‘Find the failures and plug the holes’: Families, survivors of Lewiston shooting testify before fact-finding commission – The Boston Globe

Many said confirmations from law enforcement that their loved ones had been killed came too late, following hours of worry and, for some, after they had already heard the news from family and friends.

Elizabeth Seal, whose husband, Joshua Seal, was killed at Schemengees Bar and Grille, said the deaf community was especially excluded from early communications, including alerts that the shooting had taken place.

“I was just driving around looking for my husband. I was making calls to the hospitals,” Seal, who is deaf, signed, her words translated by interpreter Grace Cooney. Eventually, Seal made it to a reunification center officials had set up, but “there were no interpreters there.”

She called Joshua Seal a “family man” who was “continuously busy,” and who dedicated his life to advocating for better access for the deaf community.

“Ironically, all these issues regarding access came to life on this fateful day,” Seal said.

The seven-member commission, made up of legal experts and mental health professionals, is tasked with reviewing law enforcement’s response to and the events leading up to the Oct. 25 shooting, when Robert Card II killed 18 people — the deadliest mass shooting in Maine’s history. Those close to Card warned local law enforcement that he was behaving erratically in the months before the attack.

Seal and others said law enforcement seemed to ignore clear warning signs about Card, an army reservist. Last week, officials from the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Department testified that they behaved appropriately in the months preceding the deadly attacks.

Kathleen Walker, widow of Jason Walker, told the commission it would learn, through the sheriff’s testimony and testimonies expected from members of the Army next month, that there were “several opportunities” to take Card’s firearms away.

“I need all of you as a commission to find the failures and plug the holes,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes.

Walker recalled watching her husband charge at Card, attempting to take his gun when it appeared to jam, before being shot in the head. Card fired twice more, she said.

Despite being there, Walker said she did not get confirmation of her husband’s death for 15 hours, when local police pulled up to her home.

All those who testified praised the work of Maine’s Victim Witness Services unit, which has provided support to impacted individuals.

Commission Chair Daniel E. Wathen, former chief justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, has said he hopes to have a written report of the tragedy completed by May. At the body’s first meeting, he said that “certainly is a daunting task, but it is a task that each of us owe to the people of Maine.”

The commission’s third meeting comes days after Maine Governor Janet Mills’ State of the State address, where she pledged $5 million for a fund to pay for the long-term medical needs of those injured in the shootings.

Last week, Mills and Attorney General Aaron Frey proposed emergency legislation that would give the commission subpoena power to request documents, compel individuals to testify, and appeal to the state Superior Court should anyone refuse to comply.

The Maine House of Representatives and Senate each sent the bill to the judiciary committee, which held a public hearing on Monday and a work session Wednesday, which lasted more than 6 hours as committee members weighed the urgency of the commission’s investigation with concerns about government oversight. After hours of deliberation and multiple breaks to caucus, the committee unanimously voted in favor of the bill, with amendments including a July 1 sunsetting of the commission’s subpoena power and a note that the decision to grant said power should not be viewed as precedential by future legislatures.

Mills’s and Frey’s emergency bill would go into effect immediately upon receiving two-thirds vote from Maine lawmakers. It’s not yet clear when the bill will get a formal vote in the state Congress.

Mills announced the formation of the commission just days after the shooting, as questions continued to mount about how multiple warnings about Card did not prevent him from carrying out his assault on a bowling alley and a bar in Maine’s second-largest city.

Sheriff Joel Merry told the board last week that his deputies were warned not to engage with Card directly during wellness checks and “believed that the matter with Mr. Card had been resolved.”

He and four other members of the department said they acted in line with protocol and had limited legal authority to take him into custody.

Merry said that if there were any action he or his team could take to bring back those killed in Lewiston, they would do it, “no question, no hesitation.”

“But there isn’t,” the sheriff said.

Thursday’s meeting begins at 8:30 a.m. in room 101 of the Deering government building, located at 90 Bloom Lane in Augusta. It will also be livestreamed via Zoom.

Daniel Kool can be reached at daniel.kool@globe.com. Follow him @dekool01.