(CN) - Dozens of survivors and families of victims of the Lewiston, Maine, mass shooting sued the U.S. government on Wednesday, accusing it of overlooking warning signs from the gunman who killed 18 people.

In one of the deadliest spree killings in U.S. history, Robert Card - a 40-year-old Army reservist - stormed into a bowling alley at around 7 p.m. on Oct. 25, 2023, and shot and killed seven people. He killed another eight at a restaurant several miles away, and three people later died in a hospital of gunshot wounds. More than a dozen others were injured.

A two-day manhunt ensured after the shooting which ended when Card died by suicide.

In their lawsuit, survivors say the terror that day could and should have been avoided if the U.S. Army didn't negligently ignore Card's declining mental health and fail to take away his access to guns.  

"This case arises from one of the most preventable mass tragedies in American history - a mass shooting that could and should have been stopped by the United States Army months before Robert Card terrorized Maine on Oct. 25, 2023," they say in their 119-page complaint.

According to the survivors, the Army was well aware of Card's potential as a danger to himself and others. A former firearms and grenade instructor at West Point, Card was exposed to tens of thousands of blast explosions throughout his 20-year tenure as an Army reserve soldier, which studies show can cause post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychological issues.

"By March 2023, the United States and its personnel knew Card was paranoid, delusional, violent, and lacked impulse control," they claim. "The Army knew he had access to firearms. The Army promised to remove his guns but did not fulfill that promise. Worse, through its acts and omissions, the Army withheld information and actively misled local law enforcement, thereby preventing others from intervening and separating Card from his weapons."

The warning signs escalated that summer, the survivors claim. Card accused fellow soldiers of calling him a pedophile, assaulted another soldier and told law enforcement that he was "capable" of violence. He spent more than two weeks at a psychiatric hospital afterward, where he admitted to preparing a "hit list" of people who had wronged him, including some he bowled with at the same alley he would attack months later.

That September, Card threatened to "shoot up" Army reserve center locations. Another soldier texted Army supervisors that he was concerned Card was "going to snap and do a mass shooting." 

"Then, on Oct. 25, 2023, Card did what he told the Army he would do," the plaintiffs say in the complaint.

A follow-up investigation into the shooting found communication breakdowns hampered Card's continuity of care and could have led to his access to weapons going uninterrupted, despite these concerns. 

Represented by four law firms - Berman & Simmons, Gideon Asen, National Trial Law and Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder - the survivors seek to hold the Army accountable for wrongful deaths, physical injuries and emotional damage they claim are consequences of the government's negligence. 

"The Army repeatedly broke its promise to protect the community that it pledges to defend and must be held responsible," Travis Brennan of Berman & Simmons said in a statement Wednesday. "The evidence we have gathered since the shooting is disturbing. The facts show that despite every possible warning raised by Card's behavior, the Army failed at every turn.  The Army needs to answer for this. Without accountability what hope can we have of preventing this kind of tragedy from repeating itself?"

Benjamin Gideon of Gideon Asen said the suit came after months of trying to get the federal government to respond to his clients' administrative demand, only to be met with silence.

"If the Army does not accept accountability here, where it knew its soldier had severe mental illness, had access to weapons and was warned in advance that he planned to commit a mass shooting, then it's hard to imagine the Army ever accepting accountability without being forced to do so in court," Gideon said in a statement.

A spokesperson for the Army said it doesn't comment on pending litigation.

Source: Courthouse News Service