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Maine mass shooter was alive for most of massive 2-day search, autopsy suggests

PORTLAND, MAINE: The Military reservist who opened fireplace inside at a bowling alley and a bar in Lewiston earlier than disappearing into the evening was alive and probably on the run throughout a great portion of the large search that compelled shelter-in-place orders throughout the group, based on the Maine medical expert’s workplace.
Robert Carddied from a self-inflicted gunshot that “probably” occurred eight to 12 hours earlier than the invention of his physique, based mostly on a time-of-death evaluation.That conclusion was introduced Friday, every week after his physique was found at the back of a tractor-trailer on property of a former employer, a recycling heart.
Within the wake of the Oct. 25 shootings, which killed 18 individuals and wounded 13 extra, tens of hundreds of space residents sheltered at dwelling behind locked doorways as lots of of legislation enforcement officers scoured the realm searching for Card. He fled in a car that was later discovered deserted on a waterfront in a close-by city.
Legislation enforcement companies got here underneath scrutiny for not discovering Card’s physique earlier underneath the belief that he killed himself within the hours simply after the shootings and that his physique was ignored in earlier searches.
However the time of demise offered by the state’s chief medical expert, Dr. Mark Flomenbaum, suggests Card, 40, was alive and doubtlessly on the transfer for greater than 24 hours after the killings.
The medical expert’s workplace, nonetheless, mentioned Card suffered from a situation by which his coronary heart emptied of blood after the gunshot wound, affecting the best way the blood settled in his physique and doubtlessly making the time of demise much less sure, based on Lindsey Chasteen, workplace administrator of medical expert’s workplace in Augusta.
A state police spokesperson had no fast touch upon Friday.
The most recent disclosure within the investigation got here on the identical day President Jose Biden and first girl Jill Biden visited Lewiston to pay their respects and meet with victims. “Jill and I’ve completed too many of those,” Biden mentioned exterior the bowling alley the place Card first opened up fireplace. The opposite web site was a close-by bar.
Card had been identified to legislation enforcement for months as members of the family and others turned more and more nervous about his psychological state.
Concern accelerated following an altercation he had with fellow Military Reserve members. Card and different members of the Military Reserve’s third Battalion, 304th Infantry Unit have been in New York for coaching on July 15 when he accused a number of of them of calling him a pedophile, shoved certainly one of them and locked himself in his motel room. Considerations over his psychological well being led to a 14-day hospitalization on the 4 Winds Psychiatric Hospital in Katonah, New York.
The concerns continued when Card returned to Maine. One in every of Card’s fellow reservists urged a superior to vary the passcode to the gate and have a gun if Card arrived on the Military Reserve drill heart in Saco, Maine. “I imagine he’s going to snap and do a mass taking pictures,” the reservist wrote in a textual content.
A deputy twice visited Card’s home, calling for backup on the second go to, however Card did not come to the door. Below Maine’s “ yellow flag ” legislation, officers have discretion to hunt to place somebody in momentary protecting custody and start the method of eradicating the particular person’s entry to weapons.
However that by no means occurred. A sheriff mentioned the deputies who visited Card didn’t have authorized authority to interrupt down the door and take Card if he refused to reply the door.
What occurred after the deputies’ go to stays unclear. The sheriff’s workplace canceled its statewide alert searching for assist finding Card every week earlier than the killings.

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