Army reservist who warned about Maine killer before shootings to testify before investigators

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — A U.S. Army reservist who sounded the clearest warning ahead of Maine’s deadliest mass shooting is expected to answer questions Thursday from the commission investigating the tragedy.

Six weeks before Robert Card killed 18 people at a bar and bowling alley in Lewiston, his best friend and fellow reservist Sean Hodgson texted their supervisors, telling them to change the passcode to the gate at their Army Reserve training facility and arm themselves if Card showed up.

“I believe he’s going to snap and do a mass shooting,” Hodgson wrote on Sept. 15.

That message came months after relatives had warned police that Card had grown paranoid and said they were concerned about his access to guns. The failure of authorities to remove guns from Card’s possession in the weeks before the shooting has become the subject of a monthslong investigation in the state, which also has passed new gun safety laws since the tragedy.