(Ken Silva, Headline USA) After initial reports that alleged Maine mass shooter Robert Card was found dead in the woods with two gunshot wounds to the head, media outlets are now in lockstep that he was discovered in a dumpster with only one, apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Of course, initial reports are often incorrect when it comes to quickly developing events such as mass shootings. But in this case, the media that initially reported two gunshot wounds have stealth-edited their articles, rather than issuing corrections explaining why the initial “error” was made.
The conflicting reports about the gunshot wounds is one of many anomalies springing from the Card case.
The Washington Post also reported Saturday that law enforcement had already searched the recycling center where Card’s body was discovered twice before. It was only on the third search—the day after the first two searches—that the body was found.
“Maine police had twice searched and cleared a recycling center before they found the body,” the Post reported.
“The body was discovered only after the center’s owner called local police to say that Army reservist Robert Card was familiar with the property, urging investigators to check the trailers in an overflow parking lot across the street from the main facility,” the newspaper added.
“The [police] commissioner rebuffed a question about whether the police should have searched that area sooner, saying they did not know it was connected to the recycling center.”
Additionally, more bizarre details are trickling out about Card, a U.S. Army Reservist who had been committed to a mental health facility for two weeks in the summer of 2023. The Daily Mail further reported on Friday that Card had been prescribed a hearing aid, which he claimed “allowed him to hear people criticizing him at Schemengee’s Bar,” where he allegedly carried out his second shooting.
And then there’s the incident itself. Card is said to have killed at least seven people at a bowling alley at 6:56 p.m. last Wednesday, before speeding 4.2 miles to Schemengee’s Bar to kill eight more by 7:08 p.m.
I'm almost willing to bet these two events were not in sequence and were simultaneous. pic.twitter.com/XvdEZfmiq9
— Not That Guy (@JolyonKlebold) October 28, 2023
Meanwhile, Associated Press revealed that Maine police had knowledge since last month of “veiled threats” made by Card.
“We added extra patrols, we did that for about two weeks … The guy never showed up,” said Jack Clements, the police chief in Saco, where Card trained. Clements appeared to downplay the severity of the threats, saying that this department received a lot of similar alerts.
Adding another twist to the plot, the FBI has denied any prior knowledge of Card before the tragic incident. The bureau told the AP that it “did not have nor did it receive any tips or information concerning Robert Card.” The bureau claimed that its background check system “was not provided with or in possession of any information that would have prohibited Card from a lawful firearm purchase.”
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
