Gov. Janet Mills speaks during a news conference in the aftermath of the mass shootings in Lewiston. Matt Rourke/Associated Press
The commission created by Gov. Janet Mills to investigate last month’s shootings in Lewiston will meet for the first time next week.
The seven-member panel appointed by Mills and Attorney General Aaron Frey will meet at the Cross Office Building in Augusta at 9 a.m. Monday.
The Independent Commission to Investigate the Facts of the Tragedy in Lewiston is scheduled to hold an executive session to discuss commission staffing, followed by a public meeting at 10 a.m. The meeting will be held in Rooms 103 A&B at the Cross Building.
Kevin Kelley, a spokesperson for the commission, said the first part of the meeting will be in executive session because the staffing discussion constitutes a personnel matter and specific candidates for staffing the commission will be discussed.
“During the public meeting, members intend to discuss the path forward for their work to determine the facts that led to the tragedy and the response during and following the shootings,” a statement from the commission said.
The commission is chaired by Daniel Wathen, a former chief justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, and includes several former judges and prosecutors, as well as a forensic psychologist and a psychiatrist.
It is tasked with investigating the facts surrounding the shootings in which gunman Robert Card killed 18 people and injured 13 others on Oct. 25, including Card’s background and mental health history and the law enforcement response before and after the shootings.
A timeline for the commission’s work hasn’t been set, though the governor and attorney general said in a letter that it should “conduct its work with a due sense of urgency, guided by, above all else, the pursuit of facts and the necessary time that may take.”
The commission is expected to issue a public report of its findings at the conclusion of its work.
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