures Noyes said he experienced during the search. Speaking to previous testimony from other officers before the committee about self-dispatching during the search, Noyes said it can be dangerous but often happens when officers aren’t given sufficient direction.

“From an actual boots-on-the-ground [perspective], the communication was poor and caused several issues,” Noyes said.