Unsettling Detail Revealed by Mass Shooter’s Family

(WatchDogReport.org) – The gunman in Maine’s deadliest mass shooting in October 2023 had serious brain damage typical of repeated exposure to weapons blasts, it has been reported. Findings of the analysis of Robert Card’s brain tissue revealed that the Army Reserve grenade instructor showed evidence of traumatic brain injury, according to Dr. Ann McKee, who led the study at Boston University’s Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center. The findings were released through the Concussion Legacy Foundation in the hope that future tragedies could be prevented. Card took his own life after the killing spree in Lewiston, which killed 18 people.

According to the published study, the brain damage had resulted in degeneration of nerve fibers that enable communication between different parts of the brain. Signs of inflammation and small blood vessel injury were also observed. There was no evidence of the condition in the tissue samples studied.

After the shooting, the 40-year-old Card was found dead at a recycling facility where he had recently worked in nearby Lisbon Falls. The firearms used by the shooter were reportedly legal. According to officials, Card’s relatives told federal investigators that the gunman recently spoke about hearing voices and became increasingly more fixated on Lewiston’s bowling alley and bar, where the shooting occurred. Of the 18 people killed in the attack, one was a grandfather who attempted to stop the gunman.

Department of Public Safety Commissioner Michael Sauschuck suggested that Card chose the targets out of a paranoid belief that people were talking about him. Sauschuck revealed that a note found in the shooter’s home containing bank account numbers and a passcode to his phone was intended for a loved one. Sauschuck said it was not an explicit suicide note but that the intent was evident in the “tone” of the letter.

In a statement, Card’s family expressed their sorrow and apologies for the tragedy. They said though they could not go back, they chose to release the study in the hope that the tragedy could be learned from and that similar tragedies could be prevented in the future. They also stated that they wished to raise awareness of traumatic brain injury in service members.