PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Law enforcement should have seized a man's guns and put him in protective custody weeks before he committed Maine's deadliest mass shooting, a report found.

An independent commission has been reviewing events that led to Army reservist Robert Card killing 18 people at a bowling alley and bar in Lewiston on Oct. 25.

The commission criticized Sgt. Aaron Skolfield, who responded to a report five weeks before the shooting that Card was suffering from a mental health crisis after he had assaulted a friend and threatened a shooting at Saco Armory.

The commission says Skolfield, of Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office, should have realized he had probable cause to start a “yellow flag” process, which allows a judge to temporarily remove guns from someone who is having a psychiatric crisis.

Commission chairman Daniel Wathen said the interim report is intended to provide policymakers and law enforcement with key information.

“Nothing we do can ever change what happened on that terrible day, but knowing the facts can help provide the answers that the victims, their families, and the people of Maine need and deserve,” Wathen said in a statement.

Ben Gideon, an attorney representing the victims, said he believes the report focuses heavily on actions of the sheriff’s office while ignoring a broader topic of access to guns by potentially dangerous people.

The commission, led by a former chief justice of Maine’s highest court, includes a former U.S. attorney and the former chief forensic psychologist for the state. It was assembled by Gov. Janet Mills and Attorney General Aaron Frey.

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