Featured Image Credit: YouTube/ CBS Mornings / Tyler Golden/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images
Topics: Mental Health, News, US News, Military
Niamh Shackleton
Topics: Mental Health, News, US News, Military
The man responsbile for the murder of Chris Kyle explained to law enforcement why he did it.
Chris Kyle was an acclaimed Navy SEAL who served four tours in the Iraq War.
He was well-known for his sniper skills, and it's reported that his longest confirmed kill shot was at 2,100 yards.
After being honorably discharged in 2009, Kyle rose to fame when he published his autobiography, American Sniper, in 2012. The book was so popular that it was turned into a movie, where Hollywood star Bradley Cooper portrayed the sniper.
Advert
But Kyle wasn't sadly around to see the success of the film, as he'd been murdered before its release.
He was fatally shot by Eddie Ray Routh in February 2013 alongside his friend, Chad Littlefield.
Routh, a then-25-year-old Marine Corp veteran who Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield had taken to the shooting range after accepting a plea from Routh's mother, reportedly suffered with post-traumatic stress disorder and had been honorably discharged from the Marines in 2011.
Kyle had hoped that the trip to the shooting range would have therapeutic value for Routh, but it ended in disaster.
He later explained his actions in killing Kyle and Littlefield during an interrogation with a Texas ranger, saying that he shot at Kyle first because he could 'clearly identify him'.
"I imagine they're head hunters, trying to hunt everybody down," he said in the clip, as quoted by CBS.
As well as PTSD, Routh is thought to have been struggling with other mental health conditions in the years building up to Kyle and Littlefield's murders, as per The Trace.
The audio from the footage taken of Routh was played for a jury in 2015, and heard him continue to say: "If I did not take down his soul, he was going to take down mine."
Four months after the shooting, Routh told former Erath County Sheriff's Deputy Gene Cole: "I was just riding in the back seat of the truck, and nobody would talk to me.
"They were just taking me to the range, so I shot them.
"I feel bad about it, but they wouldn't talk to me. I'm sure they've forgiven me."
Routh's attorneys argued he was insane at the time of the murders, although witnesses for the prosecution stated they suspected he was faking schizophrenia.
On 24 February 2015, Routh was found guilty of the murders of both men.
Prosecutors decided before the trial not to pursue the death penalty, so the judge sentenced him to life in prison with no possibility of parole.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available through Mental Health America. Call or text 988 to reach a 24-hour crisis center or you can webchat at 988lifeline.org. You can also reach the Crisis Text Line by texting MHA to 741741.