Police video shows police knew Maine shooter was a threat. They also felt confronting him was unsafe

PORTLAND, Maine — Police in Maine feared that confronting an Army reservist prior to the worst mass shooting in state history would “throw a stick of dynamite on a pool of gas,” according to video footage released by law enforcement.

The footage release on Friday documents a call between Sgt. Aaron Skolfield of the Sagadoc County Sheriff’s Office and Army Reserve Capt. Jeremy Reamer. Skolfield was following up with Reamer about the potential threat posed by Robert Card, a 40-year-old Army reservist from the Lewiston area.

Skolfield mentioned Maine’s yellow flag law after Reamer said Card had refused medical treatment after his hospitalization during his Army service. Under Maine’s yellow flag law, a warning to police can trigger a process where an officer visits an individual and makes a judgment call on whether that person should be placed in temporary protective custody, triggering assessments that with a judge’s approval can lead to a 14-day weapons restriction. A full court hearing could lead to an extension of restrictions for up to a year.

Reamer echoed the idea that officers could get hurt if they went further to make sure Card wasn’t a threat: “I’m a cop myself. … Obviously, I don’t want to want you guys to get hurt or do anything that would that would put you guys in a compromising position have to make a decision.”

The videos were released to the Portland Press Herald and then sent to The Associated Press on Friday.

Card committed the deadliest mass shooting in Maine history when he killed 18 people at a bowling alley and a bar on Oct. 25 in Lewiston.

Card’s body was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound two days after the shootings. Reports soon began to emerge that he had spent two weeks in a psychiatric hospital months before the attacks and had amassed weapons.