Maine mass shooter Robert Card's tissue analysis shows brain trauma

March 7 (UPI) -- The family of Maine mass shooter Robert Card II released a brain tissue analysis Thursday that showed he had brain trauma before killing 18 people and wounding 13 others in October 2023.

Card's family said in a statement they are releasing the findings in an effort to help prevent future tragedies.

The Boston University CTE Center did the post-mortem analysis.

"Robert Card had evidence of traumatic brain injury," said BU CTE Center director Dr. Ann McKee. "In the white matter, the nerve fibers that allow for communication between different areas of the brain, there was significant degeneration, axonal and myelin loss, inflammation and small blood vessel injury."

She added that while she can't say with certainty that the trauma "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."

"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," the Card family statement said.

"We thank the Maine Chief Medical Examiner's office for requesting the brain analysis. We know it does not fully explain Robert's actions, nor is it an excuse for the horrific suffering he caused, but we thank Dr. McKee for helping us understand his brain damage and how it may have impacted his mental health and behavior."

Card died by suicide at age 40 after the shootings. His body was found at a recycling plant in Lisbon Maine on Oct. 28.

Police launched a multi-day manhunt after the shootings in Lewiston, Maine. Card was a U.S. Army reservist and also an instructor at a hand grenade training range, where he was exposed to thousands of low-level blasts.