Former Navy Seal sniper Chris Kyle shot dead at Texas gun range

US military's most prolific sniper wrote bestselling memoir on his four tours in
Iraq and was known for helping veterans with PTSD

Sniper Chris Kyle

Chris Kyle and fellow war veteran Chad Littlefield were killed Saturday afternoo
n. Photograph: Paul Moseley/AP
A former Navy Seal who went on to write a bestselling book chronicling his life
as the US's most prolific marksman has been shot dead at a gun range in Texas.
Police said Sunday that the body of Chris Kyle was found by officers responding
to an incident at the Rough Creek Lodge in Glen Rose the previous evening. Chad
Littlefield, a 35-year-old friend of the war veteran and author, was also killed
at the scene.
In a statement, Sergeant Lonny Haschel said Eddie Ray Routh, 25, of Lancaster, h
ad been charged with two counts of murder in relation to the double shooting. Th
e alleged gunman was found at his home just hours after the shooting, having ear
lier fled the gun range in a pick-up truck, it is claimed.
Haschel said the link between the men was not immediately clear. Routh was being
held on Sunday at the Erath County jail on a combined $3m bond, authorities sai
d.
Kyle was a veteran of four tours of Iraq whose shooting during battles in Ramadi
and Fallujah earned him the nickname "al Shaitan" or "the Devil" among insurgen
ts who put a bounty on his head.
Kyle drew criticism for drawing attention to his exploits by writing about the 1
50 insurgents he had killed between 1999 and 2009. The book, American Sniper: Th
e Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in US Military History, became a bests
eller.
The US military confirmed on Sunday that Routh was a corporal in the Marines fro
m June 2006 to January 2010, according to the Associated Press. He was deployed
to Iraq in 2007 and Haiti in 2007.
Officials investigating the killing of Kyle and Littlefield said that the two me
n had arrived at the shooting range with the suspect.
They were unable to say whether Routh was suffering from PTSD or had sought trea
tment. However, at a press conference on Sunday afternoon, Tommy Bryant, Erath C
ounty Sheriff said Routh's mother, who is a teacher, may have contacted the men
to "help her son" according to the Dallas Morning News.
"We have an idea that that's why they were at the range, for some kind of therap
y that Mr Kyle assists people with" Bryant said.
Police said that the three men arrived at Rough Creek Lodge and Resort at about
3.15 pm. Kyle and Littlefield were found dead at about 5pm. After the shootings,
Routh drove to his sister's home in Midlothian and told his sister and brotherin-law what he had done, police said. They called the authorities. When they arr
ived at Routh's home in Lancaster to arrest him, Routh tried to flee in Kyle's p
ickup but he was later apprehended.

Scott McEwan, who co-wrote American Sniper with Kyle, said he was stunned by his
death.
"It just comes as a shock and it's staggering to think that after all Chris has
been through, that this is how he meets his end, because there are so many ways
he could have been killed" in Iraq, McEwen said.
Trevor Cox, the director of Fitco Cares, a foundation Kyle helped establish for
veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, described Kyle as a humble man who
wanted to serve his country and help other and who died "doing what filled his
heart with passion
helping soldiers struggling with the fight to overcome PTSD".
Cox said that Routh had not come through Fitco Cares.
Cox, a former US marine corp sniper, said: "The gentleman was not affiliated wit
h our organisation. Any time there is a veteran through our organisation I'm awa
re of it. So the encounter was not through my organisation."
He said, however, that Kyle and Chad, who were neighbours, also worked with vete
rans in their own time.
Asked whether it was part of the organisation's program to take veterans to gun
ranges, Cos said: "We haven't ever done a shooting event, but in my opinion I do
n't think there's anything inappropriate in what he was doing something a lot of
military people enjoy. This was a senseless act."
"It's important that we continue his legacy and continue to serve veterans fearl
essly."
Fitco Cares foundation, an offshoot of Fitco Fitness, provides in-house gyms and
fitness equipment to keep soldiers active and also provides counselling and med
ical networks.
In a statement on the website Fitcocares.org, which is co-ordinating condolences
for Kyle, Cox described the former Navy Seal as a hero for his efforts in comba
t and at home.
"My heart is breaking" said Cox, in the statement. "Our foundation, Fitco Cares,
this country and most importantly, his wife Taya and their children, lost a ded
icated father and husband, a lifelong patriot and an American hero."
"Chris died doing what he filled his heart with passion
ing with the fight to overcome PTSD."

serving soldiers struggl

In an interview last year with NBC News, Kyle said he didn't want to put the num
ber of kills in the book but the publisher insisted.
"If I could figure out the number of people I saved, that's something I would br
ag about," he told NBC News' Lester Holt.
After leaving the navy, Kyle founded Craft International, which provides trainin
g to military, police, corporate and civilian clients.
At the time of his death, the former Seal was being sued by Jesse Ventura, the f
ormer Minnesota governor and ex-professional wrestler, over claims in the book t
hat Kyle punched him in a 2006 bar fight over unpatriotic remarks.
Ventura says the punch never happened and that the claim by Kyle defamed him.

A trial was due for August this year.