The signs were there: hearing voices, expressing paranoid thoughts and
making threats so violent, extra patrols were sent to guard a military
installation.

Documents and information shared by authorities and law enforcement
sources show for months, those who knew the US Army reservist who would
eventually go on a shooting rampage in northern Maine on October 25
reported his deteriorating mental state and serious concerns he would
become violent.

The state is the only in the country with a so-called �yellow flag� law,
which is a more relaxed version of the popular red flag laws used by
nearly half of US states aiming to prevent dangerous individuals from
accessing firearms, gun policy experts told CNN.

Experts say the law in Maine was specifically designed for people like
Robert Card, the 40-year-old firearms expert who went on two shooting
rampages at a bar and bowling alley in Lewiston. In the end, the gunman
killed 18 people and wounded 13 others with an assault rifle at Just-in-
Time Recreation and at Schemengees Bar & Grille.

But there�s no way of knowing whether the law would have worked, as
authorities never attempted to utilize what gun policy experts say is the
best tool at their disposal that may have disarmed him � a glaring issue
experts say points to the weakness of the law when compared to legislation
in other states. Instead, law enforcement relied on the gunman�s family to
keep guns from him after they tried without success to talk to the
reservist.

�This is a�textbook case for the yellow flag law,� said Michael Rocque,
chairperson of the sociology department and a criminologist who has
studied gun laws and mass shootings at Bates College, which is based in
Lewiston. �This is what it was intended for. Somebody who is having a
mental health crisis, who has demonstrated themselves to be a threat.�

Authorities have said Maine gun laws do not prohibit a person from buying
a gun based strictly on a mental health diagnosis or treatment. The state,
with its robust hunting culture, doesn�t require background checks before
making all gun purchases, nor does it require firearm owners to register
their weapons. It also doesn�t require permits to carry concealed firearms
in public.

But officers can utilize its yellow flag law to take a person in crisis
into protective custody and undergo a medical evaluation. Then, a judge
can decide whether to approve an order to temporarily remove the person�s
access to firearms, the law states.

The law, passed in 2019, was a compromise between gun-rights and gun-
control advocates to the red-flag laws in place in 21 US states and
Washington, D.C., also known as an extreme risk protection order, Rocque
said.

Red flag laws vary by state, but they largely allow anyone who knows a
person who poses a threat to themselves or others to petition a court to
temporarily remove their access to firearms.

What makes Maine�s law different is the additional hurdles in the process
to remove a person�s weapons � starting with only law enforcement being
able to invoke the yellow flag process, and it can only be triggered by
officers physically taking a person into protective custody, according to
Rocque.

The procedure also includes an extra step. The firearm restriction can�t
be put in place without an agreement between a medical practitioner and
police that the case warrants bringing a petition before a judge, the law
states.

�I don�t see the benefit in engaging in a compromise policy in talking
about taking action when people are clearly saying, clearly expressing to
us that they�re going to do bad things,� said Shannon Frattaroli,
professor of health policy and management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg
School of Public Health and member of its Center for Gun Violence
Solutions.

�We know from the research that about 50% of mass shooters indicate before
they commit their atrocities that they have plans to do just that,�
Frattaroli continued. �In the absence of extreme risk protection order
laws,�we as a society are ill-equipped to respond, as the tragedy in Maine
demonstrated once again in this country.�

The US Army asked local police to check on the reservist in September
after a soldier became concerned he would �snap and commit a mass
shooting,� according to an incident report released by the Sagadahoc
County Sheriff�s Office. It was one of several warnings relatives and
those who knew him reported to officials since spring.

Sheriff Joel Merry told CNN on Saturday law enforcement officers weren�t
able to make contact with Card during two visits. It meant they couldn�t
invoke the state�s yellow flag law, as the law makes clear an officer must
first take a person into protective custody, the sheriff said.

�This prevented us from initiating a �Yellow Flag Law,�� Sheriff Merry
told CNN. �Extremely unfortunate, but we must adhere to the law.�

It�s impossible to know whether Maine�s law would have prevented the
Lewiston tragedy, but �it certainly would have caused a disruption to it,�
said Alex Piquero, professor of criminology at the University of Miami and
former director of the US Bureau of Justice Statistics.

�Everything was here for people to act, but no one opened the toolbox,�
Piquero said.

Piquero noted Card�s case was an opportunity for law enforcement to �err
on the side of caution� to ensure he wasn�t a danger. The warning signs
were like �a concert of blinking lights,� as various people reported Card
needed help and shouldn�t be armed.

After a 48-hour manhunt following the shootings, Card was found dead from
a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head near a river some 10 miles from
Lewiston.

Suspect�s family flagged troubling signs 6 months before rampage
Documents shared with CNN last week by the Sheriff�s Office show Card�s
family had called the department as far back as six months ago, on May 3,
voicing concerns over his well-being and access to firearms.

Card�s 18-year-old son told a deputy that starting around January, his
father was �starting to claim that people were saying things about him,
while out in public,� according to documents shared by the sheriff�s
office.

His ex-wife also told the deputy Card had �picked up 10-15
handguns/rifles� at his brother�s house, the document says.

The ex-wife and son said their plan was to stay away from Card, according
to the documents.

After speaking with the family, the deputy spoke with representatives of
the 3rd Battalion 304 Training Group and connected them with Card�s
family, �who assured our office that they would ensure that Card received
medical attention,� the sheriff�s office said in a statement.

Army comrades reported Card was hearing voices
The Sagadahoc sheriff�s office report details how the Army reservist
started hearing insulting voices in his head in the spring and they had
gotten worse.

On July 15, Card accused three fellow soldiers, including a close friend,
of �calling him a pedophile� and said, �he would take care of it,�
according to information shared with CNN by a law enforcement source who
quoted a letter supplied by the military.

The law enforcement source told CNN the soldiers said they calmed their
comrade down and got back to the motel, where he locked himself in his
room and would not respond.

The next day, another soldier got the key to his room. The soldier
eventually took Card to a base hospital where a psychologist determined he
needed further treatment. The incident led Card to a 14-day psychiatric
stay, according to the letter provided by the sheriff�s office.

It�s unclear whether Card was voluntarily or involuntarily committed to
the facility. Federal law prohibits people with mental illness from
possessing firearms. Public Safety Commissioner Michael Sauschuck noted
the department hadn�t received any information Card had been �forcibly
committed for treatment,� the commissioner said Saturday.

�If that didn�t happen,� Sauschuck said, �then � the background check is
not going to ping that this person is prohibited.�

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also said it
wasn�t aware of any records that would have stopped Card from buying a
firearm.

A gun shop did decline to sell Card a silencer months before the shooting
after he�responded �yes� to the question �Have you ever been adjudicated
as a mental defective OR ever been committed to a mental
institution?��on�a form, the�ATF�told CNN in a statement.

Roque said the fact Card was denied the ability to buy a silencer after
self-reporting his mental health history, but he was able to buy a weapon
since the information wasn�t in the federal system, reveals a �very clear
loophole in terms of the federal law.�

Suspect had more delusions, threatened attack at military facility after
psychiatric stay, docs show
The documents released by the sheriff�s office detail another episode in
September after Card was released from his psychiatric stay. A fellow
soldier reported Card�s troubling mental state and specific threats he
made to attack a military base.