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SHOOTING

America's Deadliest Sniper Killed at Texas Gun Range

Suspect was a PTSD sufferer, arrested on 2 counts of murder

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by Mary Noble

Senior Editor t

Image: AP

Former Navy SEAL and bestselling author Chris Kyle was shot and killed on Saturday at a gun range in Texas.

Kyle, known as America's Deadliest Sniper, would sometimes take fellow veterans with PTSD out shooting as a way to help them get over the trauma of combat. That's exactly what he did on Saturday. He and a friend, Chad Littlefield, went to the gun range with Eddie Ray Routh, a vet struggling with PTSD. For unknown reasons Routh turned on his companions, shooting and killing both of them.

Routh fled the scene but was later arrested on two counts of capital murder.

Since retiring from the military, Kyle "devoted his life...to helping fellow soldiers overcome post-traumatic stress," the NYTimes reports. "Chris died doing what he filled his heart with passion - serving soldiers struggling with the fight to overcome PTSD," said his friend Travis Cox said in a statement.

Kyle is famous for his bestselling book American Sniper and is known as "America's deadliest sniper" for killing over 150 Iraqi insurgents.

Via the Blaze and Politico.
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What do you think people will take away from this tragic incident?

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Comments (view in Forum)

  • Neo_NtheMatrix
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    Can't we have better mental care for our veterans? Why is it that obama takes such poor care of the men and women that sacrifice their lives at his whims? This is simply a tragedy, a true American tragedy. However, we need to fix the mental health care system in this country that the ACLU destroyed.
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    Neo_NtheMatrix
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    @thejimbo - You're still promoting the idea that Bush knocked down the towers? I'm not blaming obama personally for this, I'm blaming his leadership. I'm sure he's a nice guy, seems like he has a nice family. I'm sure he loves his country, I guess. It's just his leadership isn't up to par.
  • dances-weebles
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    neither your president nor the aclu have anything to do with the veterans' administration and the mental care programme that they have in place. have you ever in your life known anyone who is in treatment for ptsd?

    i didn't think so.
  • View all 73 replies >
  • slov
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    Kinda like hey let's stick our heads n the ground an pretend the world is a safe place...shooting is a way of relaxing u know kinda like some put. Peace signs on there vw bus n run around naked hugging trees...same thing some people jus go about it dif ways...RIP Kyle. I really do see how some of these people live life day to day n there pretend world...grow up n grow a pair
  • View all 15 replies >
  • bsking
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    Yeah that's real nice but jesus's daddy said go into the Towns and uttely destroy them all , men women children do not leave a trace...
    ;-0
    ( how about that?)
  • Knightkore
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    @bsking That's kind of unnecessary....this gentleman died trying to help out fellow soldiers and defended our freedom of religion....to denigrate that belief is to dishonor his memory....
    Read the Bible again and ask God for understanding without judging what you're reading with malice aforethought....
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  • Cobra
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    Tragic. Stop letting our warriors leave the military like this. There's no excuse for people to have to jump through so many hoops just to get mental healthcare. Especially our warriors.

    Thank you for trying your best to give back. Rest in peace.
  • Troshie
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    This is very unfortunate. I haven't not heard of this program. Was it successful at helping veterans overcome PTSD? I know they use virtual reality in a similar manner for other fears under the old adage that you must face your fears. Obviously this is all in retrospect, but it would have been a smarter idea to give the PTSD victims blanks until their condition positively progressed.
  • bsking
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    And it's just beginning.. it is sad that any American would talk ill of someone like him.. a man who literally saved countless lives through his amazing accomplishments
  • Knightkore
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    @bsking Thank you....agreed....he was a defender of the Constitution and all our freedoms and continued serving America by trying to help his fellow soldiers....
  • o
    NTBFW
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    @Knightmare all the people exploiting Chris's death to promote their agendas is disgusting. Even Ron Paul had a smart ass comment. I'm finished with him.
  • AlexMIA
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    Very tragic! Find alternate ways to help vets with PTSD! The only question I have is, should the murderer be disemboweled for this?
  • Keyjo
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    I think it's because so many service people are being rotated back to battle multiple times without adequate time back stateside.
    I think I have been told that during Vietnam, military personnel were only sent back to the combat zone only every three years. These Wars people are going back after as little as 6 months stateside. They are serving multiple combat tours. Some have been over there 3, 4, 5 times.
  • DavidRobertson
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    What was a KIA in years past is no longer due to improvements in armor, helmets, etc. Men survive, left to deal with "I should be dead" thoughts, and because they are physically capable of serving, many serve multiple tours where they experience such incidents repeatedly, which are only worsened by having to deal with their buddies getting blown up by IED's.
  • Fishbone345
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    I wouldn't say it was more prevalent as much as more discovered. The men from WWII and WWI, didn't talk about it. Mental health in those days was considered a weakness and to talk about it was to become less of a man.
  • u
    DrNickels
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    @Fishbone345
    You're right. I work in the VA and trust me the Korean, WW2, and Vietnam vets still have nightmares and flashbacks and many still to this day will not talk about their days in service. I've stopped to check on patients before on the floor and heard them having nightmares.

