Last month’s mass shooting in Maine left 18 people dead and 13 more hurt.
It’s the worst mass killing in the state’s history.
Weeks later, we are getting a clearer picture of the person behind the shooting as well as several failures to report and prevent the tragedy from happening.
It’s reminiscent of the failures surrounding the 2017 shooting in Sutherland Springs that left 26 dead on a Sunday morning.
“I’m not supposed to get as close to my clients as I do, but I have a weakness in my personality and I do get close to them,” George LeGrand, an attorney at LeGrand & Bernstein, said.
Six years ago on Sunday, 26 people were killed at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs.
Six years ago today, 26 people were killed at their church in Sutherland Springs. A failure to report the gunman’s history of violence to the the FBI’s background check system by the US Air Force allowed the gunman to buy the gun used in this attack. @ksatnews pic.twitter.com/wXLuJWJjOK
— Leigh Waldman (@LeighWaldman) November 6, 2023
LeGrand represents some of the survivors in a lawsuit against the federal government.
“After every one of these events happens, these terrible, terrible events, politicians seem to seize on the fact that, oh, we need to change laws,” he said.
In the 2017 shooting at the church, the gunman was able to buy a weapon after the U.S. Air Force failed to report his history of violence to the FBI’s background check system.
If they had, the former airman wouldn’t have been able to legally buy the gun used in the attack.
“We need to comply with the laws that are currently on the books. If we did that, we would reduce the number of mass shootings that are taking place,” LeGrand said.
In the weeks following the shooting in Lewiston, Maine, similar failures to report and follow through on already standing laws have emerged.
“Their main significant, eerie kind of similarity is that there are laws on the books that if those laws had been complied with, those two shootings probably would have been prevented,” he said.
Maine has what is called a “yellow flag law.”
Passed in 2019, the law allows law enforcement to temporarily detain someone they suspect is mentally ill and poses a threat to themselves or others.
In turn, that could trigger a 14-day weapon restriction by a judge, which, following a full court hearing, could be extended to a year-long restriction.
This summer, the Maine shooter was hospitalized at a mental health facility following an incident while at military training in New York.
His family also repeatedly reported to law enforcement his deteriorating mental state and the fact he was heavily armed.
This September, a deputy went to the gunman’s home. The deputy reported hearing noise inside, but no one answered the door.
Without making contact, the yellow flag law could not have been initiated.
“If those laws have been complied with, then that shooting more likely than not would not have occurred because he wouldn’t have been capable of performing that terrible, terrible act,” LeGrand said.
In Maine, conversations are happening now to strengthen or add gun laws in place.
But LeGrand believes already existing laws need to be better enforced.
You can watch KSAT reporter Leigh Waldman’s full interview with LeGrand below: