Suspected Maine mass murderer Robert Card was a skilled outdoorsman and trained US Army Reserve marksman who was among the best marksmen in his unit, according to reports.
Card, 40, the subject of a massive manhunt in Wednesday night’s shooting that left 18 people dead and 13 others wounded, joined the Army in 2002 and was a petroleum supply specialist, CNN said in a report.
He had no combat deployments, Army records show, but had extensive firearms training and was an “outdoorsy type of guy” who “would be very comfortable in the woods,” Clifford Steeves, who trained and served with Card in the reserves, told the outlet.
“He’s a very nice guy – very quiet,” Steeves said. “He never used his authority excessively or was cruel or rude to other soldiers. It’s really unsettling.”
He said Card always seemed like a “rational, understanding person.”
Steeves said the two trained in Wisconsin, Georgia and New York — among other locations — with Card showing a knack for the outdoors.
But authorities and relatives said the suspected gunman also had demons and spent two weeks in a mental health facility over the summer.
Robert Card, 40, is a skilled marksman and trained outdoorsman who joined the US Army Reserve in 2002. Lewiston Maine Police Department
Card’s unit was deployed to the Camp Smith Training Center near the military academy at West Point when he began “behaving erratically” on July 17, a US Department of Defense official told ABC-TV News.
“Out of concern for his safety, the unit requested that law enforcement be contacted,” the official said.
The Card family also recorded a downward spiral.
Federal, state, county and local authorities have launched a manhunt for Card following the mass shooting in Maine. CJ GUNTHER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
“He really believed he heard people say something,” his sister-in-law, Katie O’Neill, told the Daily Beast. “This has all just happened in the last few months.”
According to the Washington Post, Card was also an engineering technology student at the University of Maine from 2001 to 2004 but did not graduate.
Police in Maine say Card walked into the Just-In-Time Recreation Bowl in Lewiston shortly before 7 p.m. Wednesday and allegedly opened fire with an assault rifle, killing seven people.
Minutes later, he allegedly rammed into Schengees Bar & Grille about two miles away, killing seven others inside the establishment and one outside.
Card allegedly stormed the Just-In-Time Recreation Bowl and Shemegees Bar and Grille in Lewiston, Maine, on Wednesday night with an assault rifle, killing 18 people and injuring 13 others before fleeing. AP Car’s sister-in-law said that “she really believed she heard people say something.” CJ GUNTHER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Three others wounded at the two sites were later pronounced dead at area hospitals, while another 13 people were injured by gunfire – including a 10-year-old girl.
Federal, state, county and local authorities are hunting the Cards.
“We believe this is someone who should not be approached,” Maine State Police Col. William Ross said at a press briefing today.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
