Agencies that had contact with Robert R. Card II were served notices Thursday to preserve documents related to their interactions with the mass shooter.
The letters were sent to 20 state and federal agencies by Berman & Simmons Trial Attorneys on behalf of their clients who were injured and killed in the Lewiston mass shooting. Among the agencies who received letters were Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. Army Reserve and Four Winds Hospital, an in-patient psychiatric center in New York where Card stayed this summer.
This is the first step toward likely lawsuits as numerous questions remain about what led to the Lewiston mass shooting. Attorneys from other states have discussed their experience in lawsuits taking on gun manufacturers after other mass shootings.
Card, 40, was found dead Oct. 27, two days after he fatally shot 18 people and injured 13 in Lewiston at Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley and Schemengees Bar and Grille.
The notice tells the agencies they need to preserve various documents that may be “relevant to the litigation of civil personal injury claims by victims of the Lewiston mass shootings,” according to letters shared with the Bangor Daily News.
Any routine deletion and automatic destruction of documents is expected to be stopped, per the letters.
“The community of Lewiston, especially the victims and their families, have many unanswered questions,” lawyer Travis Brennan said. “Why did this happen? How did the system fail? What changes are needed to ensure this never happens again? These preservation letters are critical not only to safeguard information relevant to our clients, but also to protect the rights of all victims of this horrific event.”
The documents the U.S. Army Reserve was told to preserve include any video surveillance of Card and any text messages, calls and emails about Card from Jan. 1 to present. The sheriff’s office is expected to preserve body and dash camera footage from the mass shooting, as well as all documentation related to the welfare checks police performed earlier this year.
