Maine

Maine mass shooter had a brain injury. Experts say that doesn't explain his violence.

Published

2 years ago

March 8, 2024

Maine mass shooter had a brain injury. Experts say that doesn't explain his violence.

BOSTON (AP) — Brain injury experts are cautioning against drawing conclusions from newly released and limited information about evidence of a brain injury in an Army reservist who killed 18 people last year in Maine’s deadliest mass shooting.

Boston University researchers who analyzed a sample of Robert Card’s brain tissue said Wednesday they found evidence of traumatic brain injury. The analysis, requested by the Maine medical examiner, found degeneration in the nerve fibers allowing communication between different areas of the brain, inflammation and small blood vessel injury, according to Dr. Ann McKee of the university’s Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) Center.

Card had been an instructor at an Army hand grenade training range, where it is believed he was exposed to repeated low-level blasts. It is unknown if that caused Card’s brain injury and what role the injury may have played in his declining mental health before he opened fire at a bowling alley and bar in Lewiston on Oct. 25.

McKee made no connection between the injury and Card’s violent actions.

“While I cannot say with certainty that these pathological findings underlie Mr. Card’s behavioral changes in the last 10 months of life, based on our previous work, brain injury likely played a role in his symptoms,” McKee said in a statement released by the Card family.

Dr. Alexandra Filippakis, a neurologist who has treated members of the military and others for traumatic brain injuries, said Thursday she would not conclude brain injury played a role in Card’s behavior based on McKee’s description of her findings.

“TBI is a very broad diagnosis, and it looks different in different people. Not everybody has the same symptoms. Not everybody has the same severity of symptoms,” Filippakis said. “There’s no way that you could, with certainty, link that to a particular action.”

Filippakis, who works at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover, New Hampshire, said the connectivity damage McKee described is common and can have many causes, including aging, high blood pressure and smoking.

“That could mean so many different things,” she said. “You certainly can’t draw any conclusions from that piece of information.”

But James Stone, a University of Virginia radiologist who has studied repeated low-level blast exposure in the military, said changes to Card’s brain “seemed pretty profound.”

Such injuries can affect impulse control and emotional regulation, he said, and though he doesn’t know if those parts of Card’s brain were affected, “it’s certainly hard to imagine that the level of brain changes that we’re seeing in some way did not contribute to his behavior.”

Chris Dulla, a professor and interim chair of neuroscience at Tufts School of Medicine, said he was surprised that researchers found no evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which has plagued many professional football players.

“It doesn’t seem to be as cut and dry,” he said. “What that speaks to is how varied traumatic brain injuries are, and how difficult they can be to diagnose, even in the postmortem brain sample, when you can study every detail.”

The findings highlight the connection between brain injuries and underlying psychological conditions, Dulla said.

“If you’re already struggling with some kind of psychiatric condition or at risk for some kind of psychiatric problem, brain injuries might be something that can kind of push you over the edge and have that change really come front and center when it might have been sort of a minor underlying thing before,” he said.

Experts say traumatic brain injury can lead to headaches, mood changes, memory loss and sleep issues. Stone said his research has shown repeated exposure to even low-level blasts can result in changes to the brain. The Department of Defense has been “very engaged” in studying the issue, Stone said, and a panel on which he serves is expected to release new guidelines in May for both the U.S. military and NATO allies.

“They’ve been very proactive about this,” he said.

An Army spokesperson on Thursday called the lab findings regarding Card “concerning” and said they “underscore the Army’s need to do all it can to protect Soldiers against blast-induced injury.”

In addition to updating the guidance on risk mitigation, the Army plans to launch a public safety campaign and will begin requiring documentation of training environments and tracking of exposed personnel.

Sean Hodgson, Card’s close friend and a fellow reservist, said Thursday that safety was a top priority at their training range and the blast exercises were well controlled.

“You feel it through you, but it’s mild,” he said.

“I never heard him complain about the blasts,” Hodgson said. “In my opinion it’s one of the safest ranges to be on. I never heard him complain about the blasts.”

Six weeks before the shooting, Hodgson texted an Army supervisor about his growing concerns about Card, saying, “I believe he’s going to snap and do a mass shooting.”

That Sept. 15 message came months after relatives warned police that Card had grown paranoid and said they were concerned about his access to guns.

Card was hospitalized in a psychiatric unit for two weeks in July after shoving a fellow reservist and locking himself in a motel room. In August, the Army barred him from handling weapons while on duty and declared him nondeployable.

