Police alerted three weeks ago about Maine shooter's threats

Police in Maine received an alert last month about "veiled threats" by U.S. Army reservist Robert Card, who went on last week to carry out one of the largest mass shootings in U.S. history when he killed 18 people in the town of Lewiston. 

Two local law enforcement chiefs said agencies statewide received an awareness alert about Card, 40, in mid-September after the firearms instructor threatened his base and fellow soldiers, but after Card was not located despite increased patrols and a visit to his home, officials moved on, The Associated Press reported Saturday.

"We added extra patrols, we did that for about two weeks. ... The guy never showed up," Saco Police Chief Jack Clements, whose town is where Card's U.S. Army Reserve base was located, said. 

Sagadahoc County Sheriff Joel Merry, whose department oversees Card's home in Bowdoin, said the Army Reserve made his agency aware of Card's threats in September, and that he sent out the state-wide alert after his deputy did not find the reservist during a welfare check of his home.

“We couldn’t locate him," Merry said. He also said he did not recall whether the issue was followed up, explaining, "I don’t have any reports in front of me."

Clements described the alert as a "generic thing that came out saying, hey, you know, we’ve had some report that this guy’s made some veiled threats."

He also said his agency gets many similar alerts, and that his officers gave its due attention to the one on Card.

"Never came in contact with this guy, never received any phone calls from the reserve center saying, 'Hey, we got somebody who was causing a problem,'" Clements said. "We never got anything."

Card was found dead on Friday after he killed 18 people on Wednesday in multiple locations of Lewiston.

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