‘I am capable’: Chilling body camera footage shows Lewiston mass shooter Robert Card speaking with troopers
8 Investigates has obtained police body camera footage of an interview with eventual Lewiston mass shooter Robert Card.
*The full 15-minute video between Card and troopers is embedded in the story below*
Maine's Total Coverage investigative reporter Terry Stackhouse is reviewing multiple videos capturing the July interaction between New York State Police and Card.
The video, obtained through a freedom of information request, shows what happened before Card's two-week mental health hospitalization.
It shows the moment Card was ordered to go to an Army facility at West Point before eventually being transferred to a civilian psychiatric hospital.
TROOPER: "I hope you understand that they’re concerned enough about your welfare that they called us."
CARD: “Oh, because they’re scared — because I’m going to, friggin, do something. Because I am capable.”
TROOPER: “What do you mean by that?”
CARD: “Huh?”
TROOPER: “What do you mean by that?”
CARD: “Nothing.”
THE FULL INTERVIEW BETWEEN CARD AND TROOPERS:
(Warning: The video below is unedited by Maine's Total Coverage)
Three months before Card opened fire at two locations in Lewiston, killing 18 and wounding more than a dozen others, members of his Army Reserve unit called New York State Police.
“Our concern is he is going to hurt himself or someone else," a reservist says in the video.
The reservists, whose names and faces are redacted, describe their years-long relationship with Card and tell troopers there has been a dramatic shift in his mental state in recent months.
“He spent a lot of money on guns. He spent $14 grand on a scope,” a reservist said.
Troopers go inside the building, where Card answers the door. He is captured sitting down on the bed and states he's hearing people talk behind his back and everywhere.
For three months, Card says he's been wearing hearing aids.
TROOPER: “What kind of stuff were they saying at work?”
CARD: “That I’m gay. I’m a pedophile. I like little boys. I like little girls.”
The troopers go on to tell Card he has been ordered by a commander to speak with a counselor.
“I would rather have people stop talking and stop looking at me. I’m a (expletive) private person. I don’t my (expletive) out there,” Card said.
The troopers walk Card out of the building before being driven to the hospital in a private vehicle with State Police following behind.
He mentions that after 20 years in the Reserve, he's close to retirement.
TROOPER: “Are you going to make it to retirement?”
CARD: “I’m hoping.”
TROOPER: "Don’t do anything to jeopardize that, alright?”
New York State Police told Maine's Total Coverage repeatedly that their involvement with Card ended after following him to the Army hospital.
>> 'Warning signs were ignored': Families share heartbreak to Lewiston Mass Shootings commission
We reported earlier this week the Army gave approval for members of Card's reserve unit to testify before the committee investigating the Lewiston mass shooting.