Liam Kent, a Maine resident who is familiar with Robert Card, the person of interest in the Lewiston shootings, said that Card and his family are "gun fanatics." He also went on to claim that people around town knew to "stay away" from the family.

Robert Card is now officially a suspect.

Liam Kent, a Maine resident who is familiar with Robert Card, the person of interest in the Lewiston shootings, said that Card and his family are “gun fanatics.” He also went on to claim that people around town knew to “stay away” from the family.

  • Hegar@kbin.social
    743·
    8 months ago

    At this stage I doubt he’ll be taken in alive but I really hope he gets a chance to publicly profess his support for trump and Q.

    I reckon 50/50 he says trump appeared to him in a dream and told him to do it.

    • ProfessorProteus@lemmy.worldEnglish
      30·
      8 months ago

      I also hope he ties himself to the rest of his fellow lunatics, but they’ll simply say he’s a Democrat plant or some shit. “Lone wolf” at the very least. It’s all so tiresome

    • girlfreddy@lemmy.ca
      141·
      8 months ago

      Canadian Border Patrol is on the lookout for him as well. Here’s hoping somebody finds him soon.

    • Nougat@kbin.socialOP
      92·
      8 months ago

      I’ve heard that he’d recently lost a job and a girlfriend. The two locations were places they would go together. He may have been looking for her, just lashing out, or both. So it’s entirely possible that his primary motivations were not political.

      Clearly, being mentally unstable can cause you to believe very weird things. When those weird things are even tacitly approved of by people, it’s a lot easier to start believing them, and slide down that rabbit hole. Extremist politics is one of those kind of things.

    • quicksand@lemm.ee
      3·
      8 months ago

      He’ll continue describing the dream and how Trump told him the next time/place where JFK will appear. And a bunch of people will show up

  • Nougat@kbin.socialOP
    747·
    8 months ago

    From the video - Card and his associates (family, too?) are described as “right-wing militia.” Local law enforcement had to have already been aware of them. That police were all “We have no idea who did this” is absolute bullshit. The moment the first call came in, they had to know immediately who they needed to go find and talk to.

    • FlowVoid@lemmy.worldEnglish
      672·
      8 months ago

      Maybe they knew who to ask first, but I think it would be inappropriate for government officials to publicly point fingers at the “crazy guy” without first asking some questions. Like, for instance, was the crazy guy somewhere else at the time? Nobody wants a repeat of the Richard Jewell fiasco.

      • holiday@lemmy.worldEnglish
        52·
        8 months ago

        But local crazy guy with lots of guns is usually a great place to start.

      • Nougat@kbin.socialOP
        1523·
        8 months ago

        If that were the case, they would have said that there were identified persons of interest that they needed to talk to, without releasing those identities publicly.

        No, they knew who these well-known local armed right-wing militia people were, and decided to slow walk it for at least 24 hours several hours.

        Some of those who work forces are the ones who burn crosses.

        • FlowVoid@lemmy.worldEnglish
          45·
          8 months ago

          They immediately released a photo, so it’s not true that they “had no idea” who did it. Everyone knew it was a white middle-aged male. And I don’t recall them saying “we have no leads on this man’s identity”. They simply didn’t want to publicly identify the person in the photo without corroborating evidence.

          decided to slow walk it for at least 24 hours

          Even as we discuss this, it’s been less than 24 hours since the shootings.

          Card was publicly identified by 11pm, about four hours after the shootings.

          • Nougat@kbin.socialOP
            67·
            8 months ago

            You’re right, and I have corrected my comment appropriately. Its point still stands.

        • bioemerl@kbin.social
          11·
          8 months ago

          Police can’t just jump to wild ass conclusions like this. You’re asking for police state tactics here.

        • SheeEttin@lemmy.worldEnglish
          10·
          8 months ago

          That doesn’t mean they knew where they were after the shooting. That’s why they release identifying info.

          • Nougat@kbin.socialOP
            35·
            8 months ago

            That’s not the point. What the police said, when there’s a mass shooter at large and a shelter in place order, was “We have no idea who did this, call with tips.” What they did not say was “We have identified persons of interest that we are seeking to talk to in relation to these incidents.”

            Remember that very early on, reporting was that there was a third shooting location at a WalMart distribution center (which seems to be off the table now, not sure why), and that there could be multiple perpetrators. They knew who they needed to talk to, and they chose not to ease the public concern at all by communicating that.

    • athos77@kbin.social
      37·
      8 months ago

      Devil’s advocate: it’s likely there are other militia members in the area, and that many of them are also middle-aged white guys.

      • phx@lemmy.world
        5·
        8 months ago

        Yeah, dude may have been over of several people who could’ve gone postal. Kinda like when a sex crime is committed the cops might know likely persons in the area (those with priors) but they still have to check into them to figure out which one or if there’s a new PoS they hadn’t come across yet

    • kayrae_42@lemmy.world
      151·
      8 months ago

      Maine police has done what they always do. He has been hearing voices, he is mentally ill so it’s obviously that and nothing else! but his family and colleagues say his mental health only started to decline this summer, he even had an inpatient stay, and they didn’t take his guns. Let’s ignore the mass exodus of mental health professionals in this state, how Maine police won’t take guns away from clearly unstable people, or how they bully people with known diagnosed mental illness.

      Our state has a lot of holes in the system. It feels like it’s on purpose at this point. It’s really hard to have a mental illness here and not be afraid for your safety.

      • ghostdoggtv@lemmy.world
        4·
        8 months ago

        The right wing fully intends to drive this country into the fucking ground and it starts with the types of cops who refuse to enforce legitimate regulations.

    • kent_eh@lemmy.caEnglish
      11·
      8 months ago

      That police were all “We have no idea who did this” is absolute bullshit.

      If there is an active incident in progress, do you really think it’s a good idea for the police to show all their cards immediately?

      They have to assume the shooter has access to the same news we do, and if the police can give him a false sense of security during the initial hunt, maybe he’ll get overconfident and be easier to find quicker?

      • Nougat@kbin.socialOP
        77·
        8 months ago

        As I mentioned elsewhere, when there is an active shooter at large, and a shelter in place order, your immediate duty is to address the concerns of the public. Communicating that you have person(s) of interest that you are seeking to talk to - without identifying those persons - serves that purpose.

        • quicksand@lemm.ee
          2·
          8 months ago

          “Your immediate duty” – ok so we know the cops aren’t doing the rest of what you described