The former roommate of suspected mass shooter Robert Ward says he warned authorities a week prior to the massacre that Ward was likely to “snap and do a mass shooting.”
Sean Hodgson, an Army reservist who served with alleged Maine gunman Robert Card, texted their Army training supervisor about his best friend’s concerning behavior on Sept. 15, Hodgson told The Associated Press in an interview.
“I believe he’s going to snap and do a mass shooting,” Hodgson wrote to his Army reservist, text messages obtained by the outlet show.
“Please, I believe he’s messed up in the head.”
“I believe he’s going to snap and do a mass shooting,” Hodgson wrote 40 days before Card fatally shot 18 people.
“I don’t know how clear I could have gotten.”https://t.co/AhdFFUj1CI
— Gun Facts (@gunfacts) January 11, 2024
Card allegedly shot and killed 18 people and wounded 13 more at a bowling alley in Lewiston on Oct. 25, 2023, CBS News reported. He was reportedly found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound following a two-day manhunt, according to officials.
Hodgson told the Army training supervisor to change the passcode on the unit gate and to carry a firearm while doing so, according to the texts obtained by AP. Card was believed to have suffered from mental health issues and paranoia, a public safety official announced soon after the shooting. (RELATED: Scarborough Attacks Republicans As ‘Losers’ After Maine Shooting)
“I believe he’s messed up in the head. And threaten the unit and other places,” Hodgson texted in September, The AP reported. “I love to death but i do not know how to help him and he refuses to get help or to continue help.”
Hodgson also wrote in the texts that Card was likely armed, saying that he “still has all of his weapons,” according to the outlet.
“When i dropped him off he was concerned his weapons were still in the car,” Hodgson wrote, according to AP. “I [believe] they were at the unit. And no one searched his vehicle on federal property.”