A panel reported that a Maine law could have allowed the sheriff to seize the guns from a man who killed 18 people in a mass shooting in Lewiston four months earlier.

Gov. Janet Mills (D-ME) and Attorney General Aaron Frey assembled the panel to issue a report on the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office, particularly when it came to the case of the late U.S. Army reservist Robert Card. According to the panel, the office had the prerogative to act under Maine’s “yellow flag” law, which allows for the confiscation of firearms from a person who is seen as a danger to themselves or the public following a medical assessment.

The law was passed in 2019 to supplement the state’s own right to bear arms in its Constitution. Last year, the state failed to pass laws on background checks for private firearm sales or a 72-hour waiting period before a firearm purchase.

The panel wrote that local law enforcement had “several opportunities that, if taken, may have changed the course of events.” Five months prior to Card’s two-day rampage and ultimate suicide, his family had reached out to the sheriff’s office and raised concerns about Card’s mental health. At the time, the family also reported to the office that Card had access to as many as 10 guns.

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This subsequent inaction added up to “an abdication of law enforcement’s responsibility,” per the panel’s 26-page report. Authorities even “had probable cause” to hold Card in protective custody and seize his guns due to his being committed to a mental health hospital that July. After being hospitalized, Card was restricted from handling Army firearms and was classified as “non-deployable” in August.

On Oct. 25, Card killed seven people at a bowling alley in Lewiston. He then killed eight people at a bar about four miles away. In total, he killed 18 people and injured 13 more, the most lethal episode of gun violence ever to occur in Maine. Card was found deceased of a gunshot wound two days later, at a recycling center where he once worked.