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‘American Sniper’ Author Shot and Killed in Texas ‘American Sniper’ Author Shot and Killed in Texas
(about 1 hour later)
GLEN ROSE, Texas — The authorities in Texas said a man had been charged in the shooting deaths of a former Navy SEAL and author of "American Sniper," Chris Kyle, and a second man at a Texas gun range. Since retiring from the Navy SEALS, Chris Kyle, who was known as America’s deadliest sniper, would occasionally take fellow veterans shooting as a kind of therapy to salve battlefield scars.
Sgt. Lonny Haschel with Texas Department of Public Safety said Sunday in a statement that Eddie Ray Routh, 25, of Lancaster was arraigned late Saturday on two counts of capital murder. Mr. Kyle, author of the best selling book “American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History,” was with a struggling former soldier on just such an outing on Saturday, hoping a day at a shooting range would bring some relief, said a friend, Travis Cox.
Mr. Kyle wrote the best-selling book, “American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History,” detailing his 150-plus kills of insurgents from 1999 to 2009. But Texas authorities said Sunday that for unknown reasons, the man turned on Mr. Kyle and a second man, Chad Littlefield, shooting and killing both before fleeing.  
Mr. Haschel said Erath County deputies responded to a shooting at the Rough Creek Lodge west of Glenn Rose at about 5:30 p.m. Saturday and found the bodies of Mr. Kyle, 38, and a second man, 35-year-old Chad Littlefield. Glenn Rose is about 50 miles southwest of Fort Worth. “Chad and Chris had taken a veteran out to shoot to try to help him,” Mr. Cox said. “And they were killed.”
The police said Mr. Routh opened fire on the two men at about 3:30 p.m. Saturday, then fled in a Ford pickup truck. At about 8 p.m., Mr. Routh arrived at his home in Lancaster, about 17 miles southeast of Dallas. Police arrested him after a brief pursuit and took him to the Lancaster Police Department. On Sunday, the police identified the shooter as Eddie Ray Routh, a 25-year-old veteran with a history of mental illness who had served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. The police offered no information about a possible motive.
The Lancaster Police Department referred all calls to the Texas Department of Public Safety in Garland, and a phone message about where Mr. Routh is being held was not immediately returned Sunday. Mr. Routh shot the men at about 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, at the Rough Creek Lodge, an exclusive shooting range near Glen Rose, about 50 miles southwest of Fort Worth, Sgt. Lonny Haschel, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety’s Highway Patrol Division, said in a statement. Mr. Routh then fled in a pickup truck and was arrested on Saturday night at his home in Lancaster, a southern Dallas suburb. He has been charged with two counts of capital murder, Mr. Haschel said.
The motive for the shooting was unclear. Mr. Cox, the director of a foundation that Mr. Kyle created, said he was not acquainted with Mr. Routh, but said that Mr. Kyle had devoted his life since his military retirement to helping fellow soldiers overcome post-traumatic stress.
A statement from Travis Cox, director of FITCO Cares, a nonprofit Mr. Kyle helped start, said he had served four tours of duty. He is survived by his wife, Taya, and their children, the agency’s statement said. In 2011, Mr. Kyle created the FITCO Cares Foundation, to provide veterans with exercise equipment and counseling. He believed that exercise coupled with the camaraderie of fellow veterans could help former soldiers ease back into civilian life.  
“He served this country with extreme honor, but came home and was a servant leader in helping his brothers and sisters dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder,” Mr. Cox, also a former military sniper, said by telephone.
Mr. Kyle, who lived outside of Dallas, had his own difficulties adjusting after retiring from the SEALS in 2009. He was deployed in Iraq during the worst years of the insurgency, perched in or on top of bombed out apartment buildings with his .300 Winchester Magnum.
He became proficient at his job, racking up more than 150 kills and becoming the scourge of Iraqi insurgents, who put a price on his head and reportedly nicknamed him the “Devil of Ramadi.”
He preferred to think of his job not as killing bad guys, but saving the good.
“I feel pretty good because I am not just killing someone, I am also saving people,” he said in a Jan. 2012 interview with The Dallas Morning News. “What keeps me up at night is not the people that I have killed. It is the people I wasn’t able to save.”
Mr. Kyle was sued by the former governor of Minnesota, Jesse Ventura, over a portion of the book that claims Mr. Kyle punched Mr. Ventura in a 2006 bar fight over unpatriotic remarks. Mr. Ventura says the punch never happened and that the claim by Kyle defamed him.Mr. Kyle was sued by the former governor of Minnesota, Jesse Ventura, over a portion of the book that claims Mr. Kyle punched Mr. Ventura in a 2006 bar fight over unpatriotic remarks. Mr. Ventura says the punch never happened and that the claim by Kyle defamed him.
Mr. Kyle had asked that Ventura’s claims of invasion of privacy and "unjust enrichment" be dismissed, saying there was no legal basis for them. But a federal judge said the lawsuit should proceed. Both sides were told to be ready for trial by Aug. 1.Mr. Kyle had asked that Ventura’s claims of invasion of privacy and "unjust enrichment" be dismissed, saying there was no legal basis for them. But a federal judge said the lawsuit should proceed. Both sides were told to be ready for trial by Aug. 1.

Manny Fernandez contributed reporting.