    I remember one WW2 veteran I saw a few months ago who told me about his time at the battle of the bulge. He said he went home after the war and didn't think about the war or talk about it for 25 years. He just pretended it didn't happen to him. He said after about 25 years his son came back from Vietnam and was having a tough time. Listening to his son and talking to his son he said all the horrible memories just came rushing back to him. He began having nightmares. Trust me all soldiers who have seen battle have mental scars. Some just cope better with it than others.
  • u
    fayban
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    Well when we fight aggressive unjust wars. Are troope may have more trouple couping with the murderous acts they have committed.
  • View all 8 replies >
  • SignifiedNBlue
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    Bush was blamed for 8 years and even the last 4. Why is it, we cant blame Obama for everything now?
    I never voted for Bush but after hearing him be blamed for everything it got OLD. Its Obamas turn.
    Apparently, these people dont belong on dA shooting rage perhaps a mental ward!
  • PoliticalSpice
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    I will channel Wayne LaPierre: If only the people at the shooting range had more guns, bigger guns, faster guns, guns with larger capacity magazines, automatic guns, tanks and even rocket launchers and bazookas, this tragedy never would have happened.
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  • u
    UScentral
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    This shoots holes in a couple of NRA positions. First, that shootings don't happen at gun ranges. Second, that the only thing that will stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.
    With guns out of this equation, I'm guessing the real man wold have come out on top.
    Guns make men out of cowards.
  • Neo_NtheMatrix
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    So let's go with your proposed solution, which is no one has a gun. Could Routh not have killed both men with a knife, if he was intent on killing them? Guns shouldn't be blamed for what people do.
  • DARSB
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    @Neo_NtheMatrix "Guns shouldn't be blamed for what people do." And yet some, including the NRA, want to blame video games, not the gamer.
  • cynic
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    When has the NRA stated shootings don’t happen at gun ranges? They do occur but are extremely rare. On your second “point”. Having a firearm is no guarantee of outcome. A firearm is indeed a great equalizer. Look at the case involving the Loganville, GA woman. Shot an intruder five times protecting both herself and her two children. Guns saving lives are a frequently occurring theme. Visit http://gunssavelives.net/ for a sampling.

    Even police aren’t immune to criminals http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/201038... Each of the cops were armed. An ambush attack gave the criminal the upper hand.

    Only the uneducated would blame firearms. Your closing comment places you squarely in that category.

    I don't blame video games either.
  • zeke
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    @DARSB I'm not a phyologist, but shootings simply did not occurr a generation ago when violence was not so prevelent in our society. Guns were easier too obtain then and very few people even took the trouble to lock them away. Turn on the tv, go to a movie, or buy a video game for you kid and what do you discover? violence is everywhere and i can't refer you to any scientific study's on the subject, but i believe that exposure to so much violence does effect our minds to violence and killing. When will we ever learn!
  • View all 29 replies >
  • PoliticalSpice
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    Exactly. This guy killed 150 people in a war we never shoud have been in. Some of his comrades in arms were mentally damaged in that war, and he tried to aid them, in doing so he wad killed, but had the war not occurred none of this would have happened.
  • kathyparsell
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    What a tragedy! I have heard this hero speak about how he felt about his service and how it had to, for him be related to being a soldier and an American! In his belief system he was continuing to help. I think he underestimated the damage his fellow soldier had and this was the result. My prayers are for his family but also for the damaged individual who perpitrated this act.
  • o
    SomethinsFishy
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    You're a ghoul. How about innocent victims of drug-dealing gangs who are shot? Did they live by the gun too? Are you also happy that our active-duty service members are regularly killed on a regular basis? You're a ghoul. Just like the mass shooters- they're Democrats as well.
  • u
    metre
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    Guns, no health care, and murder in Texas. AND they are surprised when their policies add up to this! Yep gotta love that state! Live by the sword, die by the sword. Move along, nothing to see, move along now.
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