The day after Navy SEAL sniper and author of “American Sniper” Chris Kyle, 38, was shot and killed at a shooting range at Rough Creek Lodge near Glen Rose, Texas - some 50 miles southwest of Fort Worth - it had been learned on Sunday that the gunman was an Iraq War veteran, according to Huffington Post.
Chris Kyle killed at Texas shooting range
The murderer, 25-year-old Eddie Ray Routh of Lancaster, Texas was arraigned early Sunday in the murders of Kyle and Kyle’s military friend Chad Littlefield, 35. The three men went to the shooting range together on Saturday when Routh turned his gun on the two.
Thus far, according to Captain Jason Upshaw of the Erath County Sheriff’s Office, Routh had not indicated any motive for the slaying. Routh, according to Sheriff Tommy Bryant, was unemployed and may have suffered from some type of mental illness from being in the military. The sheriff didn’t know if Routh had been on any medication or suffered from any conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder. Regardless, Routh is being held on one charge of capital murder and two charges of murder to the amount of $3 million.
It is believed that a semi-automatic handgun was used in the murders as such a gun was found later at Routh’s home.
The murderer was a corporal in the United States Marines from 2006 to 2010 according to the United States military. His deployment was to Iraq in 2007 and to Haiti three years later. He is currently a reserve.
Kyle was deployed to Iraq four times before writing details of his more-than-150 killings of insurgents from 1999 to 2009. The book entitled “American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History” was published by William Morrow and because a best-seller on the New York Times book list.
On Saturday, Kyle was assisting Chad Littlefield with post-traumatic stress when the two were shot and killed by Routh. The three arrived at the shooting range at approximately 3:15 p.m. local time on Saturday, and the bodies were discovered by a hunting guide about two hours later when the guide called 911.
Routh left the range in Kyle’s pickup truck and traveled to his sister’s home in Midlothian which is about 25 miles southwest of Dallas. After he told his sister and her husband what he did, Routh left – and the couple called the police.
After a brief pursuit at Routh’s home in Lancaster, which is 17 miles southeast of Dallas, police arrested the murderer at approximately 8 p.m.
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