NEW YORK POST
Deranged Maine mass shooter Robert Card had repeatedly claimed he could hear voices in his head calling him a “pedophile” and was paranoid people were “casing” his home in the months before he massacred 18 people, police reports obtained by The Post show.
The 40-year-old gunman’s family were among the first to alert authorities about his erratic behavior after he started verbally lashing out at them and once opened the door to them brandishing a gun, according to at least two Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office incident reports.
Card, who according to his relatives had been drinking heavily in the lead up to last week’s mass shooting in Lewiston, had become so paranoid that people were calling him a pedophile that he’d talked about wanting to hire a lawyer.
The Maine National Guard, too, had become so concerned about the US Army reservist they’d urged local authorities to carry out a welfare check because fellow soldiers feared Card would “snap and commit a mass shooting.”
Card’s son and his ex-wife had also flagged their concerns about his deteriorating mental health to the local sheriff’s office back in May, an initial incident report shows.
They noted the issues, which started as early as January, had escalated of late and that the son now believed his father was likely “hearing voices or starting to experience paranoia” because he thought people were saying derogatory things about about him out in public.
Card’s family and authorities noted that his mental issues emerged around the same time he had got high-powered hearing aids after his hearing had significantly deteriorated.
On one occasion, the son said his father became “very angry” at him and and accused him of also saying things behind his back, the incident report said.
Card’s ex-wife also told cops her former husband had recently picked up 10-15 handguns and rifles that used to be stored at his brother’s house — and that she was “very worried” about her son spending time with his dad, the report states.
In a separate interview with authorities, Card’s brother said the gunman had recently opened the door to relatives armed with one of the guns and had been talking about people outside casing his home.
The brother added that Card often opened the door to his trailer with a handgun hidden out of sight, the report said.
