The Maine gunman who killed 18 people inside a bar and bowling alley was alive for most of a fierce two-day manhunt that ended when he was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, the medical examiner determined Friday.
Robert Card killed himself “probably” eight to 12 hours before his body was found, according to Lindsey Chasteen, office administrator for the medical examiner’s office in Augusta.
The 40-year-old killer had a condition in which his heart was emptied of blood after the gunshot wound, affecting the way blood settled in his body and potentially making the time of death less certain, Chasteen said.
The manner of his death was ruled a suicide, but a full report will not be released for several months.
The Army reservist was found in an unlocked trailer in an overflow parking lot at the Maine Recycling Corporation at 7:45 p.m. Oct. 27.
How long he was in the trailer before turning the gun on himself remains unclear — meaning he may have been actively on the run for quite some time while authorities searched for the mentally ill shooter.
After gunning down 18 unsuspecting victims and injuring 13 others, Card fled in a vehicle which was later found abandoned on a beach in a nearby town, sparking fears he escaped by water.
Robert Card “likely” was alive between 8 and 12 hours before his body was found.AP
Law enforcement agencies are under scrutiny for not finding Card’s body sooner on the assumption that he committed suicide hours after the shooting.
Police searched and cleared the recycling plant twice before the property owner alerted them to a previously unknown parking lot, where Card was eventually found with two firearms at his side.
Why Card fled to the factory – his former employer – and his motive for the massacre remain a mystery to police.
The trailer card found inside was part of a recycling plant police had already cleaned out twice in their search for the gunman. NYPJ
Officers are investigating Card’s history of mental health problems, including claims by the crazed killer that he could hear voices in his head calling him a “pedophile”.
Card had been known to law enforcement for months as family members and others became increasingly concerned about his mental state.
By Post wire
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