In their first public comments since the shooting, Card’s family members apologized Wednesday for the attack, saying they are heartbroken for the victims, survivors and their loved ones.

“We are hurting for you and with you, and it is hard to put into words how badly we wish we could undo what happened,” they said in a statement. “While we cannot go back, we are releasing the findings of Robert’s brain study with the goal of supporting ongoing efforts to learn from this tragedy to ensure it never happens again.”

___

Ramer reported from Concord, New Hampshire.

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Maine

Women’s Hockey Skates To 1-1 Tie Against Maine – Providence College Athletics

Published

7 hours ago

November 2, 2025

Press Room

Women’s Hockey Skates To 1-1 Tie Against Maine – Providence College Athletics

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Providence College women’s hockey team skated to a 1-1 tie against the University of Maine on Saturday, Nov. 1 at Schneider Arena. The Friars are now 3-6-1 overall and 1-2-1 in Hockey East play, while the Black Bears move to 2-6-1 and 0-1-1. Senior Reichen Kirchmair (Oakville, Ontario) scored the lone goal for Providence, her eighth of the season.

SCORE
Providence – 1 | Maine – 1

RECORDS
Providence – 3-6-1 (1-2-1 HEAW) | Maine – 2-6-1 (0-1-1 HEAW)

VENUE
Schneider Arena | Providence, R.I.

GAME FLOW & NOTES

-The teams skated scoreless through the first period, with Maine holding an 11-4 edge in shots on goal. The Friars successfully killed off three penalties, including a five-on-three for 19 seconds.

-Providence opened the scoring on the power play to start the second period. Senior Reichen Kirchmair (Oakville, Ontario) found the back of the net, assisted by junior Audrey Knapp (Stevens Point, Wis.) and senior Cristina Cavaliere (Mississauga, Ontario). It marked Kirchmair’s team-leading eighth goal of the season.

-Maine tied the game just 34 seconds later on a goal from Frederikke Foss, assisted by Ali Altiman and Danielle Brunette.

-The teams played a scoreless third period to send the game to overtime, marking the Friars’ third overtime contest in their last four games.

-Neither team scored in overtime, resulting in a 1-1 tie. It was Providence’s first tie since Nov. 16, 2024, against Vermont.

-In the shootout, graduate student goaltender Hope Walinski (Lincoln, R.I.) stopped two shots, while Knapp and sophomore Jessie Pellerin (Bowmanville, Ontario) each scored to give Providence the extra point.

-Walinski finished with 30 saves in net for the Friars.

STAT COMPARISON

Providence – 1

Shots: 26

Face-offs: 27/45

Power plays: 1/1

Penalty Kill: 5/5

Maine – 1

Shots: 33

Face-offs: 18/45

Power plays: 0/5

Penalty Kill: 0/1

PC GAME HIGHS

Shots on Goal: Davies (5)

Blocks: Clarke (3)

Goals: Kirchmair (1)

Assists: Cavaliere, Knapp (1)

Points: Cavaliere, Kirchmair, Knapp (1)

UP NEXT

The Friars return to action next weekend with a home-and-home series against the University of New Hampshire in Hockey East play. Providence will travel to Durham, N.H. on Friday, Nov. 7 at 6:00 p.m. before hosting the Wildcats on Saturday, Nov. 8 at 2:00 p.m. at Schneider Arena.

For more updates on the Providence women’s hockey program, follow the team on Twitter and Instagram @PCWHockey.

– GO FRIARS –

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Maine

Maine mother who lost daughter to leukemia awarded $25m in wrongful death suit

Published

2 days ago

October 31, 2025

Press Room

Maine mother who lost daughter to leukemia awarded m in wrongful death suit

A civil jury in Maine has awarded $25m to a woman whose teenage daughter died from leukemia after being misdiagnosed with a condition linked to steroid-using men.

The hefty verdict delivered in favor of Lyndsey Sutherland on Thursday called for her to receive $10m for the wrongful 2021 death of 15-year-old Jasmine “Jazzy” Vincent as well as $15m for pain and suffering, said her attorney, Meryl Poulin.

Poulin said on Friday that the verdict could be appealed, and an applicable Maine state law caps wrongful death damages at $750,000. Nonetheless, Poulin said, she hoped the amount awarded to her client sends “a clear message that Maine juries are willing to hold medical providers accountable when they fail to meet minimum standards of care”.

“There are so many and yet so few words to capture the impact of this result,” Poulin added in a statement to the Guardian. “Watching Lyndsey continue to push year after year, uphill, against the odds, to get justice for her daughter was beyond inspiring. This result was possible because of her unbelievable perseverance and determination to obtain justice for Jazzy.

