An independent commission reviewing the deadly October 2023 mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine said the local sheriff’s department had “sufficient probable cause” to take the shooter into custody prior to his rampage that left 18 people dead.
According to the Independent Commission, a group of seven experts – appointed by Maine’s governor and attorney general– was “unanimous in finding that in September 2023, the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office ... had sufficient probable cause to take Robert Card Jr. into protective custody under Maine’s Yellow Flag law and to remove his firearms and that the SCSO had probable cause to believe that Mr. Card posed a likelihood of serious harm.
Scripps News previously reported a SCSO deputy sergeant who was checking on Card’s welfare in September 2023, a month prior to the shooting, had considered utilizing the state’s Yellow Flag Law, which paves the way for someone’s guns to be removed if they are an imminent danger to themselves or others. SEE MORE: Maine deputy considered acting on yellow flag law before shootings
The report also found Skolfield and his supervisors “failed to assign another deputy to take further action,” when Skolfield went on vacation following the welfare check in which he was unable to make contact with the eventual shooter. The commission members have held seven public hearings about the mass shooting since November 2023.