May 24—LEWISTON — The chief of the Maine State Police on Friday morning followed up with members of the commission investigating the Lewiston mass shooting about their frustrations with leaked information in the early hours of the search for the shooter.
Col. William Ross told the commission about two leaks — one of a police report about shooter Robert Card and another of a note found at Card’s residence the day after the shooting.
Ross said the leaks were unfortunate and could have undermined the investigation by providing Card, or people who could have helped him, with information about what police knew. But he said it would be “like finding a needle in a haystack” to try to find out who was responsible.
Leaks of confidential information are not something the agency deals with in a typical investigation, but the demand for information about the mass shooting and the number of police officers and agents involved allowed it to happen, he said.
“We don’t have leaks and those issues when we come to Lewiston to work a homicide… I think it’s just the volume of people coming in,” Ross said. “It happens.”
Ross, who is among a half-dozen members of the state police speaking to the commission at Lewiston City Hall, also described the agency’s communications with the public and how it coordinated with other law enforcement agencies in the wake of the tragedy. He presented a timeline of social media posts, describing the information they contained and what their purpose was.
“Communications is a broad topic and can always be improved, no matter what the case,” he said.
Committee members will also be able to hear from Maj. Scott Gosselin, sergeant, on Friday. Greg Mitchell, Sergeant. Greg Roy and Lt. Lucas Hare.
The meeting, the latest in a series of public hearings held by the commission, is available to watch live on the city’s YouTube page.
This is the second time the commission has met publicly with the Maine State Police. In February, agency members described the search for shooter Robert Card in the two days following the shooting. Card’s body was found on the night of October 27 in a trailer at a recycling plant in Lisbon.
Police told the commission in February that they were inundated with tips and leads and had to scramble to create a command center and coordinate hundreds of officers from different agencies. They described chaotic scenes and defended decisions made during the search for the suspect, including an order not to immediately approach his car in case it was a trap.
The commission, appointed by Gov. Janet Mills and Attorney General Aaron Frey, is tasked with investigating the events leading up to the shooting that killed 18 people and injured 13 others, the law enforcement response to it and whether more could have been done to stop the card.
An interim report on the commission’s work was released in March, focusing primarily on the actions of the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office and its response to reported concerns about Card’s mental health in the months before the shooting.
The interim report concluded that local authorities had enough information to place Card in protective custody and initiate the yellow flag law to take away his weapons before the tragedy.
Since releasing the interim report, the commission has heard from members of the U.S. Army Reserve, of which Card was a member, the former chief medical examiner of Maine, victims and members of Card’s family.
This story will be updated.
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