According to a government investigation, the U.S. Army Reserve and Maine State Police missed the opportunity to intervene before a man committed a mass murder in 2023 that killed 18 people.

An independent commission released its final report on Tuesday, saying that local army and police officials were aware that Robert Card was suffering from a mental health crisis in the months before the shooting.

However, the officers did not heed warnings about the 40-year-old’s mental state and did not take away his weapons, the commission wrote.

On October 25, 2023, the U.S. Army reservist opened fire on a bowling alley and a bar in Lewiston, causing the deadliest shooting in Maine history.

Card, a former hand grenade instructor, led police on a three-day manhunt before he was found dead.

“We will never know whether he would have committed the mass murder even if someone had managed to take his firearms away from him before October 25,” Daniel Wathen, former chief justice of Maine and chairman of the commission, told reporters on Tuesday.

“However, the Commission agrees that there were several options which, if exploited, could potentially have changed the course of these tragic events.”

The 215-page report states that police had the authority to confiscate Card’s weapons and take him into protective custody weeks before the shooting under Maine’s Yellow Flag Law.

However, the findings were particularly critical of the leaders of the local Army Reserve units, who, according to Wathen, failed to “exercise their authority over him and take the necessary steps to reduce the threat he posed to the public.”

The US Army Reserve told the BBC that administrative action had been taken against three officers due to failures in Card’s chain of command.

It was also said that the Army Reserve was making changes to its mental health program and leadership training.

“We remain deeply saddened by these events and continue to mourn with the people of Maine, the victims and their families,” said spokesman Bryce Dubee.

The report found that Card’s supervisor knew months before the shooting that Card was suffering from auditory hallucinations, behaving aggressively, collecting weapons and making “ominous comments.”

“They ignored the urgent recommendations of Card’s psychiatrists to continue to care for him and take steps to remove weapons from his home,” Wathen said.

The Army Reserve also failed to share information about Card’s threatening behavior with other appropriate authorities, including the sheriff’s office. Mr. Wathen said some of the commission’s requests for information to the Army remain unanswered.

The Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office had previously stated that the Army Reserve withheld important information from law enforcement, preventing officials from taking appropriate action.

However, the report says state authorities had enough information to confiscate Card’s firearms by September 2023 without the Army’s help.

The commission offers the most detailed picture yet of Card’s final months and the shooting.

In May 2023, family members first reported to the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office that he was displaying anger, paranoia, and erratic behavior.

The sheriff’s office said it had raised these concerns with a senior officer in Card’s Army Reserve unit.

However, according to the investigation, there is no evidence that the officer inquired with Card or contacted the Army Reserve’s psychological assistance program.

Card’s family repeatedly tried unsuccessfully to contact Army Reserve officials.

Card was sentenced to a psychiatric evaluation in July 2023 after attempting to attack another member of his unit during a training trip in New York.

But even after doctors advised his superiors that he needed more monitoring and care, those in charge of the ward took no further action on Card’s behalf.

A friend who had also been unexpectedly punched in the face by Card texted members of the unit in September of that year: “I think he’s about to freak out and commit a massacre.”