Maine mass shooter's family reached out to sheriff 5 months before rampage, sheriff's office says

Five months before the deadliest mass shooting in Maine’s history, the gunman’s family alerted the local sheriff that they were becoming concerned about his deteriorating mental health while he had access to firearms, authorities said Monday.

After the alert, the Sagadohoc County Sheriff's Office reached out to officials of Robert Card’s Army Reserve unit, which assured deputies that they would speak to Card and make sure he got medical attention, Sheriff Joel Merry said.

The family’s concern about Card's mental health dated back to early this year before the sheriff's office was contacted in May, marking the earliest in a string of interactions that police had with the 40-year-old firearms instructor before he marched into a Lewiston bowling alley and a bar last Wednesday, killing 18 people and wounding 13 others.