“I hope that this verdict will finally bring some peace and closure for the tragic loss of this beautiful, innocent 15-year-old girl.”

Jazzy was initially diagnosed with pneumonia after becoming ill on 14 July 2021, according to reporting from the Maine news outlet WMTW.

A doctor with the Mid Coast Medical Group later concluded Jazzy had gynecomastia, which is an increase in breast tissue that is frequently found in men who use anabolic steroids, as noted by Maine’s Portland Press Herald.

Jazzy subsequently died of cardiac arrest on 1 August 2021, a little more than two weeks after she first indicated she felt sick. It was later determined that Jazzy’s death resulted from a buildup of fluid stemming from acute lymphoblastic leukemia, which Sutherland’s attorneys contended was a common kind of pediatric cancer that responds well to treatment if diagnosed appropriately. Sutherland ultimately sued Mid Coast, alleging negligence in the death of Jazzy, who lived in Maine’s New Gloucester area.

Attempts to contact Mid Coast Medical Group for comment were not immediately successful. But WMTW reported that Mid Coast’s attorneys maintained that medical personnel are tasked with making many decisions daily, and honest mistakes should not be punished.

Mid Coast’s attorneys also argued that another provider who first saw Jazzy had some responsibility as well.

Jurors sided with Sutherland after a trial that began on Monday.

Sutherland testified during the trial, according to the Press Herald.

“I don’t want anybody [else] to have to do this,” Sutherland reportedly said on the witness stand while discussing why she was pursuing her lawsuit. “Nobody should have to do this.”

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Maine

These Maine students are sinking to the bottom

Published

2 days ago

October 31, 2025

Press Room

These Maine students are sinking to the bottom

Maine, once a national competitor in student achievement, now sits at or below the national average for standardized test performance.

While scores nationwide have dropped since the COVID-19 pandemic, Maine student performance has been sliding for more than a decade.

And a Maine Monitor analysis of 20 years of student test scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, showed that some students are sinking to the bottom faster than others. Low-income students and children with disabilities saw peak test scores on the NAEP starting around 2007. Then these students started to see huge losses.

Between 2007 and 2024, the portion of all Maine students reaching at least a partial, basic level of understanding of reading and math fell more than 14 percent.

But the percentage of students with disabilities reaching the same, bare-minimum performance level or higher fell more than 32 percent — in some subjects more than 40 percent. The group of low-income students meeting that level, meanwhile, fell more than 23 percent.

The percentage of Maine test takers performing at a basic level or more is lower than the national average. (The NAEP results are only presented as percentages, not total numbers, and the exact loss in performance depends on the subject and grade level.)

The Maine Monitor ran the data by two education researchers to confirm that children with disabilities and from low-income households were sliding significantly.

Students with disabilities have plans that provide accommodations for learning; they may have autism, dyslexia and more.

Economically disadvantaged students include children who come from low-income households, are homeless, or may qualify for programs such as free and reduced lunch.

Other groups of students have been struggling as well. Black students saw significant losses in test scores, as did English language learning students, though data collection for both of these groups has been inconsistent over the years given their small numbers.

On the NAEP test, students can score at four levels. If they meet the basic level, it means they showed some, but not a complete, understanding of the fundamental things kids usually know at their grade level.

For instance, in reading, fourth graders meet the basic level if they can at least make simple inferences from text, and eighth graders meet it if they can answer specific questions about the text.

At the proficient level, or the level that the National Assessment Governing Board describes as the goal for all student performance, children show a solid understanding of challenging math and reading skills. The percentage of students performing at the proficient level in Maine started to decline between 2013 and 2017 across grade levels and subjects.

Advanced-level students, meanwhile, have mastered math and reading skills. As a whole, between 2 and 10 percent of Maine students perform at an advanced level across grade levels and subjects. This range for the top tier of performance has stayed fairly consistent over time.

Students fall into a fourth category of performance, called “below basic,” when they cannot demonstrate even fundamental knowledge in reading or math.

The Monitor analysis showed that the percentage of students performing at this lowest level has grown since 2007. For instance, about 59 percent of fourth graders with disabilities tested below the basic level on reading in 2007. By 2024, about 78 percent of these students did.

In the same subject in 2007, 41 percent of low-income fourth graders tested at the below basic level. In 2024, 59 percent of these students did.

This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor, a nonprofit civic news organization. To get regular coverage from The Monitor, sign up for a free Monitor newsletter here.