News & Events

Governor Mills taps Anthony Ng, MD, DFAPA to Independent Commission on Lewiston Shootings

Date: 11/09/2023

Maine Governor Janet Mills has announced the establishment of a special commission to investigate theAnthony Ng, MD, DFAPAfacts surrounding the October 25 mass shooting in Lewiston that claimed the lives of 18 people and injured 13 others. Among those named to the Commission are Anthony Ng, MD, DFAPA, Medical Director, Community Services for Northern Light Acadia Hospital, and a nationally renowned expert on disaster psychiatry.

The Governor and Attorney General Aaron Frey appointed seven experts with extensive legal, investigative, and mental health backgrounds to serve on the Commission. These experts include: 

  • The Honorable Daniel E. Wathen: Former Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, who will chair the panel;
  • Dr. Debra Baeder, Ph.D: Former Chief Forensic Psychologist for the State of Maine;
  • George (Toby) Dilworth: Managing Director, Drummond Woodsum, and former Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Maine;
  • The Honorable Ellen Gorman: Former Associate Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court;
  • The Honorable Geoffrey Rushlau: Former Maine District Court Judge and former District Attorney for Sagadahoc, Lincoln, Knox, and Waldo Counties;
  • Anthony Ng, MD, DFAPA: Board-certified psychiatrist and medical director of Community Services for Northern Light Acadia Hospital; and
  • Paula Silsby: Former United States Attorney for the District of Maine.
 
“As a member of the Independent Commission, I will draw on my deep experience as a psychiatrist working with communities impacted by horrific crises, including mass shootings, to determine the facts surrounding the October 25th shootings,” says Dr. Ng. “I thank Governor Mills and Attorney General Frey for the trust they have placed in me and for the opportunity to serve.”
 
Dr. Ng has extensive experience in dealing with disaster-related trauma, and earlier this year was honored by the American Psychiatric Association with the Bruno Lima Award for Excellence in Disaster Psychiatry which recognizes a psychiatrist who has made outstanding contributions in the care and understanding of the victims of disaster. Among the noteworthy events and disasters where Dr. Ng has provided psychiatric expertise, care, and support are the crash of Flight 587 in New York City (2001), the Asian Tsunamis (2004), Hurricanes Rita and Katrina (2005), and several mass school shootings, including the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings (2012).

Beyond the front lines, Dr. Ng has supported disaster psychiatry in a number of other ways including membership in the Disaster Section of the Canadian Psychiatric Association; as a consultant with numerous state and federal organizations and nonprofits such as the American Red Cross; and he is called upon often to present both nationally and locally on disaster psychiatry issues and disaster psychiatry training courses and curriculum. In addition, Dr. Ng has been widely published as an expert on disaster psychiatry and disaster mental health.

The Lewiston tragedy is Maine’s deadliest mass shooting ever and the 10th-deadliest in U.S. history. The Governor and Attorney General urged the Commission to conduct its work in public to the greatest extent possible, with a sense of urgency, guided by the pursuit of facts, and to issue a formal public report detailing their findings upon the conclusion of their investigation.

Read more about Governor Mills’ executive order establishing the Independent Commission here.